August Underground's Penance

In 2007's "August Underground's Penance" we are introduced to a young couple of serial killers that torture and kill innocent people. This is the third movie in the franchise and with the other two being absolutely terrible and disturbing I wasn't expecting anything else here. And obviously that's exactly what I got. This movie differentiates a little because in the beginning the movie feels a little tamer then it's predecessors. But about halfway through the movie gets off the rails and continues exactly where the other movies left. It's a sick and disturbing found footage horror movie that basically does not entertain at all. The gore is pretty good but that's about it. One movie of this kind was more than enough but this unnecessary franchise has thankfully stopped by now. [2,8/10]

There aren't many films that have turned me away completely. AU Penance was a first for me. I have never had to take a break from a film before or after this one. The August Underground films each have their "breath of fresh air" scenes in between - or even during - the more disturbing blood/vomit drenched scenes. Penance was different. Where it seems most people think that Mordum was the most disturbing in the trilogy, Penance went to a completely different level of grit and darkness. The breaths that this film took weren't enough to have strong enough laugh at to set you at ease or even kind of take you out of the disgust that was taking place. At one point, I had to stop the film and spend half an hour away from it to relax before I could finish. As the credits rolled, I sat in silence just staring at the screen unsure of how exactly I should feel. Easily the most difficult film to sit through, and easily one of my favorite films because of it. Fred Vogel and his team did an incredible job.

After the somewhat disappointing 'August Underground's Mordum', which often went beyond believability in an attempt to do outdo its predecessor, the team at ToeTag have delivered what must be one of the most nauseating, realistically disgusting and vile pieces of filth that I have ever witnessed. The film is an 84 minute catalogue of extreme depravity, sexual violence, torture and dismemberment, and hardly a minute went by where I didn't feel revulsed by what I was watching (and more than just a little bit sordid). But, of course, director Fred Vogel doesn't want viewers to enjoy Penance; he wants them to endure it, which means that the third and final movie in the August Underground series can only be hailed as a success!

The aim of Penance is to make damn sure that anyone watching it sees murder as it truly is: an ugly act that is nasty, messy and totally repugnant. Viewers are made to feel sickened by what they witness. Vogel's on-screen killers, a couple of psychos (played by the director himself and Mordum's Cristie Whiles) who enjoy nothing more than inflicting pain and suffering on complete strangers, are neither glamourised or exaggerated, nor are they portrayed as anti-heroes; they're shown to be real people—albeit bloody scary ones who would be perfectly happy to remove your head from your shoulders without giving it a second thought.

Once again, the film consists of random video footage shot by the twisted twosome as they go about their day-to-day business, attacking the homeless, going to rock gigs, indulging in drugs and, of course, raping and killing innocent people. This time, however, the quality is not that of a degraded VHS tape (as in the previous two AU films), but digital (and in widescreen), meaning that the viewer gets to see every last sickening detail.

And what sights they have to show us: Vogel's character wrestles with entrails whilst trying to disembowel a corpse, removes a foetus from a pregnant victim, and (unsuccessfully) tries to rape a woman after having smashed her husband over the head with a hammer; Whiles's soulless bitch slowly squeezes the life out of a child, gleefully hacks up a deer (which is later fed to the scariest lion in existence), and also indulges in her fair share of vicious torture and bloody dismemberment. Every last second of each hideous act is unflinchingly captured by the roving camera, and watching without wincing is not an easy trick. The gruesome effects are top notch and praise must be given to effects man Jerami Cruise for successfully turning my (usually cast-iron) stomach several times.

With the OTT approach of the second film replaced by the more realistic feel of the first, Penance is a satisfactory end to a unique and very unsettling series of films. I now hope that Vogel leaves the 'pseudo-snuff' genre well alone and turns his attention to making the zombie film that he has mentioned in the past.

As with the other AU movies, I find it a hard film to rate. It's not 'enjoyable', and at times it plods (the first twenty minutes are pretty uneventful), but it's a powerful work that you just cannot ignore, and for that reason Penance gets 7.5 out of 10 (rounded up to 8 for IMDb).

