Joe Knetter, Andrew Lauer, Fred Vogel

Two serial killers go on a murdering rampage as one films the outcome from behind a video camera. One of the most realistically portrayed simulated snuff films.

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60% liked it

649 ratings

Unrated

Directed by: Fred Vogel

Release Date: January 1, 2001

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DVD Release Date: January 1, 2001

Stats: 100 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (100)


  • July 6, 2008
    The title and box suggest a subdued Euro horror verite, but this is old fashioned North American handheld homemade horror. For that genre, or just as a realistic spat of serial killing, there are some great scenes but nothing holding this together as a cohesive piece. The biggest...( read more) problem with this one is focusing on the one killer and not exposing more of the cameraman's nastiness. This is a few steps above what is passed off as serial killer movies today in the mainstream market, and any of those tweens supporting crapstream horror who accidentally watch this won't be able to take it. Course the visuals are astonishingly terrible, leaving one longing for the fine lens of Miike to better film the snuff. Does the movie feel real during some spots? Yes. Does that make me any more impressed with it as an intentional piece of work? No, because it needs to have some more thought and composition behind it, at least in visual terms so that it hangs together. If you can't stand another mediocre PG-13 horror, then watch this mediocre extreme film instead for all the right sins. It's just that I've seen *real* snuff done more artfully than this. That, and considering how much that main actress in the chair got paid, these guys could have broken down and afforded a better camera.

    "So Fucked Up" highlight:
    rubbing shit on the tied-up girl's partially sliced off nipple
  • June 6, 2008
    "August Underground"...this movie will knock you on your ass! Fucking hardcore stuff. I gave this movie 1 star simply because it filled my stomach with too much nausea and made me too depressed. This is garbage, but it's shocking to the max. Disgusting shocking filth.

    Gore. De...( read more)gradation. Torture. Sexual humiliation. Rape. Vomit drinking, and Necrophilia. This movie certainly pushes the limits beyond any film I have ever seen.(if you can even call this pile of trash a film). But I do have to say, this movie only sets out to shock you. And it did just that!...and a whole lot more. Believe me. This is an uncompromising and in your face raw experience. For a fake snuff film this certainly does indeed feel like a real one.

    This is one movie that will quite possibly just ruin your whole day. You've been warned!
  • December 18, 2008
    Shows violence as it is - horrible. So horrible I turned off after 52 seconds.
  • October 14, 2009
    This movie is truly sick and twisted and after watching it I felt dirty for about a week. The fact that the movie is done on a grainy very messed up camera does little to keep one from wanting to vomit from the get go with this film. As I watched this I had to tell myself a coupl...( read more)e of times that this movie is not real. The suspension of disbelief that one usually has when watching a film goes out the damn window with this one because if it didn?t then you would truly think that you were watching a snuff film.
    This film is very hard to synopsize because in essence it is just a set of disturbing vignettes of murder, torture, mayhem, and etc. connected by the fact that is all one movie and nothing else. There is a girl that the unnamed killer keeps in his basement and does some truly sick shit to including but not limited to watching her boyfriend get murdered and dismembered and eating her own shit. Oh by the way the killer in this movie is played by the director himself Fred Vogel. This is one of the few films that I have watched where I had to stifle my own vomit, oh and by the way the sequels are much worse.
    Anyways back to the synopsis, the killer then beats some poor girl to death, then goes to a ?concert? and delvers some beat downs, then he tortures the girl in the basement more. Then we get to follow him on some road trips? great. On the road trip we see the killer beat an old lady to death (played by the directors own Grandma) and steal her car. And so on, add more random beatings and torture. Then we get to the finale of the ?movie? which involves two prostitutes, a hammer, murder, and some good old-fashioned sodomy.
    End of movie, thankfully, just watching this movie to review it was an endurance test that many normal people just couldn?t handle (not that I am normal but I like to think that I am at least semi-normal). This movie exists because of independent horror directors that are sick of the same old Hollywood trite and want to create something truly terrifying. Applause to Fred Vogel the director, you have truly bucked and mentally ass fucked the system and horror community into submission.
  • September 27, 2009
    due palle terrificanti
  • July 31, 2009
    The Youtube aspect of it interested me. Yes, I know about cinema verite, I meant that it was fun finally seeing a 70-minute Youtube video where the explicit gore and gross-out scenes are uncensored. The cameramen go around town wreaking havoc and you're thrust in, experiencing it.
  • June 22, 2009
    A technical marvel for gorehounds, some of the most realistic and gutwrenching simulated violence ever put to screen, but exceptional violence cannot mask the fact that this movie is dead behind the eyes. Strip away the violence and you are left with an empty screen.

    There is n...( read more)o subtext to drive the shocks deeper, it's all surface shock tactics that don't last because there is nothing anchoring them down in your head. While it is a special effects masterpiece, it lacks the depth or the wonderfully perverted humanity of films like Salò, Audition or Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, which made them resonate with the viewer on a psychological level as well as a base gut reaction. In August Underground it's all for show and instantly disposable.

    If all you need out of a film is sick effects work with the illusion of realism (which I can't stress enough, is astounding in its detail), then you won't go far wrong with this. If you want some tension and intellect to go with your horrific gore, then look elsewhere.

    For me, there's more to horror than just violence.
  • February 8, 2009
    El jackass de los asesinos seriales, absolutamente brutal dificil de ver y de manejar.
  • February 7, 2009
    Loved Every Minute Of It
  • September 29, 2008
    This Film Is Shot As If It Was Footage From A Video Camera In The Style Of A Snuff Movie. The Plot Revolves Around 3 Serial Killers Filming Themselves Killing People. Themes Such As Rape. Child Abuse, Self-Harming, Vomit Drinking and Necrophilia Are Brought Up Regularly. A Truly ...( read more)Sick Film Which I Probably Wouldn't Watch Again.

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  • dtgamerat
    August 21, 2007
    This movie is NOT for pussies! If you can't handle some extreme and morbid exploitations, then stay FAR away from this one! This film is great

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