Review of August Underground (2001) by John W — 17 Jul 2010

How to rate August Underground? Is it simply exploitative garbage? Is it brilliant? Is it the new face of horror? While it has impressively realistic gore effects and is rather disturbing in parts for such a radically independent film, August Underground is ultimately a boring, pointless piece of trash that doesn't really deserve to be viewed by anyone except the most hardened horror afficianados who must see everything that is labeled as profoundly transgressive and sick.

Basically, August Underground is a first person horror/exploitation film in the vein of the Blair Witch Project. Instead of a documentary crew, August Underground features an unseen cameraman who flims his friend's muderous exploits. Even though it is only a scant 70 minutes, August Underground actually becomes rather boring as the two main characters torture victims for eons (mostly by mocking them), harrass store owners, look at animal gentalia, do coke with hookers, etc. Ultimately, August Underground is like the crappy home video that you never want to see. Shot on a camcorder, its story not only covers the more twisted aspects of the duo but also the mundane jack-assery that would only be interesting to a teenager. In the final analysis, August Underground featuers some hyper-realistic scenes of torture, debasement, and debauchery, but its faux-snuff film aesthetic is undercut by two facts: 1.) large portions of the film are just boring or lame; and 2.) there is no point to the film--it lacks any purpose or object of critique to make it worthwhile. It is ultimately just meaningless, exploitative garbage with impressive special effects.