Lake Mungo/ Grown Ups

205. Lake Mungo
206. Grown Ups


Lake Mungo is the 7th film I've watched in this year's Horrorfest.

The premise here is simple. A young girl drowns while swimming at a local dam. Suddenly, bizarre things and supernatural occurrences begin happening around their home. Is it their daughter trying to communicate with them? Or is it something more sinister? As it turns out, the family really didn't know all that much about their daughter as it's discovered that she led something of a double life.

This movie is shot documentary style so there are a variety of looks to the movie. Some is shot on video, some looks shot on film, security footage, cell phone footage, etc. The quality can vary greatly from scene to scene, so be prepared for that.

I really wanted to like this movie. I did. However, I just couldn't get into it. Ultimately, it was too slow in getting going and there were too many fake-outs. I didn't even really see it as much of a horror movie, to be honest. I consider it to be more of a drama with a few horrific elements. Barely.

In reading reviews of this online after my viewing, it seems as if it's a "love it or hate it" kind of movie. I definitely fall into the hate it category. There's just nothing here that garners any praise from me. Skip it.


Grown Ups sees 5 grade school buddies come together for the funeral of their beloved youth basketball coach.

I found this one to be a lot of fun. It seems to me that a lot of the material was improvised by the cast. The movie comes across as if the cast had a great time filming it. In terms of story, there really isn't much of one. No real conflict to speak of either. As I said, it seems heavily improvised and it seems to serve as an excuse for these guys to get together and just rank on each other.

The cast is solid with Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade and Rob Schneider as the core group. In supporting roles are Salma Hayek, Maria Bello, Colin Quinn and Maya Rudolph. You've also got cameos from Sandler favorites Norm McDonald and Steve Buscemi.

Overall, this is an enjoyable way to spend 90 minutes. Don't go in expecting some huge story. Go in expecting an hour and a half of silly humor and you'll be alright. Recommended.