Mockumentary Matchup: Lake Mungo VS The Fourth Kind

I’ve been on a mockumentary horror kick recently. I haven’t seen that many as of my writing this. Aside from the ones I’ll be talking about here, the only other one I can think of that I’ve watched is Blair Witch. For those unfamiliar with the subgenre, it’s fiction depicted in a documentary style, hence the mock in mockumentary. For the two I’ll be putting against each other, I’ll be giving plot summaries, comparing themes, which I find scarier, and which films I think are better overall.

Spoilers ahead (though, I will try keeping them to a minimum). First up is Lake Mungo. Filmed and set in Australia, this follows the family of Alice, a deceased teenage girl, and the paranormal events in their home following her death. I only recently heard of this one about a year ago. Right off the bat, I didn’t find this that scary.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s creepy, but it’s more of a slow burn. I felt some scares got a bit repetitive save for a few that stood out to me. What sells it, though, is how authentic it feels. Growing up, my family and I would occasionally watch Dateline.

The emotions of the people being interviewed within the movie match an episode of it almost perfectly. My favorite among them is David Pledger who plays Russel Palmer, the father of Alice. There’s one particular scene where he finds out Alice was manipulated by people the family presumably trusted. What he says about those who did it to her conveys his rage and yet you can tell it’s like he’s suppressing an outburst. It makes it believable.

All of the actors do well in that regard. It makes the movie that much more believable. All in all, I recommend it. Next is The Fourth Kind which deals with alien abduction rather than hauntings. Shout out to NerdyMixedPan on TikTok for putting this film on my radar.

I do remember seeing ads for it when it came out, but I never thought to watch it and I have since corrected that mistake. Taking place in Alaska, it centers mainly around a psychologist named Abigail Tyler whose patients are experiencing a similar phenomenon where they see a white “owl” outside days before their abductions. The story is presented uniquely. It shows the “real” footage of what happened to these people as well as recreations of it, sometimes having both visuals side by side on screen. I happened to see it after Lake Mungo and unlike it, this one got to me in terms of fear and how harrowing the subject matter was.

I’m not trying to downplay Lake Mungo, by the way, in case this comes across that way. I do think it’s better made than The Fourth Kind. Speaking of, the downside of it is it sometimes feels as if it has too much going on. You have a bunch of different characters, not to mention a subplot involving Abigail’s dead husband. Also, the way her patients act in certain scenes does sometimes get a bit over the top and some of the recreation scenes get a bit too “Hollywood” for my taste which kind of broke the immersion.

Similar to Lake Mungo, a parent carries this movie. Charlotte Milchard, the actress who plays Abigail (the real one in the context of the plot) does such a good job to the point I don’t think it would have worked without her. The emotions she conveys while relaying what she has gone through are so raw. While listening to her, it was as if I was getting an emotional gut punch. I usually don’t experience that with horror films so kudos for that.

Something else that makes this movie is how disturbing the implications get. At one point in the movie, it’s revealed the aliens are speaking Sumerian meaning that they may have been taking humans for thousands of years. The reason I decided to make this article in the first place was due to Lake Mungo and The Fourth Kind share two key elements, grief and loss. Jesus Christ, what Abigail goes through is some of the most gut-wrenching shit I have ever seen. Not to get too graphic, what this woman goes through is a violation in nearly every sense of the word.

Comparing what the Palmers went through and what she went through, it’s not much of a contest to say who had it worse. Yes, the Palmers losing their daughter was horrible as was how Alice was taken advantage of and what the family goes through as a result of the hauntings. The thing is, you could argue that by the end of it, they get something in the vicinity of closure. They’re able to deal with their tragedy as a family. Abigail gets nothing of the sort.

Let me just put in perspective, major spoilers for The Fourth Kind, by the way. The Palmers lost their daughter. Abigail already lost her husband before the events of the film. Remember, she’s a psychologist which means she’s having to deal with the trauma of losing her husband and her kids losing their father on the back burner to deal with the issues of her patients. On top of that, she has to contend with trying to console people who have had the misfortune of essentially being the playthings of beings far beyond humanity.

One of whom, offs himself and his entire family as she is attempting to talk him down. That’s already a lot. Then the experiences start happening to her family. There’s a tape recording of her being attacked in her home that she can’t recall. This is where Milla Jovovich (the actress playing the reenactment Abigail) shines.

As I said, Milchard does superb portraying someone who has gone through something traumatic. Jovovich, though, does a good job acting as someone who is going through something traumatic. You see her mentally deteriorating throughout the story. What happens near the end is what ultimately breaks Abigail. Her daughter gets taken while the cops are supposed to be watching her home.

In fairness, it wasn’t like there was much they could do. Her son is removed from her custody shortly after due to her being accused of her daughter’s disappearance. Then Abigail manages to also be taken in an attempt to get her back only to be told by the alien that’s never going to happen while she’s being experimented on which results in a broken neck. Now she has physical on top of mental trauma.

It’s a two-for-one mental illness deal! I’m going to insert a bit of headcanon here. While she is on the ship, the alien refers to itself as God. Remember, one of the languages was Sumerian. My theory is that this particular race of aliens may have become fascinated with early humans and decided to help in our evolution in exchange for worship. This would likely be based on ancient alien conspiracy theories. Why humans? Simply put ego.

They wanted someone smart enough to be in awe of them and yet not smart enough to surpass them. Imagine a sadistic kid with a magnifying glass and an anthill on a galactic scale. For Abigail, the result is her ending up entirely alone. Even her own son becomes estranged from her under the belief she was responsible for the loss of his sister. The Palmers still had each other.

She was left with nothing and you can see that on her face. Earlier, I mentioned there being a white owl present in the movie. These birds have various meanings in different mythology. In some, they are seen as symbols of desolation and hopelessness. In others, they are seen as divine messengers of God representing wisdom.

For the Fourth Kind, I think all of these are applicable. Desolation and hopelessness perfectly describe Abigail’s ordeal barring some optimism on her part that her daughter is still alive. What about owls being messengers of divinity? I think that’s fitting to represent the coming of a false God. The Fourth Kind was panned by critics and that’s a shame because it seems that a lot of thought went into it.

Maybe it was a case of it being a bit too ambitious for its time. One of the criticisms was accusing it of exploiting real disappearances in Northwest Alaska. I think this is stupid. Plenty of things in fiction are inspired by real-life events. For example, the War Of The Roses was the inspiration for Game Of Thrones and yet nobody is like “These books are exploiting the deaths of the people who died in that war!”.

At least, I haven’t come across anyone saying this, and hopefully, things remain that way. Thankfully, The Fourth Kind has gotten some praise over the years. To wrap this up, if you want a horror mockumentary that feels more authentic with a subtle creepy atmosphere go with Lake Mungo. On the other hand, if you’re looking for something truly disturbing, The Fourth Kind may be for you. For me, I’m going with the latter, but you should definitely check out both.

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