“Snoop Dogg’s least favourite film” – IMDB
August Underground’s Mordum is a 2003 American found-footage extreme horror film, written and directed by Jerami Cruise, Killjoy, Michael Todd Schneider, Fred Vogel, and Cristie Whiles. The film is the second entry in the notorious August Underground trilogy, also consisting of August Underground (2001), and the final film in the series, August Underground Penance (2007); produced by ToeTag Productions.
Obsessed with inflicting pain on others while recording everything on tape, brutal serial killer Peter Mountain is still at large. After making friends with two new perverts: sadomasochistic Crusty and her mentally challenged brother Maggot, the diabolical sadists are hell-bent on broadening their horizons, willing to experiment with self-mutilation, decaying corpses, evisceration, and rape. However, when yet another psychopath enters the picture, eager to hang out with them, depravity reaches new heights.
Being a sequel to one of the most infamous pieces of extreme cinema ever created, the cast and crew were well aware that if they were to succeed in creating a more memorable experience than the original, they would need to go the extra mile to create one of the most disturbing and grotesque pieces of film to date (as the saying goes, go big or go home).
Undoubtedly, the final product released to the masses far surpassed that of the prequel, delivering one of the most sickening visual displays imaginable. All the visceral scenes of torture and debauchery certainly dwarf the originals in sheer veracity and turbulence, delivering an experience that’s near impossible to forget. Barbaric acts of self-mutilation (both willing and forced), evisceration, and necrophilia, as well as scenes of general-purpose humiliation and torture assault the audience with such intensity that there is little respite to be had.
Additionally, the segue scenes that connect these acts of extreme violence are less meandering than in the original. While these scenes in August Underground slowed the momentum gained to a crawl at times, the same cannot be said for August Underground’s Mordum—successfully maintaining its chaotic atmosphere throughout. With fewer of these scenes overall and a better flow between them, they still serve their purpose of book-ending the acts of savagery whilst avoiding being too cumbersome.
As the cameraman character from the original film is absent from the sequel, our main protagonist, Peter (Fred Vogal), is accompanied by two new protagonists, Peter’s new girlfriend, Crusty (Cristie Whiles), and her brother, Maggot (Michael Todd Schneider). With the addition of this sadistic pair comes their kinship that goes far beyond that of normal siblings—graphically depicting their incestuous relationship with each other. Indeed, it seems as if Peter, the psychotic maniac from the first film, is the voice of reason in August Underground’s Mordum. Although still guilty of committing heinous acts, his cruelty and blood-lust are nothing compared to that of the perverse and twisted minds of this demented duo.
With each taking their turn behind the camera, the film’s amateur style features a vastly alternating style of cinematography throughout. These fluctuating visual designs, whilst not discernibly different from each other with their varying, unrestrained perspectives, are certainly representative of each of their mindset. Whilst Peter chooses to use wide static shots at times to capture footage, Crusty and Maggot’s style of camerawork is overly frenzied with lots of unstable close-ups and disorientating pans that all offer a different insight into the mind that has control of the audience’s perspective.
Furthermore, the practical effects utilised are exceptionally pragmatic throughout; as was the case in the first film. However, Mordum still manages to raise the stakes on the original with some amazingly true-to-life-looking bodies in various states of decay. The main examples of this would be the bodies of two specific victims that are featured; their authentic size and realistic features are unequivocally disturbing in their precipitous reveal (especially during the bathroom scene).
The most notorious film in a trilogy considered to be the most extreme cinema ever created, August Underground’s Mordum is a sickening roller coaster of murder and mayhem that both reaches dizzying heights and unthinkable lows to produce some of the most putrid cinema ever conceived. With its nihilistic attitude towards… well, everything, maladroit visual design, and unflinching cruelty, the film certainly set a high bar that many creators have tried to surpass, yet have failed to make a similar impact to the genre as Fred Vogal and his magnum opus.
August Underground’s Mordum (2003) is available to purchase from Unearthed Films website here.
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Hey there, I’m Jim and I’m located in London, UK. I am a Writer and Managing Director here at Grimoire of Horror. A lifelong love of horror and writing has led me down this rabbit hole, allowing me to meet many amazing people and experience some truly original artwork. I specialise in world cinema, manga/graphic novels, and video games but will sometime traverse into the unknown in search of adventure.