A young woman vanishes while swimming in a rural Australian setting, prompting family members and others to report seeing ghostly appearances as hidden truths gradually come to light. “Lake Mungo” (2008) is an independent mystery film with horror elements presented in the format of a mock documentary—a fake documentary. Similar to "Curse of the Blair Witch,” which premiered three weeks prior to the popular “The Blair Witch Project” in 1999, “Lake Mungo” features fabricated interviews with people discussing the central events and includes some discovered video recordings. While "Curse of the Blair Witch" was effective because of its brief 44-minute runtime, this one is twice as long, and the fact that it’s all a performance designed to look like a documentary doesn't quite hold attention. Perhaps it would be more engaging if you believed it were genuine. One character’s disclosure (no spoilers) feels disruptive to the docudrama’s purpose. For me, the initial 53 minutes of continuous fabricated interviews become rather tiresome. Fortunately, things improve during the last 34 minutes. Although the first of these revelations doesn't lead anywhere, the second one—the one that takes place at the lake mentioned in the title—is well-executed and genuinely unsettling, along with being an interesting idea. I’m certain everything connects if you think about it, but in my opinion, it isn’t worth the effort because the film simply isn't captivating for much of the first hour. The resolution doesn't sufficiently justify the time commitment unless you are a fan of mockumentaries or found footage films. Adding to this is the frustration of the constant shifting back and forth regarding whether the strange occurrences are paranormal in nature (she’s a ghost; she isn’t a ghost, repeatedly). That being said, the movie is well-crafted for what it attempts to be, the performers are believable, and I appreciated seeing that region of southeast Australia. The film has a running time of 1 hour, 27 minutes, and was filmed in Ararat, which is a two-hour drive west of Melbourne, and Mildura, which is three and a half hours north of Ararat. GRADE: C-/C (4.5/10)

Source on TMDB