Australian Found-Footage Horror Film

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Finders Keepers AUSTRALIAN FOUND-FOOTAGE HORROR FILM Alexandra Heller-Nicholas looks at how two Australian films,The Tunnel and Lake Mungo, fit into the hugely popular found-footage horror trend, and what they can reveal about this often critically disregarded subgenre.

66 • Metro Magazine 176 | © ATOM FACING PAGE, FROM TOP: MATHEW (MARTIN SHARPE) USES TECHNOLOGY TO TRY TO CONTROL HIS DEAD SISTER IN LAKE MUNGO; STEVE (STEVE MILLER) EXPLORES WHAT LURKS BELOW IN THE TUNNEL THIS PAGE, TOP ROW: THE TUNNEL BOTTOM ROW AND INSET BELOW: LAKE MUNGO

When horror academic Mark Jancovich Ghostwatch. Looking beyond film, television dismissed The Blair Witch Project (Daniel and radio, there are numerous significant Myrick & Eduardo Sánchez, 1999) as ‘a media hoaxes such as the New York Sun’s one-off gimmick rather than the start of a ‘Great Moon Hoax’ in 1835 that suggest a new cycle of horror production’ in 2002, few broader history behind the current found- suspected how premature this prediction footage horror phenomenon. would be.1 The extraordinarily successful Paranormal Activity franchise (2007–2012) While the diversity of this subgenre’s history left Blair Witch in its dust, and found footage has been simplified, the broader areas from – or faux found footage – has become the which found-footage horror has drawn its horror format du jour. Horror fans and critics inspiration have also been largely under- now discuss found footage as an overused stated. Documentary is the most obvious, cliché that is past its use-by date, and even but found-footage horror’s relationship to horror directors themselves go to consid- amateur filmmaking traditions is arguably erable lengths to clarify how their found- to a number of screen trends and events, just as important. One of the most intriguing footage effort deviates from what has now including the graphic road-safety training features of this found-footage phenomenon become the norm. films of the 1950s and 1960s; the burst of is that it actively seeks to blur the lines be- fictional movies about the supposed reality tween amateur and professional filmmaking. In the few instances where found-footage of ‘snuff’ films, particularly in the 1970s and The surface deception of these films is, of horror is not dismissed as a contempo- 1980s; the mockumentaries The Legend of course, that we are watching ‘real’ footage, rary fad, a whistlestop tour of its historical Bigfoot (Harry Winer, 1976) and Man Bites often recut in the context of a ‘real’ docu- precedents locates its origins somewhere Dog (André Bonzel et al., 1992); television mentary. But running alongside this is a dual among Orson Welles’ notorious 1938 radio series such as Leonard Nimoy’s In Search of trick: often we are encouraged to believe broadcast of HG Wells’ novel The War of the … (1976–1982) and Jean-Teddy Filippe’s Les we are looking at amateur filmmaking, when Worlds, Ruggero Deodato’s equally contro- Documents interdits that screened around in fact we are looking at a highly polished versial Cannibal Holocaust (1980) and the the world – including in Australia on SBS’s studio product. Additionally, it is often dif- Blair Witch sensation. In reality, of course, cult series Eat Carpet – throughout the late ficult in the finished products to distinguish film history is rarely so tidy. The roots of 1980s and 1990s; as well as the shock- which ‘faked’ footage is a ‘real’ low-budget, found-footage horror can be traced back ing 1992 British television Halloween hoax amateur product, and which is ‘faked fake

© ATOM | Metro Magazine 176 • 67 THIS PAGE: CHARACTERS IN LAKE MUNGO, INCLUDING ALICE’S FATHER, RUSSEL (DAVID PLEDGER, BOTTOM RIGHT), FACE TRAGEDY FACING PAGE, FROM TOP: THE NEWS CREW ENTERS THE TUNNELS; NATASHA (BEL DALIÁ) AND PETE (ANDY RODOREDA) IN THE TUNNEL

