August Underground

Last updated
August Underground
AugustUndergroundSnuffEdition.jpg
Two-Disc Snuff Edition
Directed byFred Vogel
Written by
  • Fred Vogel
  • Allen Peters
Produced byFred Vogel
Starring
  • Fred Vogel
  • Allen Peters
Edited byKelly Hutch
Music by
  • Kaos FM
  • Richard J. Donahue
Production
companies
Distributed byToetag Pictures
Release date
  • 1 January 2001 (2001-01-01)(United States)
Running time
70 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

August Underground is a 2001 American exploitation horror film directed by Fred Vogel, who co-wrote it with Allen Peters. The film stars Vogel as a serial killer named Peter, who kidnaps and kills several innocent people, while his unnamed accomplice, played by Peters, films and documents the murders.

Contents

Filmed in an intentionally amateurish found footage style, August Underground was met with mixed reviews. The film was followed by two sequels, August Underground's Mordum in 2003, and August Underground's Penance in 2007.

Plot

Peter, a serial killer, invites his camera-wielding accomplice into his basement, where he is holding a woman named Laura captive. Peter and his unnamed accomplice torture and humiliate her at their leisure.

Next, the two pick up a female hitchhiker. After Peter coerces her into performing oral sex, he beats and leaves her for dead on the side of the road. After the duo are kicked out of a concert for rowdy behavior, Peter and his accomplice return to the house to find that Laura has died.

Peter murders an old woman in her home, then terrorizes a convenience store with his accomplice. They abandon their plans to kidnap the clerk or a shopper when they hear police sirens approaching. The two then proceed to tour Roadside America and visit a tattoo parlor. When the tattoo artist finishes giving Peter a tattoo, he and his twin brother are captured by Peter and the cameraman. They cut a leg off of the tattoo artist then bludgeon him and his brother to death.

The two hire prostitutes for a drug-fueled orgy. Peter sodomizes one prostitute while beating her with a hammer. The remaining prostitute tries to escape. In the chaotic chase that ensues, the accomplice drops the camera, leading to silence in the room.

Cast

Production

August Underground was produced, and directed by Fred Vogel in his directorial debut, with Vogel also co-writing, and starring in the film's lead role. Initially, Vogel had wanted to make a "big-budget zombie film", but felt that his inexperience at making a feature film would turn away any potential financiers.[ citation needed ] With this in mind, Vogel decided to make another film that would help him gain awareness of his work and potential financing for the film. The idea for the film came from Vogel's frustration with the serial killer genre, which he felt "didn't show you what was really going on". Taking inspiration from John McNaughton's Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer , Vogel wanted to make a film that was both "ugly" and realistic [1] while also being unique and original. [2] Principal photography began in August 2000, under the working title Peter. [1]

Vogel initially hoped to conduct a guerrilla marketing campaign for the film, in which VHS tapes of the film would be placed in random locations around the United States, such as parks and playgrounds, for passersby to discover. However this plan was abandoned following the September 11 attacks and subsequent anthrax attacks. [3]

Release

Critical response

Gregory S. Burkart of Bloody Disgusting included August Underground on his list "20 Landmarks of Found-Footage Horror!", writing: "I'm not a big fan of this series, but I admire Vogel's fearless audacity in serving up the ultimate in onscreen sadism". [4] Jay Alan from HorrorNews.net gave the film a positive review, praising the film's performances, gore effects, and realistic quality. [5] Chris Mayo of Severed Cinema offered similar praise: "August Underground is a true testament of what horror should be; nasty, nihilistic, raw and real". [6] Robert Firsching from Allmovie wrote in his review on the film: "A grueling but important antidote to the plethora of films glamorizing serial killers, August Underground is not likely to find a wide audience, but will not leave those who manage to find a copy unaffected". [7]

The film was later ranked at #14 in Complex's Most Disturbing Movies of All Time, with the entry on the film noting its realistic quality, and "sadistically natural vibe". [8]

Controversy

In 2005, while traveling to Canada to attend the Rue Morgue Festival of Fear in Toronto, director and co-writer Fred Vogel was arrested, pending charges of transporting obscene materials into Canada, when copies of August Underground and its sequel were found by customs officials among the merchandise he had intended to bring to the convention. The charges were eventually dropped after Vogel had spent roughly ten hours in customs custody and his films were sent to Ottawa for further observation. [9] [1]

Related Research Articles

A snuff film, snuff movie or snuff video is a type of film, often explicit, that shows, or purports to show, scenes of actual homicide. The victims are supposedly typically lured to their murders by false pretenses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Extreme cinema</span> Type of cinematography with extreme character

Extreme cinema is a subgenre used for films distinguished by its use of excessive sex and violence, and depiction of extreme acts such as mutilation and torture. It recently specializes in genre film, mostly both horror and drama.

<i>The Toolbox Murders</i> 1978 American slasher film directed by Dennis Donnelly

The Toolbox Murders is a 1978 American slasher film directed by Dennis Donnelly, written by Ann Kindberg, Robert Easter, and Neva Friedenn, and starring Cameron Mitchell, Pamelyn Ferdin, and Wesley Eure. It follows a series of violent murders centered around a Los Angeles apartment complex, followed by the kidnapping and disappearance of a teenage girl who resides there. The film was marketed as being a dramatization of true events, though no source can confirm this. It was briefly banned in the early 1980s in the United Kingdom during the "video nasty" panic.

