August Underground's Mordum Review

Cover Art

As many of you know I'm on my quest to find the most disturbing thing around and get so disturbed i cant watch it or play it (if its a game) anymore. People ask me if there is anything Ive seen that was too much for me and Ive said "so far....no". Trust me when i tell you Ive already seen things that make Eli Roth's Hostel look like Alice in Wonderland. I'm no stranger to the disturbing. When i heard about this "little gem" i thought to myself "could I have found the one?" The "movie" is basically a recreation of a snuff film. Also hearing that other reviewers could only take it in 15 minute chunks and the director had his box of DVDs taken from him by Canada customs to see if it was real. Will this be the THE ONE?

Theres really no story or plot other than an incestuous brother and sister team up with the killer from the first August Underground (which i haven't seen). The whole movie is filmed randomized home movie style (think Hogwash but vile). No fancy camera work. It's pretty much them holding the camera capturing every moment of their rage.


What we basically have here is a 77 minute assault on the senses. It seems nothing is held back. Here we have: murder, incest, rape, torture, sodomy, castration, cutting, gutting, necrophilia, and so much more. In one moment of utter nastiness, a woman and her boyfriend are dragged out of the makeshift coffins they have been bound and gagged in. The woman is raped, while the young man is forced to sever his own penis, (very slowly) with a very tiny pair of scissors. After his penis is detached, one of our killers picks it up, performs a bit of faux felatio on it and then proceeds to use the severed penis to masturbate the young man's girlfriend with. Another time they stumble onto a rotting babies torso and started to eat the maggots off of it. Also we have a long drawn out torture scene where the girl pukes her victims (sometimes in their mouth) and they start puking.


Lets not forget the scene where a woman is psychically abused, has her stomach cut open, gets her insides pulled out and then one of the guys viciously fucks her in her exposed open stomach. Lastly the scene where one of the characters is having sex with the dead rotting body of a young girl (looks like 10) all while the girl behind the camera says to the dead girl "Sweetie....you don't have to worry about growing up anymore".

Throughout the whole thing the group reacts with complete laughing, screaming, hysteria, and erupting in random outburst of rage. It's these acts that make it every bit as disturbing as the acts the group commits. These people are not a methodical or organized gang of killers, but a fragile mess whose only reaction to the world is violence. There is no method to their madness and you as the viewer will have no idea what they will inflict on you next. It's one unnerving experience.


Adding to this violently emotional gauntlet is the visual impact of the dizzying handheld camerawork. Combined with the nauseating subject matter this is sure to inspire a more severe visceral reaction than did The Blair Witch Project’s over hyped cinematography. The gritty videotape roves through the action wildly, closing in on all gruesome details with rabid attention, and scene cuts are often as swift and random as the acts themselves. The props and gore effects are disturbingly convincing, and the plethora of maggots and repeated scenes of necrophilia are sure to provoke some degree of gut-level response. (It should be noted that while genitalia and sex acts are caught on camera, there is no explicit penetration in a hardcore XXX sense.) And it has to be said that the bonus post-credits footage sums the entire feature up quite admirably in a single short scene.




Worth the controversy?: Almost a HELL YES! This came damn close to truly disturbing me. The scene with the dead 10 year old girl ALMOST got me. While other movies have tried to recreate the snuff film, nobody has done it this well. Last movie i saw like that was Devil's Experiment. While that movie was disturbing in its own right, the effects came off as phony and the whole thing had a slight stench of cheese. Everything here is gritty and realistic. This movie i heard only had a $300 budget.....WOW. The acting is shockingly well done (almost too well done) and the effects are amazingly realistic. I guess that's expected as the director instructed classes at Tom Savini's make up effects school.

Overall: So is it actually a good movie? I'd say yes. While it is truly disturbing, I say its good because it succeeds at what it set out to do...SHOCK. To say i actually enjoyed it would be kinda misleading. The kills aren't going to give you the HELL YEAH reaction like they would in a Friday the 13th movie. This isn't the type of movie that's going to get repeat viewings. This is more of a feed your curiosity and then move on. This is about as close as your going to get to watching a snuff film without watching the real thing. Would i recommend it? Only if your the type of person (like me) who has to see it all. To be honest....the most nauseating thing about this movie was the camera work. So on a final note id like to say that this movie came damn close to pushing me over the edge but not quite. Nice try. I'm still on my quest to find that movie or game that will truly disgust and repulse me. Sadly i feel I'm so numb to these things that it will be a lost cause. I guess the search gos on!


Anyone has ideas for something to watch or play thats disturbing or just plain wierd that they would like me to review......let me know and ill do it!