10 Horror Movies That Prove Less Is More

Lake Mungo is certainly the most criminally underappreciated film on this list, because while highly lauded by critics, it's simply flown under the radar for even many ardent horror aficionados.

This low-budget Australian mockumentary follows a family as they attempt to come to terms with the death of their daughter, and the increasingly unsettling series of spooky happenings that follow.

Lake Mungo's success lies primarily in how brilliantly it replicates the style and plausibility of a real documentary, such that even as it introduces increasingly surreal elements, they never feel too ridiculous.

Between director Joel Anderson's unnerving filmmaking and the highly believable performances of the cast, it's easy to fall under the movie's spell, such that when it finally lets loose with one unshakable image near the end of the movie, it proves all the more effective.

Like Hereditary, it's concerned less with mining well-trod genre tropes than offering up a genuinely affecting, even haunting exploration of grief.

Anderson has largely been off-the-grid ever since the film was released - despite numerous spirited attempts to track him down - and given that Lake Mungo is a rare horror mockumentary to never over-play its hand, it's a damn shame we haven't seen more from him.