Mildly — Lake Mungo works more through dread than through overt scares. As a mockumentary film, it scored 5.0/10 for fear, 6.0/10 for atmosphere, and 6.5/10 overall on Watch Darkly's curator scale across 1 rating.

How many jump scares are in Lake Mungo?

Lake Mungo has 1 jump scare, based on Watch Darkly's per-film jump-scare count.

Does Lake Mungo have a happy ending?

Lake Mungo has a downer ending on Watch Darkly's spoiler-gated ending scale.

What are some films like Lake Mungo?

Films similar to Lake Mungo on Watch Darkly include As Above, So Below (2014), His House (2020), Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006) — selected by cosine similarity on the curator scoring across fear, gore, atmosphere, and overall quality.

Metadata and artwork from TMDB. Not endorsed or certified by TMDB.

family

Lake Mungo

2008 · R · 1h 27m

In 2008, Alice Palmer died…Her nightmare didn't.

After 16-year-old Alice Palmer drowns at a local dam, her family experiences a series of strange, inexplicable events centered in and around their home. Unsettled, the Palmers seek the help of a psychic and parapsychologist, who discovers that Alice led a secret, double life. At Lake Mungo, Alice's secret past emerges.

Plot summary via TMDB

Curator Score

6.5

Overall

Based on 1 curator rating

Carried by atmosphere, light on gore.

Jump scares

Lake Mungo has 1 jump scare. Compare counts

Add your rating

6.5Overall

Fear5.0

Gore1.0

Atmosphere6.0

Intensity3.0

Genres

horrorthriller

Rate this film

Details

Budget$2M

Directed by

Written by

Cinematography

Music

Starring

Rosie Traynor as June Palmer · David Pledger as Russell Palmer · Martin Sharpe as Mathew Palmer · Talia Zucker as Alice Palmer · Tania Lentini as Georgie Ritter · Cameron Strachan as Leith Ritter · Judith Roberts as Iris Long · Robin Cuming as Garret Long

Production

Mungo Productions, SBS Independent, Screen Australia

Metadata and artwork from TMDB. Not endorsed or certified by TMDB.

family

Lake Mungo

2008 · R · 1h 27m

In 2008, Alice Palmer died…Her nightmare didn't.

Plot summary via TMDB

Curator Score

6.5

Overall

Based on 1 curator rating

Carried by atmosphere, light on gore.

Jump scares

Lake Mungo has 1 jump scare. Compare counts

Add your rating

6.5Overall

Fear5.0

Gore1.0

Atmosphere6.0

Intensity3.0

Genres

horrorthriller

Rate this film

Details

Budget$2M

Directed by

Written by

Cinematography

Music

Starring

Production

Mungo Productions, SBS Independent, Screen Australia

Reviews

blessedmakerCurator

Jul 8, 2026

Overall6.5Fear5Atmos.6Gore1

Slow burn the whole movie, which I didn't mind because it was all very intriguing. Some genuinely spooky moments. There was a good sense of dread that built up throughout the film, alongside the slowly uncovering mysteries I started to get really desperate to know what happened. My problem is that there is no payoff - instead of a resolution or some modicum of explanation, the film asks you to construct one yourself, given the pieces. Not my kind of ending.

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