August Underground

From the plot summary, you might think that August Underground might be like a heinously gory version of the Belgian semi-classic 'Man Bites Dog', but you'd be wrong as August Underground is nowhere near that good. The film apparently has the intention of being a phony snuff film, and indeed the violence looks graphic and realistic, but it's all really cold and pointless. There is a sex scene at the end of this film that really sums it all up; it's about as far from being erotic as it gets, so it's extremely difficult to get involved with it, and the same goes for the violence. Violence that is simply shown gives the audience no reason to care, and so overall; the film is really rather boring. There has been a slew of direct to video trash films like this one over the last few years, and despite the fact that August Underground seems to be reputed to be one of the better ones; it really isn't. The only good thing I can think to say about it is that director Fred Vogel succeeds in creating a home video style look to the film through the use of a hand-held camera; but like the worst film ever made, The Blair Witch Project, this really only makes it so that the audience can't always see what's going on; which only succeeds in being irritating. Overall, I can't really recommend this film. I'm a fan of sick filth, but it didn't do anything for me. I'd recommend seeing something else instead.

How to describe this film? Try the home invasion scene from Henry, directed by GG Allin and shot through the lens of the Blair Witch Project. In a word: nauseating. I came out of the experience feeling physically ill, although I'm not sure if that was down to the relentlessly sea-sick camera work or the scuzz-fest content. Probably both. I ended up watching big chunks of it on fast-forward because (despite the gross-out set-pieces) much of it was quite tedious. From what I've read about the film makers, they're serious about what they're doing and have a genuine passion for the horror genre. However, I struggled to find any real insight or anything remotely worthwhile in this film. At this stage in the game, I guess it's about pushing the envelope, and on that level this film maybe scores. On the other hand, I don't really care and life's too short.

I am not sure this would be classified as a 'true' horror movie. Instead, the horror in this movie lies in the fact that it is something 'new'; the somewhat of a shock you get because everything is so unexpected. For example, you are afraid of bugs, they are ugly and disgusting – Now imagine this bug in a different form. Maybe it has a different color and makes weird noises. You will remember this bug because it is so different, and the difference from other bugs you are used to makes it even more disgusting. This is how I would describe this movie.

The two main protagonists seem to consider themselves to be at the top of the food chain; the world is their playground and the people in it are there solely to be used for entertainment. The protagonists do everything in a really nonchalant way, and regardless of how friendly others are towards them, they always see them as objects rather than people. This is the biggest reason why I raised my eyebrows, and questions like 'What are they doing, and why?' popped up in my head.

At first, I was not really sure I wanted to watch this movie, because of what people said about it and how extreme it is. In all honesty, the movie is not that brutal and chaotic as I expected. The pure violence portrayed in this movie is not as out of this world as someone might expect. We are so desensitized to this type of extreme violence nowadays that we get to see hammers, chainsaws and axes being used to chop off this and that even in mainstream Hollywood movies. It is not the visual violence that is disturbing in August Underground, but the concept of it and the atmosphere. It is more connected to the real world than in other movies, and the fact that this actually can happen (and probably has) in the real world, together with the previously mentioned attributes makes this movie quite unique and disturbing in a way we rarely see.

This might be the second worst thing to happen in 2001

The "story" in this annoying little movie consists of home movies shot by one of two serial killers. The camera follows them around as they indulge in all manner of disgusting deeds, whether they're putting human victims through pure hell or just raising trouble in general. (For example, they act out inside a convenience store.)

Prefiguring the "torture porn" genre began by movies like "Saw" and "Hostel", "August Underground" works like a mash-up of "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" and "The Blair Witch Project", except that it *really* ups the ante in terms of extreme human depravity, and that it lacks any sort of craftsmanship whatsoever. It may be one of the most disgusting movies that this viewer has ever seen. Its fans may argue for its sense of immediacy, or the fact that it's so vivid and so committed to portraying filth on film. But it's still impossible to want to spend time with the characters here. Apparently, the movie *does* have some sort of script, by Allen Peters and director Fred Vogel, but it feels like it was ad libbed for its interminable 71 minute run time. The effects are plenty tacky, but still have the power to thoroughly distress an audience.

If one really wants to see a serial killer epic based in some sort of reality, they're much better off watching or revisiting "Henry".

Three out of 10.