August Underground’s Penance (2007, Review)
Director: Fred Vogel
Cast: Fred Vogel, Christie “Crusty” Whiles
Toe Tag Pictures / Color / NTSC R0 / Unrated / Full Screen / Mono / 84 minutes / PURCHASE
The third installment of the AU trilogy is easily the most emotional and heartbreaking of the series. But don’t let that statement lull you into some false sense of security. It still follows the formula of “serial killer’s home movies”. Killing and maiming innocence of every kind. This time we find a couple (possibly the couple from Mordum sans the brother?) recording their deranged and sadistic antics for posterity.
Freddy V. and “Crusty” play the happy couple chronicling everything from the mundane to the horrific and everything in between. Their sick “love” takes them further and further into depravity and darkness until we start to see an unraveling of their emotions and the breakdown of their wills. All of this depreciation of mind, body and spirit turns them against one another. He begins to abuse her after she loses it and begins to sob uncontrollably and he has no idea how to console her. In turn, she begins to seethe hate for him.
You see more into the killers and realize who they are. They share things together like fireworks. He paints “I <3 U” on the ground in ketchup. You can see that there is a definite bond there but it is not healthy. When that bond deteriorates we begin to hear things like her screaming, “You’re just like your fucking dad!” as he abuses her off-camera. We also see her need for something that she is missing in her life as she fucks a random guy in the bathroom in one scene. And in another, she acts like a little girl opening Christmas presents.
The 3 movies of this series all follow a similar path of hate and destruction, but veer from that path at different times. AU was startling and real. Mordum was vile and relentless. Penance was the culmination of the other two and a very real conclusion to something that could only end sadly. The dialogue of the fights between the two was very real. The utter contempt they had for each other was unsettling. I found myself getting upset and uncomfortable.
As for the gorehounds, you guys and gals won’t be disappointed either. Penance is by far the most effects-heavy of the series. Cruise outdid himself in the blood and guts department. And the depraved violence and rape is there as well. But it plays like a tragic swan song instead of a gorefest And I, for one, think that is as real as it gets.
