Lake Mungo (2008)

In 2005 a 16 year old girl from Ararat, a small town in Australia, drowns in a dam while out swimming. An investigation is launched and a verdict of accidental death reached. As her disconsolate family try to move on, strange supernatural happenings take place in their home. And they become convinced that their dead daughter is back from the dead. And with secrets. Who? What? Why? forms the crux of the story.


A psychological slow burner from the outback land of Australia which has habit of producing some sensational horror stuff every now and then, this too was widely acclaimed which led me to see it. And with a nice enough rating of 6.1 on IMDb I was expecting a slow decent into hell scary ride. But to my disappointment it turned out to be a generic ghost movie with repeated close up shots of the back from the dead girl. Shot in a fake  documentary or mockumentary style, it has video footage from different sources assembled to form a story of a girl who may or may not be as innocent as she seemed.


While the story and treatment are way different from the Paranormal series a couple of shots have been inspired by it most definitely. The idea of adding cameras to the house which capture the dead girl ALICE PALMER played by Talia Zucker does work in adding some scares. Also most actors are unknown so we feel as if everything that's happening has happened in real life. Kudos to David Pledger and Rosie Traynor who play the father and mother to Alice respectively.


For me this doesn't work. The story is sparse and so even 87 minutes feels a stretch. I realize so many couldn't be wrong about a certain movie but I think for a slow burner this doesn't have enough of a payback. While I don't hate slow burners payback is a vital component of any movie. If audience invests so much into it then raising of stakes is a must. But this doesn't happen here. While its all good to show how a family grieves but when you advertise something as a horror movie it should scare you. If it doesn't have enough meaningful scares then there's a problem. And for me the expectation of a nice last 10-15 minutes after investing energy into a movie dragging through needless twists and turns was a problem. It remains mostly static.


The writing is straightforward and static. Camera work is steady enough and when not showing us close ups of the dead girl ghost it captures some very nice view of the outback. Its that one place on earth where you want to live even if a person like that nasty WOLF CREEK guy could be your neighbour. The movie is just 87 minutes long and when that feels like just a little bit too much you realize something somewhere is wrong. The direction by Joel Anderson is pretty nice and that's what keeps this from going completely off track. All in all a foundation on which a skyscraper could have been built. But this two storey is disappointing and not for me. And for many who like it, cheers!


HighTension Meter: 5/10

The Sacrement (2013)

On November 18, 1978 in Northwest Jungle of Guyana, Rev Jim Jones led his brainwashed followers to death by convincing them to drink a cyanide laced punch and also to kill their children by injecting it. And to top it all off when some people objected and talked about having a right to live his gunmen shot them. In one of the biggest mass suicides in modern history, 910 people were killed. Only a couple dozen or so managed to flee. Cults were always considered evil but it was never so evil as was at that moment. How can a man convince so many adults to kill themselves and their children only Jim Jones could have told us, but he killed himself right after he witnessed 910 deaths. Good riddance though psychology lost a perfect zoo specimen and i guarantee many psychologists/profile makers shed a tear.

Though not to digress, this is a movie review and its about a horror movie which takes its premise from the above real horror event. And fictionalizes it. And with such a horrific background to squeeze energy from one must think half decent movie makers must have done some kind of a job, resulting in a tense, nail biting soul churning horror movie.

As it turns out the first hour is very very good. Its a found footage cum normal narrative movie. Using the best of both worlds it creates a very tense atmosphere which spirals out of control and ends with the gut wrenching mass suicide scene. In this its called “Eden Parish” rather than Jonestown and why director Ti West (The Innkeeper, The House Of The Devil) never uses a inspired by real events signature one will never know. That simple blurb could have risen its horror quotient by miles cos very few, atleast in my city, know about Jonestown Massacre. But still a very well done hour and then it starts regressing. Pity.

The story starts as Patrick a reporter for Investigative journalism company VICE, played by Patrick Audley (Ain’t them Bodies Saints) gets a invite from her sister to visit her at an undisclosed location in a undisclosed African country. She’ s Caroline played by Amy Seimetz ( Upstream Color, You’re Next) who has joined Eden Parish cos “Father” as Jones is referred in this movie helped her recover from her drug addiction. Patrick brings along two of his friends Sam and Jake played by A.J Bowen( You’re Next) and Joe Swanberg(VHS) respectively.

The first red flag is raised when the people who escort them aren’t peaceful hermits but sturdy Africans with guns. They order them to stop filming or else they won’t be admitted inside but Caroline comes to their rescue. She says its ok to film anything, a nice excuse from the makers in my opinion to continue with the found footage technique, but from then on the starts a thrilling ride till minute 60.

Sam and Jake talk with the people of the community as they discover that this heavenly place is for real. The people are happy, working hard to maintain their creations and of the opinion that being away from the big bad influence of Capitalistic USA is a boon. The Father is held in high esteem and everybody has sold their properties and donated everything to this cause. They also have a sparse medical centre which doubles up as birthing centre and playing area for kids. Joe rightly says its not enough for the people around but even the ultra critical journalists are convinced that this a place which they could see people thriving in. And for that they decide its time to interview the big fish “Father” and request Caroline to set them up. And soon they get a positive response and happily prepare for a tumultuous  evening.