I'm a big fan of shock and gore films,but this heap of crap wasn't worth the power it took to run my laptop as I watched it...for FREE THANK GOODNESS! It's the same 'ol hash in a different package. If you've seen ONE August Underground "movie" (and I use the word movie LOOSELY) then you've seen them all pretty much. The ONLY redeeming quality of these "movies" is that the gore looks pretty real. Actually better than some HIGH BUDGET films. Aside from that...this "movie" has absolutely nothing new to offer you. Go do a search for "shockumentaries"and you will find much MUCH better films to satisfy your shock and gore needs. I WISH I had my time back with this pile of garbage. Toodles.

The final part in the "August Underground" trilogy has been a long awaited affair. Four years after the over-the-top graphic spectacle of "Mordum", Toe Tog Pictures' "Penance" has finally seen the cold light of day. With much expectation behind Vogel's concluding chapter in this bloody series, there was always the danger of the production being a disappointment for the legion of fans around the world. Thankfully, the finished film is an accomplished offering that is actually better than its predecessors.

Starting with a surprising scene in which things don't go quite as planned for Vogel's character and his equally disturbed girlfriend, again played by Cristie Whiles, the film then takes a temporary break into normality. It must be said, Whiles is always a delight to watch. Introduced in "Mordum" as a psychotic powerhouse with a penchant for vomiting and abusing her female captives, her character in "Penance" is going through a transformation. Physically, Whiles looks different in this film - gone are the confrontational punk looks of the earlier film, replaced by a beautiful girl-next-door appearance. Vogel is instantly recognisable - a huge bear of a man with a kind face that turns psychotically satanic when events start to go bad. Vogel's the mastermind behind the series and his presence in the film is a welcome one. In "Mordum", Vogel had been on the outskirts of most of the action. Here, he's well and truly involved and the film's a return to the style of the original "August Underground".

Watching the two characters enjoy a break is entertaining and the viewer can enjoy the relative peace before the storm. In fact, I actually found myself dreading the moments when their normal behaviour started to change and they started to explore their darker obsessions. Their run-in with a homeless man, realistically played by Toetag fan and competition winner Fuctup, is the first sign during their vacation that these characters won't be at peace for long.

For those seeking gore and violence, this installment won't disappoint but it's not the same intense, fluid-splattered, unrelenting roller-coaster as "Mordum". The set-pieces in "Penance" seem more confidently delivered. There's less emphasis on the extreme and more time spent on character development and atmosphere. If anything, it's a hybrid of the first two films, taking the best elements of both and coming up with an end result that's well paced and satisfying.

What really works in favour of "Penance" is the clean, crisp presentation of the video footage. The absence of any degradation of the video source gives the impression that the viewer is watching the original digital tape, straight out of the camera. As a result, there's been more time spent on the serial killers' set-dressing and the wonderfully grisly and original effects. Gorehounds take note - Jerami Cruise's work on "Penance" is splendid.

As with the earlier films, this is a confrontational horror film. It takes no prisoners, from its startling Christmas intruder scene and numerous scenes of sexual humiliation and rape to the real demise of a rat at the jaws of a hungry 'gator. "Penance" will undoubtedly offend a lot of viewers but despite its characters, the film has a moral centre. "August Underground"'s message is a simple one. Violence is not sexy.

There's a moment in the film when the characters watch a lion being fed raw "meat", some of which you wouldn't expect to find in your local supermarket. It's probably not intentional but the lion seems a metaphor for the killers. They're trapped in a world where they're forced to take scraps to stay alive, caged in an environment where their true natures are constrained largely by society's rules.

When the film reaches its climatic, sudden and ambiguous end, there's a feeling of sadness. Sadness for the tragic waste of life that's been displayed on the screen for some 80-odd minutes? Perhaps. The tale certainly makes you reflect on what you've seen and the bleakness of it all. But there's also sadness that this is very probably the final installment ever of "August Underground", a series that has reinvented the horror genre and taken viewers to a new, disturbing place.

10 out of 10. Love it or hate it, this is an incredible achievement for a zero-budgeted independent film. I'm confident that Toe Tag will become more mainstream in the future. Such a move is essential for monetary reasons alone. However, I'll miss the on-screen chemistry of Vogel and Whiles. They've shown a new face of horror that doesn't wear a hockey mask and which is frighteningly real.