Fred Vogel – August Underground (2001)

dvdmaniacs.net wrote:
Like the two movies that have come before it, this third (and supposedly final) film in the series, August Underground’s Penance, pushes the boundaries of what should be shown and rubs the viewers face in it. It’s another nasty little movie that will get under your skin and burrow in for the long haul in that there are a few images in this movie that will burn themselves into your brain. There are a lot of independent, shot on video gore films out there – few of them work, most of them suck. The August Underground movies work and succeed at what they set out to do, and that in and of itself is a rare feat.

The major difference you’ll notice right off the bat between this movie and the first two is the aspect ratio. Vogel shot the first two movies fullframe, while Penance is 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen. This does take away a bit from the ‘found snuff footage’ feel in that very few home movies are shot widescreen, but once you get over that you’ll find that it’s business as usual here and by the time we wind up in the basement, we’ve forgotten all about the somewhat glossier sides of the production (glossy being very much a relative term here).

The other thing that you’ll probably notice is that the effects in Penance are noticeably superior to those that came before it, which might be part of the reason that the cinematography is a little smoother. The camera doesn’t move as quickly or with as much jitter here as it did in its predecessors and this time around it lingers on the gore effects just a little bit longer, allowing us to admire (or wallow in) the realistic on-screen depravity. The performances are still a little rugged but in a round about way that adds to the realism – anyone messed up enough to commit the acts we witness would obviously have a few screws loose and if the actors portray the characters that way, Vogel and Whiles in particular, that’s not necessarily a bad thing nor is it really overacting in the context of this project.

That being said, this movie is very much in tune with what came before it. The aforementioned mix of sex and violence is disturbing in and of itself but when put into context alongside the more straight laced scenes of mutilation, they are certainly in keeping with the series’ tradition of showing you the worst that humanity has to offer. A quick look at the screen caps provided here shows that nothing is left to the imagination, and everything is shown in realistic, harrowing detail. The film certainly won’t be for all tastes – but for those who appreciate on whatever level the extreme side of underground cinema, the third and final chapter in the August Underground trilogy delivers exactly what you would expect it to, and whether or not you’ll admit it, exactly what you’d want it to.

August.Underground.2001.REPACK.576p.BluRay.x264.AAC.2.0-ENDSkY.mkv

General
Container:	Matroska
Runtime:	1h 11mn
Size:	2.29 GiB
DXVA:	Compatible
Minimum settings:	Met
Video
Codec:	x264
Resolution:	768x576
Aspect ratio:	4:3
Frame rate:	29.970 fps
Bit rate:	3 932 kb/s
Audio
#1:	English 2.0ch AAC LC @ 324 kb/s (English)
#2:	English 2.0ch AAC LC @ 89.6 kb/s (Commentary by Actor/Director Fred Vogel and Ultra Violent Magazine's Art Ettinger)
#3:	English 2.0ch AAC LC @ 73.8 kb/s (Commentary by Fred Vogel with Actors Aaron Labonte & Ben Labonte)
#4:	English 2.0ch AAC LC @ 74.3 kb/s (Commentary by Actor/Director Fred Vogel)
#5:	English 2.0ch AAC LC @ 118 kb/s (Commentary by 'The Killer')

https://nitro.download/view/234D48B48D869F8/August.Underground.2001.REPACK.576p.BluRay.x264.AAC.2.0-ENDSkY.mkv

Language(s):English
Subtitles:none