<i>The Poughkeepsie Tapes</i> 2007 American pseudo-documentary horror film

The Poughkeepsie Tapes is a 2007 American pseudo-documentary horror film written, directed, edited, and co-developed by John Erick Dowdle. It is about the murders of a serial killer in Poughkeepsie, New York, told through interviews and footage from a cache of the killer's snuff films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hisayasu Satō</span> Japanese exploitation film director (born 1959)

Hisayasu Satō is a Japanese exploitation film director. He has worked prolifically in the genre of pinku eiga films, which refers to Japanese films that prominently feature nudity or sexual content. His best-known works are the 1992 pink film The Bedroom and the 1996 V-Cinema splatter film Splatter: Naked Blood. He is known for his "sledgehammer" filmmaking style, and using his exploitation career to tackle serious subjects like obsession, alienation, perversion and voyeurism.

<i>August Undergrounds Mordum</i> 2003 American exploitation horror film by Fred Vogel

August Underground's Mordum is a 2003 direct-to-video horror exploitation film created and distributed by Toetag Pictures. It is the sequel to 2001's August Underground, and was followed by August Underground's Penance in 2007. The film is purposely shot in an amateur way to pass it off as a faux snuff film.

<i>S&Man</i> 2006 pseudo-documentary film by J. T. Petty

S&Man is a 2006 American pseudo-documentary film that examines the underground subculture of horror films. It contains interviews with filmmakers and other participants in the low budget indie horror scene, as well as film professor and author Carol J. Clover. The second half of the film also features a scripted plot, which stars comedian Erik Marcisak as the fictional filmmaker Eric Rost.

<i>The Tunnel</i> (2011 film) 2011 film by Carlo Ledesma

The Tunnel is a 2011 Australian found-footage monster horror film directed by Carlo Ledesma and co-written, co-produced, and co-edited by Julian Harvey and Enzo Tedeschi. The film stars Bel Deliá, Andy Rodoreda, Steve Davis, Luke Arnold, Goran D. Kleut, and James Caitlin in a documentary-style horror story set in the underground network of abandoned railway tunnels in Sydney, Australia, where a journalist and her crew discover an evil, flesh-eating creature lurking within the tunnels.

<i>August Undergrounds Penance</i> 2007 American horror film written and directed by Fred Vogel

August Underground's Penance is a 2007 horror film directed by Fred Vogel, who also co-wrote it with Cristie Whiles. It is the sequel to 2003's August Underground's Mordum, and the final installment in the August Underground series, which began in 2001.

<i>The Being</i> 1983 American film

The Being is a 1983 American horror film written and directed by Jackie Kong in her directorial debut, starring Martin Landau, José Ferrer, Dorothy Malone, comedian Ruth Buzzi, Marianne Gordon, and exploitation film producer Bill Osco, who is billed as "Rexx Coltrane" in the opening credits and "Johnny Commander" in the closing credits.

<i>The Golden Glove</i> 2019 film

The Golden Glove is a 2019 internationally co-produced horror drama film directed by Fatih Akin. It was selected to compete for the Golden Bear at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival. The film is an adaptation of Heinz Strunk's eponymous novel and tells the story of the German serial killer Fritz Honka who murdered four women between 1970 and 1975 and hid their body parts in his apartment. The Golden Glove is named after the pub in the red-light district of Hamburg where the disfigured alcoholic Honka met his victims. The Golden Glove is the first film by Fatih Akin to receive an 18 rating in Germany.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hill, Matthew (October 2005). "Atrocities Cinema.com...Exclusive Interview: Twenty Questions with Fred Vogel - Director of the AUGUST UNDERGROUND Series". AtrocitiesCinema.com. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
  2. Dimension, Rob (8 September 2010). "Interview: Fred Vogel - Director (ToeTag Pictures) (Maskhead, August Underground)". HorrorNews.net. Horror News. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
  3. Eric McKenna Project Show #138 - Fred Vogel, Filmmaker, Special Effects, The Final Interview Movie (Video Podcast). YouTube. October 3, 2020. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  4. Burkart, Gregory (14 October 2014). "20 Landmarks of Found-Footage Horror!". bloody-disgusting.com. Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  5. Alan, Jay (30 December 2015). "Film Review: August Underground (2001)". HorrorNews.net. Jay Alan. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  6. Mayo, Chris (23 September 2014). "August Underground DVD Review". Severed Cinema.com. Chris Mayo. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  7. Firsching, Robert. "August Underground (2002)". Allmovie.com. Robert Firsching. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  8. Barone, Matt; Serafino, Jason; Pimentel, Julia. "The Most Disturbing Movies of All Time". Complex.com. Complex Magazine. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  9. "Independent filmmaker Fred Vogel: Extreme artists push the boundaries and strive to provoke emotion". BZFilm.com. BZ Film. 7 January 2013. Archived from the original on 16 October 2019. Retrieved 16 October 2019.