August Underground's Penance(2007)

Has someone ever handed you a movie, not telling you one thing about it, only telling you to watch it. What if that tape was the personal home video of two sociopaths on a killing spree? This is their home movie, for their eyes-only. This is August Underground's PENANCE. The third and final film in the AU franchise Directed By Fred Vogel and Starring Cristie "Crusty" Whiles. PENANCE shows the dark decline of the two nameless killers from the previous films as they continue to videotape their madness on their path to destruction.

This is the long awaited third and final film in the August Underground trilogy. Was this film worth the wait? Yes it was worth every fucking second. August Underground's Penance starts out as the other two films(August Underground and August Underground's Mordum) did by just showing you the every day life's of the two killers played by director Fred Vogel and the lovely Cristie(Crusty)Whiles. The killers are more brutal than ever, but all good things must come to a end. Penance being the third and final film shows the downfall of killers.

If you are a fan of the other August Underground films you will absolutely eat this up. This is by far the goriest of the three, also probably the most realistic. Fred set out to make a film to shock us and he succeeded. The effects in the movie are extremely well done, Jeremy Cruise did an amazing job.

August Underground's Penance will be reviled March 30th at the Cinema Wasteland(http://www.cinemawasteland.com) convention in Strongsville Ohio. There are pre-orders up in the Toe Tag Picture shop for August Undergrounds Penance(two versions the limited to 1000 snuff edition and the regular version).

For more information on the August Underground films and Toe Tag Pictures go to http://www.toetagpictures.com/.

August Underground(2001)

August Underground is by no mean a film for anyone, it is one of the/if not the best fake snuff film ever made. Directed by Fred Vogel, August Underground tells you about two killers in there every day life. It shows you every aspect like them going to a concert and having fun, all the way to rubbing shit in a girls cut off nipple.

Fred wanted to make a ultra realistic film, and he succeeded. The effects are amazing, every little detail is there. This film does not over show what could happen he keeps it real and what could really happen in real life.

Toe Tag Pictures have put together the ultimate August Underground DVD. There are tons of extras on this release, there are your standard trailers and photo galleries along with a introduction from director/star Fred Vogel. But this is not even scratching the surface.

First there is the documentary “Hammer to The Head: A Closer Look at A.U.” This starts of as Fred Vogel talking about the film it self and inspirations he had for the making of the film. Then it moves in to “August Underground on Location” where it goes around and shows the shooting locations that was used in the film along with some funny stories of what happed, any goofs. Thinking this would be enough? No, there is also another part entitled “August Underground behind the Brutality” where it interviews people and cast that were involved in the film and talks about the making of it and all the hard work that went in to filming it and doing all of the special effects.

The second documentary on the disc is “August Underground “Too Real For Comfort” An Outsider’s Perspective”, which it interviews various people about the first time they seen August Underground and what do they think will become of the film. They interview such people as Art Ettinger of Ultra Violent Magazine, Nick Palumbo of Murder-Set-Pieces and other various people.

There are also three commentary tracks. One with Fred Vogel, another with Fred Vogel and Ben LaBonte, and a snuff edition exclusive titled “Killer Commentary”.

Also be sure to check out the sequel to August Underground called August Underground's Mordum. There is also a third and final part to the film being released at the Cinema Wasteland convention in Ohio.

August Underground is a film that will change the horror business, Fred Vogel and Toe Tag Pictures are out to scare the shit out of you not to pussy-foot around like all the other crap that is being made today. I would love to salute Fred and Toe Tag Pictures for this amazing film they have made. Don’t expect going in to this as another one of these controversial horror films, you have no plot, no story, just pure carnage as you follow around two friend with there sick and twisted adventures. I warn you, this is one of the most sick, vile, twisted movies have/will ever see so if you don’t think you are up to it stay the fuck away or you will feel the power of the hammer.

For more information on the August Underground films and Toe Tag Pictures go to http://www.toetagpictures.com/.

Pig(1998)

Rozz Williams and Nico B.'s Pig is a black and white short film depicting the relationship between a killer and his victim unleashing a storm of mutilation, torture, and strangely, a bonding connection between those very two objects in the film. The film itself isn't by any means a normal picture in either the horror or art genres but it most certainly does tell an unsettling story that I'm sure many individuals could relate to watching the 23 minute short. The entire movie is metaphorical and unrealistic but it does contain some explicit homo-erotic themes along with nudity and sadomasochistic acts that maybe difficult for some people to watch.

First and for most, I'd like to point out that all of the S&M torture in the film is real, all the blood and cutting with the razor which plays a big role in the whole morale and point of the film. While it is based off personal demons the co-director and man responsible for the film being made, Rozz Williams(who killed himself shortly after the film was made), it is still a very watchable movie for everyone. It has a a considerate amount of gore even though the mutilation is real(but how much blood can a human shed, really?), it has a great style in the art department including 2 great settings, the hell-degreed desert of death valley and an old beaten up house which a serial killer of the nature examined in this film could very well live in, and this is one of the few short films I have witnessed that could be taken any way depending on the viewer. The interpretation on this particular short could be taken depending on the viewers personal demons or philosophic nature just like Rozz intended. It's a gore film that make you think yourself scared which is horror at it's best!

As for the actual dvd, theres only one release which is by Cult Epics which is also numbered and limited so the price range of the dvd is around 45-55 USD, not to say that isn't a reasonable price. The dvd is crammed full of extras including commentaries by Nico B., an extra super 8-mm test short, a Rozz Williams tribute video(on account of his suicide), Rozz's suicide note, the book used in the film made by Rozz Williams entitled "Why God Permits Evil", and a few other goodies. Overall it's an expensive but well worth it package.

Niku daruma (1998)

Niku darum also knows as Psycho: The Snuff Reels, also known as Tumbling Doll Of Flesh. There are many titles for this film but no matter what you decide to call it, we all can agree on one thing, this is an extremely brutal and sadistic film. Ignore the Japanese's pixelation around the crotch(of both male and female), and you are in a treat for a great pseudo-snuff film.

The film starts off as a normal porno shoot with a girl coming in and getting banged, your typically porno. After this they proceed to start doing a bondage scene, you think this is where things would go bad but no. At the end of the shoot they are all just hanging out and eating noodle(what a surprise) . When the girl tries to leave the house she is greeted with a baseball bat to the head and is instantly knocked out. She wakes up tied up to a bed with a bandage around the head, the men decide to reduce her to an "Tumbling Doll of Flesh".

Niku daruma can have its boring parts, the first half of the movie is just a porno with no blood or fun. One thing about the film that may bother some people is that the film is all in Japaneses and has no subtitles, but then again this film doest really need to be heard to understood what is going on. It is rare that you would find the original Japaneses VHS, so keep your eyes out of a cheap DVD-R bootleg of this to check it out.