[For The Love Of Franchises] August Underground: The most disturbing franchise ever made

Is August Underground the most extreme and disturbing franchise to exist? The answer is probably yes.

Whilst extreme cinema has been around for many years, and has always been boundary pushing, Fred Vogel’s gruesome threesome has been cited as one of the most heinous and depraved pieces of filmmaking to ever be created. The first film has gained so much notoriety, you only need to mention the words and people are suddenly filled with disdain and sheer horror that you have even been able to watch something so monstrous. And it’s true, watching something like August Underground does feel like both a rite of passage as an extreme cinema fan, and also a moment that you cannot go back from – the way you view the world is different after viewing a film like this. 

So why did Vogel want to create such a film? He has mentioned in an interview with another extreme horror filmmaker, Jonathan Doe, on the Uneasy Terrain Explorers Podcast that he simply wanted to see if he could create something that felt real. There is no doubting that the threshold was reached and surpassed with some of the most realistic, disgusting and horrifying scenes ever shown in an extreme horror movie. Even as a fan of these depraved movies, it has taken me quite some time to pluck up the nerve to be able to once again put myself through a re-watch of the first film, let alone the entire franchise. With Vogel having accomplished creating one of the most disturbing films ever made, why was there the need to continue making audiences feel awful and go on to create August Underground’s Mordum and August Underground’s Penance? 

Vogel has said that he never really thought he would make anything more of August Underground,  expecting to leave it in the depths of depravity. However, he  was encouraged by those in the industry around him to give the audience even more nastiness. There are always arguments for and against films of such nature; censorship has long dominated the world of disturbing film, and constantly poses the question-should an audience member really see films that feel very much like a snuff movie? On one hand it’s easy to disagree with censorship, but when you watch a film like August Underground, you can begin to see why there might be outcries against showing such depravity on screen. But this element of outrage is what often spurs on the creators of extreme films – the ability to be able to push human boundaries so far, and even make film fans war against a film is something so powerful. 

So what is it that makes this franchise feel so nihilistic? One of the biggest aspects is that it’s presented in a found footage format. Films such as Tamakichi Anaru’s 1998 Tumbling Doll of Flesh and Hideshi Hino’s 1985 Guinea Pig: Flowers of Flesh and Blood are two examples of how to force the viewer into feeling as if they are watching a genuine snuff movie. By presenting the film as something stumbled upon on the dark web, the viewer is thrown into an experience like no other, one that truly tests how far the human psyche can go before it has to turn away, unable  to handle anymore. This ‘endurance’ test certainly isn’t for everyone, and even for those of us who revel in pushing ourselves we can find that on occasions it’s hard to separate fact from fiction, and this evokes such a strong emotional response that watching a film like this can feel almost overwhelming and incomprehensible at times. 

In the August Underground franchise we are privy to the lives of three serial killers, with a focus on our protagonist (played by Vogel himself) who brings in different people to help him indulge in his murderous side. All three films hold a certain grittiness and griminess to them - unlike other extreme films they strip back on any polished feel, opting for a real ‘serial killer with no tech skills made this home movie to masturbate to’ feeling, and that’s the charm of the trilogy. There are not many films that make you feel dirty after watching them but in all three, you just want to rip your skin off and repeatedly wash with disinfectant until you can no longer hold the dirt on your body and mind. They also permeate through the screen – by focusing on hyper realistic gore special effects, you begin to sense that you can actually smell this film. In all three films we are shown close-up shots of intestines squelching feces out, coughing and gagging during dismemberment scenes and bodily fluids used as an act of violence against the viewer.

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Through both effects and set design, the films completely smother your mind with a feeling of confusion as to what’s real and what’s not, and that’s both an atrocity and something to wonder. Budget was barely existent, and this again adds to the feeling that what you’re watching is real, removing the belief of production value and instead giving a snuff vibe. Extreme horror relies on another trick that makes the viewer feel uncomfortable, and one that Vogel taps into in this franchise too. Instead of using trained actors, everyone featured is just a genuine person playing themselves – in the first film the protagonist kills an old lady, and this in fact was played by Fred Vogel’s grandma, who consented to the scene but wasn’t completely aware of exactly the film her grandson was making. 