amateur’ footage. This Baudrillardian tangle may pose a dense riddle when phrased in this way, but becomes clearer when com- paring the first independently produced film structure with notably diverse intent. While in the Paranormal Activity franchise (Oren both films manifest at the intersection Peli, 2007) with Paranormal Entity (Shane of diegetic camera aesthetics and the Van Dyke, 2009), a knock-off by ‘mockbust- mockumentary, they do so with an eye on er’ production company The Asylum to profit notably different ideological motives. on Paranormal Activity’s success. Although Lake Mungo is a tightly one is supposedly ‘authentic’ and the other constructed analysis of the role The politics of home video: an ‘imitation’, the films materially have little of gender politics in the broader Lake Mungo that distinguishes them in form and content. As the earlier low-budget found-footage dynamics of the heteronormative At its core, Lake Mungo is an exploration of horror success of The Blair Witch Project Australian family unit, and its a mother and daughter who – after the death proved, if anything can be said about this reliance upon the found-footage of the latter – struggle to resolve their rela- subgenre it is that it encourages both conceit is fundamental to its tionship issues in an environment defined amateurs and professional filmmakers, and central thematic investigation. by masculine attempts at control (especially can accommodate large and small budgets through the use of home video technology). alike, from Cloverfield’s (Matt Reeves, 2008) Unlike other family found-footage horror US$25 million right down to Paranormal films such asApartment 143 (Carles Torrens, Activity’s oft-cited US$15,000. In Metro number 161, Rjurik Davidson 2011) or Home Movie (Christopher Denham, celebrated Lake Mungo as evidence of how 2008), Lake Mungo does this without relying Critical considerations of the current found- strong Australian genre film can be when on demonising anyone, and instead finds footage horror oeuvre tend to focus on the allowed to flourish, and inMetro number the source of its horror in the mysteries that more highly publicised mainstream cinema- 167, Myke Bartlett’s consideration of The surround its central deceased protagonist. released titles: Blair Witch, the Paranormal Tunnel emphasised its cutting-edge distribu- Recalling David Lynch’s cult television series Activity, The Last Exorcism and [REC] fran- tion model – its producers themselves made Twin Peaks (1990–1991) in many ways, Lake chises, and The Devil Inside (William Brent the movie freely available on file-sharing Mungo begins with the death of seemingly Bell, 2012). However, there are a staggering websites including The Pirate Bay. Of less wholesome teen Alice Palmer (Talia Zucker). number of lesser-known titles that have note has been how both films have worked It is via the fallout from this tragedy that her been released since Blair Witch, and while their (supposedly) found material into the dark secrets are exposed, prompting serious these films do not share a singular or unified mockumentary format, then recut it into a reflection by both her family and her small ideological vision, they offer a particularly documentary-style format – a tradition again community of Ararat more broadly. After she strong instance where formal construction typified byThe Blair Witch Project. Both drowns in a local dam, both strangers and can be linked explicitly to a film’s ideology. Lake Mungo and The Tunnel utilise a range her family members see Alice on numer- Through their deployment of a found-footage of different types of found visual materi- ous occasions, and in response her brother, structure, the two Australian found-footage als: after-the-fact interviews, home movies, Mathew (Martin Sharpe), installs cameras filmsLake Mungo (Joel Anderson, 2008) and surveillance and CCTV footage, and even still around their house in the hope of captur- The Tunnel (Carlo Ledesma, 2011) illustrate photographs. While formally similar, how- ing these supernatural appearances. The this point in surprisingly diverse ways. ever, these two films deploy a found-footage evidence he finds brings national media