Some hours later a nervous Sam is ready to interview the big man himself. And when he first arrives with cacophony of claps you get goosebumps. What an entry and what a nice imitation by Gene Jones( The Hateful Eight). The interview doesn’t go as planned obviously as Father answers haphazardly running circles around the questions without tackling it. And it ends with subtle hints of threat which is the second red flag for Sam. As the interview ends and people start singing and dancing, everything explodes as a little girl approaches Sam with a letter which simply says “Save Us”. And with that the merry party turns into motherfuckin hell.

I have read some discussions about the movie and one refrain is that as we all know how this ends Ti should have done something different with the premise. There are many conspiracy theories regarding Jones and he could have integrated that into this and maybe more people could have enjoyed it. But he does bring a topic which is old but horrific nonetheless into younger generation’s consciousness and this cannot be underestimated. And also his writing doesn’t take into account that it’s a 90 minute thing. And the last 30 minutes which should be the strongest are the weakest.

Gene Jones as stated has done tremendous work biting into the meaty personality of Jim Jones. He has very little to do here though cos this movie deals just with the last day of his cult. But 15 minutes of him is worth the ticket. And opposing him is the journalist A.J Bowen. He does a nice turn as a skeptic turned believer turned scared as hell person. These two get the most scope to show their magic. Others are relegated to supporting and do as well as they can. Especially Amy.

Camerawork is good. Beautifully shot with no big set pieces or ultra gory scenes. The suicide scene is pretty well done.  Editing could have been better. Many stretches could have been cut down. In my opinion length should be decided by the story rather than being the other way around. Music does its work as well.

All in all a movie which recreates a painful chapter in cult history and without going deep into the why’s makes us wonder “WHAT?”. Is this even possible? Adults not 100, not 200, not 300 but 500+ convinced to commit suicide and murder their children. As per the infamous Jonestown Pre suicide ritual Audio clip only 1, ONE woman intervened and said they have a right to decide what they want to do with their lives, but alas nothing came out of it. Their high and wild leader was a stubborn devil. About 30 minutes later she was dead with many others. 300 among them children. Hope history never repeats itself, though its mankind we are talking about, so shit will always happen.

HighTension Meter: 7.5/10

Review: Texas Killing Fields (2011)

Synopsis: Two Detectives, dead teenage girls, pimps, harlots, Texas and a brutal killer. Who's he and will they find him? At what cost?

I am crime / revenge story writer and obviously a big follower of such movies. So when I heard of this it was all fun and enthusiasm. I've liked whatever I've seen of Sam Worthington And Jessica Chastain. Also heard great things about Jeffrey Dean. Plus getting produced by Michael Mann and directed by her daughter A.C.Mann it was surely gonna be a great ride, right? Let's see.

It starts off pretty well setting the tone and introducing the characters including a very young Chloe Grace Moretz. But sadly after that it loses pace and bonding. We stop caring about the characters and also some scenes appear haphazardly. It creates mood but you also need some good action at the right times to keep people interested. Sadly it fails to deliver consistently on that front. There a couple of great setpieces in the second half. Though at that time you aren't caring that much.

As a crime suspense movie its foolhardy to give away anything about the story(though its based on real life Texas killings). But safe to say the identity of the killer would leave you shortchanged. All the dark atmosphere and mood created before it goes to waste. Even the most hardcore crime movie fan would be flabbergasted. It could have been great but it stops just short of good.

Female directors are making a mark on the indie scene and this one comes with pedigree. Ani Canaan Mann. Daughter of Michael Mann. Just her second directorial venture she definitely gets the mood right. Some good cinematographry helps. But she struggles with the pacing part and maybe some tight editing could have redeemed it to some extent. Anyways i hope she continues making such movies and goes on to be known as one of the few great female directors on this planet.

The real life victims!

Acting didn't let me down thankfully. Always a pleasure to see Sam Worthington [Mike] and Jessica Chastain[Pam]. Playing a pair of estranged husband and wife both detectives. While Jessica doesn't have a major role she does show a kind of no nonsense attitude that is required to pull this off. I was seeing her Zero Dark Thirty character all over again. This came a couple of years earlier. Extraordinary actress. Sam though is not as wooden as Avatar. He gets the accent as well the action right. Totally nice.

Honestly I've never seen Jeffrey [Brian ] in a movie but he's pretty good in this. He's playing a ex NY detective who gets into the mystery straight away with his partner Mike. Though we start losing him in all the muddle that follows after a nice start. The same can be said of Chloe Grace Moretz[Anne]. She is sensational. Even as a 13 year old she gives a performance so matured that you could only love her. Around her are some great actors who pitch in just enough to make it bearable.

HighTension Verdict: I've said enough already. Just wanna say. If only the pacing and flow of scenes was much better and ending more meatier then we could have had a masterclass on our hand. She had a great cast to boot but sadly it wasn't to be. A.C. Mann good luck for your next crime movie.

HighTension Meter: 6/10.

Story behind the story.