After I watched August Underground's Mordum I found myself asking just one simple question...What was the point? The story is non-existent, it jumps from one scene to another with no explanation and seemed to concentrate exclusively on the most horrible depravities. It's not the content of the film I object to, after all it is just a film, but without any justification of the violence it is merely an exploitation film that requires absolutely no thought.
The script is also non-existent and sounded amateurish in the extreme. I read somewhere that it was mainly improvised, supposedly to make it sound more realistic, well it didn't, it was just annoying. The dialogue did nothing to explain their actions and mainly consisted of childish insults and shouting.
The camera-work was so shaky as to make it virtually unwatchable. I don't buy into the theory that somehow this cinema verite style added to the realism. It seemed to me that it was used to disguise some of the dodgier special effects.
But my biggest objection to this film is the claim that it is somehow "disturbing". I would like to quote Fred Vogel himself, when asked about August Underground series, who said "So looking back I think we've what made, and I think we made the most disturbing films to ever come out of America." And asked about the end scene of August Underground's Mordum "going back over to Jeramis' to rewatch the footage, and I started to well-up and was ready to cry because I knew that we'd done something special. And that was either we'd filmed the most disturbing scene ever captured in a movie, or we were going to jail!" Sorry Mr Vogel, I disagree. It's extreme for sure, certainly the most extreme film i've ever seen. It's graphic almost beyond description, exceptionally violent, repulsive in the extreme and unbelievably gory. Fair enough, I have no problem with that it's just a work fiction after all, it's not actually real (thankfully!) but you seem to think that gore and repulsion equals disturbing and horrific.
It would've be disturbing if we knew why they felt the need to do what they do. What actually caused them to sink to such depravity and cruelty? What caused them to choose the victims they did? And how did each of the killers relate to each other? Did they help fuel each others depravity? The psychology of the killers was totally ignored, instead August Undeground's Mordum concentrated purely on the violence itself. This renders August Underground's Mordum an exploitation film and nothing more.
I will concede that the final scene of the dead girl in the bath being raped is disturbing, but only due to the unbelievably extreme subject matter, and not due to any skill shown by the filmmakers. Yet Irreversible's rape scene manages to be just as disturbing without being anywhere near as extreme, purely because it's much, much, more skillfully directed. Overall Irreversible managed to be a much more disturbing film than August Underground's Mordum and yet there was comparatively little violence.
In conclusion, despite the lofty claims of Vogel, August Underground's Mordum is nothing more than an exploitation film, that revels in it's own violence but fails to justify it. Yes it does push extremes, and that brings me back to my original question...What's the point?
The script is also non-existent and sounded amateurish in the extreme. I read somewhere that it was mainly improvised, supposedly to make it sound more realistic, well it didn't, it was just annoying. The dialogue did nothing to explain their actions and mainly consisted of childish insults and shouting.
The camera-work was so shaky as to make it virtually unwatchable. I don't buy into the theory that somehow this cinema verite style added to the realism. It seemed to me that it was used to disguise some of the dodgier special effects.
But my biggest objection to this film is the claim that it is somehow "disturbing". I would like to quote Fred Vogel himself, when asked about August Underground series, who said "So looking back I think we've what made, and I think we made the most disturbing films to ever come out of America." And asked about the end scene of August Underground's Mordum "going back over to Jeramis' to rewatch the footage, and I started to well-up and was ready to cry because I knew that we'd done something special. And that was either we'd filmed the most disturbing scene ever captured in a movie, or we were going to jail!" Sorry Mr Vogel, I disagree. It's extreme for sure, certainly the most extreme film i've ever seen. It's graphic almost beyond description, exceptionally violent, repulsive in the extreme and unbelievably gory. Fair enough, I have no problem with that it's just a work fiction after all, it's not actually real (thankfully!) but you seem to think that gore and repulsion equals disturbing and horrific.
It would've be disturbing if we knew why they felt the need to do what they do. What actually caused them to sink to such depravity and cruelty? What caused them to choose the victims they did? And how did each of the killers relate to each other? Did they help fuel each others depravity? The psychology of the killers was totally ignored, instead August Undeground's Mordum concentrated purely on the violence itself. This renders August Underground's Mordum an exploitation film and nothing more.
I will concede that the final scene of the dead girl in the bath being raped is disturbing, but only due to the unbelievably extreme subject matter, and not due to any skill shown by the filmmakers. Yet Irreversible's rape scene manages to be just as disturbing without being anywhere near as extreme, purely because it's much, much, more skillfully directed. Overall Irreversible managed to be a much more disturbing film than August Underground's Mordum and yet there was comparatively little violence.
In conclusion, despite the lofty claims of Vogel, August Underground's Mordum is nothing more than an exploitation film, that revels in it's own violence but fails to justify it. Yes it does push extremes, and that brings me back to my original question...What's the point?