attention to the family and their unusual – cameraman Steve (Steve Miller), producer plight. Along with local psychic Ray (Steve Pete (Andy Rodoreda) and sound recorder Jodrell), Mathew, his father, Russell (David Jim ‘Tangles’ Williams (Luke Arnold) – telling Pledger) and mother, June (Rosie Traynor) them they have permission from their boss not only work through their grief by investi- to enter the tunnels to investigate rumours gating Alice’s troubled last months, but are that many of the homeless people who live also forced to address the notion of ‘truth’ in these underground tunnels have mysteri- on a more fundamental and personal level. ously vanished. Finding much more than she expected, Natasha is dramatically exposed Mathew provides the bulk of the filmic mate- as a terrifying and violent mutant terrorises rial in Lake Mungo. Crucially, the choice to her and the crew, leaving only her and Steve record these events is explicitly his: he is as survivors. a confused teen who is both mourning the sudden death of his beloved sister, as well For non-Australian audiences in particular, as dealing with his parents’ grief. In one of outside of the recognisable accent and refer- the film’s first major twists, it is exposed that ences to Sydney, there is seemingly little in Mathew has faked the initial footage showing the urban setting of The Tunnel that flags it Alice’s ghost for reasons that are unclear to as particularly specific to the Australian con- his family but that appear to be related to text. But this film explicitly hinges upon the him wanting to give his parents a tangible exposure of a hidden alternative history that link to Alice to soothe their grief. Although is literally buried underneath Sydney, and his motives are not malign, Mathew seeks in relation to the Australian ‘history wars’ to control his sister and her memory through this central concern flags it as a powerful technology. But his attempt to do this fails allegorical rendering of some of the issues through the exposure of his fraudulent foot- that permeated this emotionally charged po- age, and while he inadvertently succeeds litical debate. In this context, the attempt to in capturing evidence of a flesh-and-blood rewrite Australian history (and the suppres- intruder in their house (a discovery that leads sion of that alternative history) at the heart of to the exposure of one of Alice’s most shock- The Tunnel can be understood as funda- ing secrets – her sexual relationship with her mentally political. The schism that polarised adult neighbours), regardless of how well- political discourse since the early 1990s in intentioned his hoax it ultimately distracts Australia was so fixated on the challenge of the family from the fact that Alice’s real ghost constructing a historical narrative to white has returned to them with her own mission. Australia that it defined the ideological dif- ferences between the country’s two major It is this desire on Alice’s part that provides political parties. While these history wars the film’s central thematic core regarding the were concerned with the subjective writing relationship between Alice and her mother. of Australian history in relation to European Technology plays a crucial role in this pursuit settlement and the treatment of Indigenous of repairing the bond between them, but it is Australians, these debates often expanded not one – despite Mathew’s best intentions – footage conceit is fundamental to its central to encompass issues of national identity and that can be dominated by male action or mo- thematic investigation. the nature of ‘Australianness’ itself. tives. Curiously, Ray’s video interviews with both June and Alice before she died, in which History through the gut: While the history wars are steeped in the the women are allowed to speak honestly for The Tunnel fallibility of written history, there is little themselves, hold valuable information that debate that 1992 was a defining moment propels the female healing at the heart of the In The Tunnel, young and ambitious journal- for Australia. The High Court’s judgement film. Ray does not control these interviews, ist Natasha Warner (Bel Deliá) finds herself in Mabo v the State of Queensland (No. 2) but facilitates them: he provides the wom- under increasing pressure in her new job on (1992) (the ‘Mabo decision’) was a water- en with an intimate space in which to voice a current affairs program to come up with an shed political event that triggered a broader their fears and concerns. When considering impressive story. This pressure is compound- crisis in the national psyche. This case the gendering of technology in this way, it is ed by visible sexual harassment from a num- was the culmination of years of legal and significant that the film’s revealing climax at ber of her work colleagues; her male crew social debate concerning the land rights of Lake Mungo itself draws a distinct parallel see her as a pretty face with little profes- Indigenous Australians. The belief of terra between Alice holding the camera, and the sional ability to back it up. Furthermore, the nullius – that Australia was empty land chilling exposure of the mystery that haunted added complication of a recent (unexplained) when European settlers arrived – provided her to her early grave. Alice understands that failure now puts her job at risk. Natasha sees the foundations of how white Australia had technology can expose things best not seen, an investigation into the New South Wales viewed its presence in the country for 200 and rather seeking to dominate it, she instead government’s mysteriously shelved plans to years. For non-Indigenous Australians, the chooses to reject it – literally to bury it. Lake turn the railway tunnels under the Sydney nation’s story was spawned from the fact Mungo is a tightly constructed analysis of CBD into a water reservoir as just the scoop that the land was discovered, not invaded; the role of gender politics in the broader she needs to save her career. Desperate and the Mabo decision shattered this foundation dynamics of the heteronormative Australian alienated from her colleagues, she lies to of white Australia’s comprehension of its family unit, and its reliance upon the found- her already-suspicious male crewmembers own past.

