The problems with this movie are obvious and not worth discussing at length (the dialog is unnatural and badly written, the "actual events" are completely fictional, etc). The initial school, party, family, and news scenes are handled smoothly, but aren't particularly engaging. There's enough story and character development to keep the viewer interested until the incredible last third of the film.
However, this movie accomplishes many things that very few movies in this vein could ever hope to accomplish. It's actually chilling and disturbing. The first shot of the blue barrel in the final 22 minutes is disturbing because you KNOW (or have a pretty good idea of) what it contains before it is even opened. The thirteen minutes that follow the opening of the barrel are just as disturbing as the girl pleads to an unresponsive gravedigger.
Although the film might initially appear similar to films such as David Schwimmer's Trust (2010), it eventually winds up being much closer to darker works such as Gregory William's 2007 film adaptation of the Jack Ketchum book The Girl Next Door. This film understands what scores of trashy fake snuff films such as August Underground fail to grasp - it's not the gore or brutal nature of what happens that is truly disturbing, but the coldness and finality of the criminal actions.
Review by DeletedBlockedParentSpoilers2015-04-06T08:42:34Z
The problems with this movie are obvious and not worth discussing at length (the dialog is unnatural and badly written, the "actual events" are completely fictional, etc). The initial school, party, family, and news scenes are handled smoothly, but aren't particularly engaging. There's enough story and character development to keep the viewer interested until the incredible last third of the film.
However, this movie accomplishes many things that very few movies in this vein could ever hope to accomplish. It's actually chilling and disturbing. The first shot of the blue barrel in the final 22 minutes is disturbing because you KNOW (or have a pretty good idea of) what it contains before it is even opened. The thirteen minutes that follow the opening of the barrel are just as disturbing as the girl pleads to an unresponsive gravedigger.
Although the film might initially appear similar to films such as David Schwimmer's Trust (2010), it eventually winds up being much closer to darker works such as Gregory William's 2007 film adaptation of the Jack Ketchum book The Girl Next Door. This film understands what scores of trashy fake snuff films such as August Underground fail to grasp - it's not the gore or brutal nature of what happens that is truly disturbing, but the coldness and finality of the criminal actions.