Two homicidal friends go on a road trip of mayhem and massacre, killing and torturing anyone that gets in their way. One does the killing as the other films the whole thing from behind his video camera laughing the whole time.

I don’t even know where to begin. The tagline says it all. This has got to be the most sick, brutal, twisted, degrading movies I have ever seen. I loved it!

This movie is most definitely not for everyone. The film is made to look like an actual snuff film and it does. If you are even somewhat easily offended, stay clear of this. The realism of this utterly unbelievable. In fact, there were several rumors going around saying that this is real. But to clear that up, that’s all they were, just rumors. But that is the impact this movie gives you.

There is no actual beginning or end to this movie. No character development. No plot. No storyline. Just the videotape of these guys lives. Doing it this way, I believe, makes the movie better. It’s basically a home video, which you can’t get any more real than that. It really adds to the tension and reality.

Filmed on a shoestring budget, Fred Vogel has created a work of art that will be a cult classic. The effects in the film are unbelievable. You can put the hacked up bodies, and the tortured people on ‘Faces of Death’, and nobody would no the difference. It looks that real. Especially the girl tied up and covered in blood with her left nipple cut off, a guy with his leg hacked off, and so on. It’s very rare where you see a movie made for mere dollars done as well as this.

As I mentioned, this is for straight up hard core viewers only. Most people would not be able to sit through the whole film. It’s one of those films that you don’t want to watch, but can’t look away. Again, if you are even somewhat easily offended, steer clear. You have been warned.

10/10

I'm not really a fan, although I do appreciate August Underground on some levels.

People whisper about this one in dark corners of the net, and unlike most the time that happens, this one does deserve it. All the hype is true, it looks like a couple gibbering psychos killing people for fun. Even if you enjoy that aspect of it, the absolute nihilist attitude throughout makes it even more troubling, and the constant din of high-pitched laughing and chatter made me want to kill someone. This movie could drive you insane even if you close your eyes the entire time.

Here's the thing, they did a great job of showing what an actual thrill-kill would be like. Sure, it's shocking, disturbing, gross and graphic, but even so, it's just a taste of the brutality that gets turned into a soundbyte on the evening news.

Consider the Hillside Stranglers, they often tortured their victims all night before killing them. In The Hillside Strangler the torture is cut down to about three seconds. If you don't know the killers used electricity and Windex to torture their victims, you won't even realize what it is when you see it. Still a dark movie, but to think we're seeing a glimpse of the reality of what happened is to mislead ourselves.

In this movie, we're truly given a glimpse into what it must be like. Yeah, it's hard to watch and I completely get why that is, but remember it's only a few minutes of brutality. It's a taste of what a victim might really get, and it's done well.

Just the same, it barely qualifies as a movie. There's no quality to it beyond the effects and the balls of those involved. Ok, the performances were good as well. The girl tied to the chair really seemed terrified and the crazy fuckers seemed crazy. What really bugged me was the noise and the fact that it was filmed as if the camera was strapped to the head of a drunken monkey. I get that it's supposed to look like it was filmed on a hand-cam, but pretend you're pointing it at something every now and then, guys.

And I’ll be honest, both those things I just complained about add to the movie’s ability to upset you. The noise particularly, it’s impossible to relax because of it. Like I said, I don’t like the movie at all but do appreciate what it’s able to do. I can’t imagine wanting to watch it again, it’s just too thin to be more than shock value to me. By the same token, I’d want to see their other releases. Once.

3 out of 10

I just don't get these kind of movies. I can understand that one can have a funny ol' time doing one. No plot to pen, no idea to convey, just bring them buckets o' red paint, hyuck hyuck! OK, I'm obviously not doing justice to all the work that's been done on this one. After all, technically, it looks exactly how it should look - an amateur recording starring amateurs. But that's that.

I certainly don't grasp the reason for which someone would love to watch it. Unless he's bored of s&m and wants something "harder". That I would get. Not necessarily would I feel comfortable in this person's company, but at least I'd know what motivates him to watch the flick over & over again. But let's not get into that...

Oh, and let's get something clear. I'm not a rookie with the genre, I watched my deal of movies said to be "sick" (The Guinea Pig series, Cannibal Holocaust, etc.). I wasn't disturbed, offended or overtly disgusted by this flick. It merely left me frustrated and bored to tears, as did all his predecessors. Violence for violence is hardly shocking, it's just pointless. I wouldn't have any grudge with a scene depicting a guy smearing shit over his victim's open wound, if it would actually serve some purpose.

I know that there are people who like this sort of material, for whatever reason, so I guess it's not completely futile. Still, there's absolutely nothing here for me, therefore I decided not to rate this one. As far as I'm concerned, it barely meets the requirements for being a horror movie.