Though the film is formally reliant on the Battle for original hand-held (‘found’) footage of the crew and structured through one-on-one interviews, this latter statement is fundamental in defining mockumentary itself as a Only political mechanism, which in this case has Australia Part 1: $9.95 sought to expose the literally buried histo- ( ) ries of the tunnels underneath Hyde Park – inc. GST plus P&H a space linked to a vision of colonial history The Fall of Singapore imbued with pleasure and recreation. The Tunnel is an investigation into the demons that lurk in Australia’s history – one that has been rejected because of its inability to Z Beach True Comics: Issue 3 fit into a dominant or authorised historical narrative. It is therefore significant that The Tunnel can be what terrorises Natasha, Steve, Tangles NOW AVAILABLE AT understood as articulating and Pete is not a zombie or a vampire or ideas around competing Lovecraftian sea monster, but a mutant: if historical narratives the return of the repressed lies at the heart of the horror film, as Robin Wood has pre- and official government viously suggested,2 then what reaches out involvement in those to torment white Australians in The Tunnel narratives, and as such is a literal mutation of the official desire to Battle for Australia Part 1: The Fall of Australia was unprepared in 1942. The country had sent presents a fertile example bury unwanted histories. Singapore is a quality book: 48 pages of its soldiers to fight in North Africa, leaving its shores of the history wars’ unprotected. Australia’s then Prime Minister, Robert shift in the history wars when as his first of- From this perspective, the formal construc- full colour, with a cardboard cover and spine. conceptual mechanics Menzies, was more concerned with the defence of Britain ficial act of government he apologised to the tion of The Tunnel as a found-footage- being rendered into horror- than he was for his own nation. The Royal Australian Navy Stolen Generations. While far from over, the based mockumentary renders it a powerful The author, Alex McDermott, has spent the based allegory. terms that have governed the history wars and fascinating instance of allegorical and the Air Force, was likewise committed to defending have significantly altered since this point. self-reflection, typifying Adam Lowenstein’s past decade writing, researching and teaching England’s green and pleasant land. There was not one definition of horror as ‘a return to history history for academic, general, online and single fighter aircraft to protect Sydney, Melbourne, The history wars were immediately politicised Whether consciously or not, it is in this through the gut’.3 Similarly, Lake Mungo television audiences. Adelaide or Darwin from the Japanese threat. after the Mabo decision, and in 1992 Labor context that The Tunnel can be understood reconfigures the gendering of the gaze’s prime minister Paul Keating activated its as articulating ideas around competing power through hand-held consumer-grade This factual graphic novel blends realpolitik with the rhetoric in his famous Redfern Park speech historical narratives and official govern- video technology. By doing so, it provides battles to defend Malaya and Singapore from the that while rousing, was far from unanimously ment involvement in those narratives, and a context for its investigation into the long- advancing Imperial Japanese Army. The British naval hailed. Beyond the spirit of charity it purport- as such it presents a fertile example of the lasting damage caused by gender imbal- base at Singapore was considered the lynchpin in edly espoused, Keating’s opponents – par- history wars’ conceptual mechanics being ances within the Australian nuclear family, defence of Australia. John Curtin replaced Menzies ticularly the conservative Liberal leader, John rendered into horror-based allegory. It too even after death. Found-footage horror is Howard – viewed the speech as an attempt deals with repressed histories: the desire of surely another in a long line of the genre’s with only just enough time to send the poorly trained to politicise history. It was in this climate that some to expose them, and the conflicting zeitgeist-defining popular fads, but deep Australian 8th Division to the steamy jungles of Jahor. the history wars became a powerful weapon denial of others who steadily maintain that in its formal construction exists a perhaps This narrative is factually researched and presented in in Howard’s political lexicon. With the na- these alternatives do not even exist. The film surprising cultural potency and capacity for tion’s leading political figures mobilised on makes clear on a number of occasions that national self-reflection. full colour. After reading and following the leadership The next two opposing sides, by the mid 1990s the history the government is directly responsible for issues of Z Beach of Lieutenant Colonel Anderson VC, you will appreciate wars had terraformed the Australian politi- the conspiracy designed to hide the truth of Alexandra Heller-Nicholas is a visiting fellow at True Comics will be: how much Australia owed to so few. cal landscape: history was no navel-gazing what lies buried under the centre of the most the Institute for Social Research at Swinburne Reg Saunders: An Indigenous War Hero exercise confined to the nation’s elite tertiary populous city in the country, but its critique University of Technology. She is currently final- and Australia: The institutions. Rather, it affected the day-to-day stems back much further than the specific ising a monograph on found-footage horror to Frist World War construction of policy that governed contem- government officials it shows in a selection be published later this year, and her first book Bulk packs (ideal for small or large class sets) porary Australian life. of news bites in its opening scenes. That the Rape-Revenge Films: A Critical Study (2011) is are also available from The Education Shop. titular tunnels are located underneath Hyde available through McFarland & Co. in the US. • When Howard became prime minister in Park highlights the importance of colonisa- Order Price (PLUS P&H) You save 1996, he defined the debates within the tion on its internally conflicting histories: Endnotes 10 copies $94.50 $5 history wars as an academic indulgence named after London’s Hyde Park, this was 1 Mark Jancovich, ‘General Introduction’, of an elite class of bourgeois intellectuals a playground and recreational centre for in Mark Jancovich (ed.), Horror: The Film 35 copies $310 $38.25 who stood in direct opposition to Howard’s colonial authority figures in particular. Reader, Routledge, London, 2002, p. 7. ‘Aussie battlers’. Keating may have opened 2 Robin Wood, ‘Return of the Repressed’, Film 70 copies $550 $146.50 the door to the politicisation of history at Crucially, an intertitle at the film’s conclu- Comment, vol. 14, no. 4, July–August 1978, Z Beach True Comics Issue 1 and 2: Redfern Park in 1992, but it was Howard who sion indicates that ‘the police investigation pp. 25–32. transformed public anxieties about history was closed due to “contradictory evi- 3 Adam Lowenstein, Shocking Representation: Gallipoli: The Landing and into potent political cannon fodder. But the dence”’, and that ‘despite several requests, Historical Trauma, National Cinema, and the P: (+61 3) 9525 5302 election of Labor’s Kevin Rudd as prime min- no State Government or Police representa- Modern Horror Film, Columbia University Kokoda: That Bloody Track F: (+61 3) 9537 2325 ister in 2007 heralded another generational tive agreed to be interviewed for this film’. Press, New York, 2005, p. 48. are also available from The Education Shop. E: [email protected]