August Underground is a 2001 American exploitation horror film directed by Fred Vogel, who co-wrote it with Allen Peters.

After the duo are kicked out of a concert for rowdy behavior, Peter and his accomplice return to the house to find that Laura has died.

Taking inspiration from John McNaughton's Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Vogel wanted to make a film that was both "ugly" and realistic[1] while also being unique and original.

", writing: "I'm not a big fan of this series, but I admire Vogel's fearless audacity in serving up the ultimate in onscreen sadism".

[5] Chris Mayo of Severed Cinema offered similar praise: "August Underground is a true testament of what horror should be; nasty, nihilistic, raw and real".

[8] In 2005, while traveling to Canada to attend the Rue Morgue Festival of Fear in Toronto, director and co-writer Fred Vogel was arrested, pending charges of transporting obscene materials into Canada, when copies of August Underground and its sequel were found by customs officials among the merchandise he had intended to bring to the convention.

The charges were eventually dropped after Vogel had spent roughly ten hours in customs custody and his films were sent to Ottawa for further observation.