August Underground: 2023 Reboot


REVIEWER RATING: 
7/10

DIRECTOR:

CAST:


In 2001, newcomer Fred Vogel came into the horror world with his first of several ultra-violent found footage flicks, titled August Underground. Shot in an intentionally amateurish and grainy low quality phone video, Fred (portraying Peter Mountain) and a buddy (who hides behind the camera for the full 71 minutes) embark on what is still considered ‘the most disturbing horror film ever made.”  

Thanks to Unearthed Films, a reboot (re-edited, cleaned up and more watchable version) has been released to help spread the sickness.  

I am not a mega AU fan, although I have watched the entire trilogy prior to this re-release and it’s clear to me now that the shoddy footage was a huge factor in my original unimpressed reaction.  

Screening this reboot with a fresher mind and openness, I can appreciate the pioneering effort of Vogel and his team to bring a new era of shock value to the screen through realistic gore and brutality.  

As the story goes…well…there really isn’t much to tell. Two maniacal sociopaths go on a perpetual killing spree through kidnappings, intense torture and dismemberments while degrading the victims as much as possible throughout the process. The lunacy in their laughter as they taunt their first filmed target (a young woman, naked and bound to a chair) is completely vomit inducing. Covering her in urine, feces, and her own blood just escalates this pair’s desire to take this “fun” to the next level by demanding she eat a severed toe from her now dead boyfriend.

Yes, it is that severely depraved. Their motives are driven by ultimate humiliation and the most unsettling evil you can imagine. Surely there is a sense of remorse coming down the pipe, yes?

Nope. Compassion has no place in August Underground, and the degradation is shoved down our throats from beginning to end.

For those who can desensitize themselves from this culture of viciousness, there is no doubt you’ll be able to finish this and move on to August Underground’s Mordum and Penance. For many others, this could create a mind fuck that will be housed in your brain for a very long time.

OVERALL: 
Originally at a “6” rating, the refurbished August Underground has proved to be a significant piece of red films’ development in a great case study of the downfall of western civilization. Young people without consequences, doing whatever they want, and knowing no bounds to their malevolent behavior is alive and rampant in Vogel’s breakthrough movie. He brings the epitome of filth you desperately want to scrub off your skin and bleach out from your eyeballs after finishing. But you cannot overlook the significance in this newer genre of horror that does demand more for a substantially built fanbase. Thus, it grabbed one more point from me as dedicated follower of extreme cinema.


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