AllMovie

One of the most notorious cult horror films of 2002, August Underground is presented as the video diary of a pair of cretinous serial killers who beat, torture, and butcher a procession of victims in unspeakably brutal and gory ways. Begging comparison to both Cannibal Holocaust and the Japanese Za Ginipiggu series in its uncomfortable verisimilitude, the film also benefited from similar trumped-up hype questioning whether or not the events portrayed onscreen were real. Regardless of ballyhoo, however, this is most assuredly not a snuff film. It is the brainchild of actor-director Fred Vogel, a former instructor at gore legend Tom Savini's school for special makeup effects. Vogel has put his makeup knowledge to good use here, as the various atrocities on display are extremely convincing, only adding to the cinema verité feel of the project. Definitely not for Hannibal groupies, the film presents its protagonists as utter slime, sociopathic idiots who engage in rape, forced coprophagy, and extremely graphic mutilation for no apparent reason other than opportunity and complete lack of humanity. A grueling but important antidote to the plethora of films glamorizing serial killers, August Underground is not likely to find a wide audience (it was supposedly shelved by its producers after they were horrified at the initial public reaction), but will not leave those who manage to find a copy unaffected.