10 Horror Movies With No Obvious Villain

Presented as an intimate documentary, writer-director Joel Anderson’s Lake Mungo sees the Palmer family talking about the death of their 16-year-old daughter, Alice (Talia Zucker), who drowned near the family home (though not in the titular lake). They express the immense grief they feel about her loss alongside the difficult memories of the tragedy and discovery of her corpse.

However, these sombre events take a more supernatural turn when Alice’s brother, Matthew (Martin Sharpe) discovers what he believes to be apparitions of Alice within the video footage. From here Lake Mungo delves deeper into its themes of loss as the family members ponder on Alice's ghostly presence could mean. To them, there’s nothing malicious about this haunting; rather, it's a profoundly personal experience.

But there’s something far more unnerving lurking just below the surface of this Aussie mockumentary horror. Astonishing twists that will not be spoiled here reveal a darker secret behind the teenager’s death. These shocking revelations tap into a chilling existential dread that serves to make the tragic circumstances all the more harrowing.

With no real antagonistic presence to speak of, Lake Mungo’s horror is rooted in its existential terror and poignant explorations of grief.