Ararat in Lake Mungo

The DVD Lake Mungo (http://www.lakemungo.com/) is an enigmatic ghost story, a family drama, and a teenage girl with secrets.The story is a mocumentary with sequences of interviews and real time footage, it attempts to explore the unexplained paranormal activity (strange noises and apparitions).

Made in 2008 on a small budget, the mocumentary style looks authentic, with ordinary people recalling their experience to a documentary filmmaker.They even allowed the WinTV news crew to film the search newsreel (with real SES & police divers) as if it were a real normal segment.

The film-makers searched Victoria for the most appropriate locations and chose Ararat for the “beautiful and haunted-looking landscapes in the Grampians region…Lake Mungo couldn’t have been made anywhere else both aesthetically and practically”.

Mount Langi Ghiran is a star of the film, you see its brooding shape in many scenes. Was waiting to see when and how Lake Mungo would be introduced into the storyline. (oohh Y-Gen and their mobile phone cameras – a good reason to ban them).

People mention a resemblance to Laura Palmer in Twin Peaks (‘Palmer’ not withstanding) yes, there are similarities, only it doesn’t descend to the same level of weirdness. The story has an original slant and builds an eerie atmospheric sensation,

The neighbour bit came as a bit of a surprise, and it might be fiction, but still wouldn’t want to purchase those houses in Ararat. And glad I’ve already been to and enjoyed Lake Mungo with an open mind, going there with this particular baggage would spoil the experience.

The Sister Rocks also get a mention.

The plotline has Alice drowning in a local dam. With a verdict of accidental death, her grieving family bury her and try to return to a normal life, but a series of strange and inexplicable events lead the Palmers seek the help of a psychic who reveals that Alice led a secret life.