Another technique used in the August Underground trilogy is splicing the mundanity of everyday life between shots of bodies being mutilated and raped in the dirtiest of basements ever seen. In Ali Tayolor’s book Troubled Everyday: The Aesthetics of Violence and the Everyday, she examines how by pairing extreme violence between scenes of normality, the audience find the content they are watching even more disturbing because we simply cannot disconnect the reality from the awfulness we see. When thinking of atypical horror films, the main characters are often put in a situation that avoids the realities of life – rarely do we see the main character being stalked by their slasherific killer interspersed with moments of having to pop to the shop because they’ve run out of milk.

Most horror films look to build worlds and keep the viewer entrapped in that world until the end of the film, therefore removing the element of reality from the narrative. Whereas in many extreme films, we are forced into watching extreme violence happen during an everyday setting, which therefore makes what happens on screen closer to home and more horrifying to try to process.

August Underground does exactly this in every film, which really adds to why this franchise feels like one of the most disturbing pieces of cinema ever made. In the first film we see the two friends head to a heavy metal concert and mosh along to a Korn cover band. We also watch them as they laugh at sheep they see in a field, taking a moment to simply indulge their interest in the animals. When thinking of depraved serial killers, we don’t often see their moments of humanity, their moments that connect them to us and everything that is normal in this world.

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In Mordum there are personal relationships that come to light, we see the protagonist’s girlfriend brutalise two women and then casually head for a tattoo session. We also see the two plus the girlfriend's brother go to a party, spend time with normal friends, and then chillingly go home to pull the guts out of their victim and then rape a child in a bathtub. In Penance the couple do normal couple activities like sightseeing together and basking in the fun of being a tourist, only to later go home and butcher their victims and play with their internal organs. By juxtaposing these scenes of normality with some of the most disturbing scenes ever, the audience are put in an uncomfortable position – one that makes us realise that the person we just walked past in the grocery store could be heading home to finish cutting up the dead corpse they have rotting in their basement. It feels almost too much for the human mind to comprehend. 

All three films hold their own when it comes to disturbing content, and sitting through the trilogy certainly does feel like a test of endurance rather than a pleasurable viewing experience. August Underground holds the controversial title, but mainly because it’s also the most spoken about in terms of the franchise, whereas if you consider what is actually shown on screen then Mordum with it’s inclusion of child rape, is easily the most disturbing film of three. But is this franchise the most disturbing one that exists?

That can be argued. There have come franchises before and after that have pushed the boundaries further than ever. The Guinea Pig films which are a franchise of Japanese exploitation movies set the standards quite high in terms of disturbing content, but it’s only really the entries Guinea Pig: The Devil’s Experiment and Guinea Pig: Flowers of Flesh and Blood, that are designed to traumatise the viewer whereas the other four films, Mermaid in a Manhole, He Never Dies, Devil Woman Doctor and Android of Notre Dame, are more about the effects and even some comedic elements. We also were given Tom Six’s trilogy of torment when he gave the world The Human Centipede I, II & III, which did aim to disturb the audience in their totality. But once again, the whole franchise never really reached the levels of disturbing content that Vogel’s franchise did, and it’s hard to say whether anything will be able to go quite as far as that again. 

Unearthed Films are continuing to desensitise the audience with their ongoing release of extreme horror films, and owner Stephen Biro has an interest in pushing the boundaries of the audience. Alongside other filmmakers, Biro took inspiration from the Guinea Pig films and created the American Guinea Pig franchise, which feels as close to one of the most disturbing franchises as we have seen in recent years. With entries including Bouquet of Guts and Gore, Sacrifice, Bloodshock, The Song of Solomon and a yet to be released unknown film, the title of most disturbing franchise could be snatched away from August Underground. But the American Guinea Pig films don’t all have that same level of dirtiness when watching them, which in some ways takes away a level of disturbing from them. Which means August Underground can still be considered as perhaps the most disturbing franchise ever made.

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