Perry Kate Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Titreenp SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Catherina If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

BA_Harrison 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).

HumanoidOfFlesh "August Underground's Penance" is basically the personal home video of two sociopathic killers on murder spree.Again two nameless butchers played by Fred Vogel and Cristie Whiles videotape their bloodthirsty madness,but "Penance" shows also their slow decline.First of all I'm not a big fan of "August Underground" series.Still as a lover of extreme cinema who had previously seen "August Underground" and "August Underground's Mordum" I really wanted to see the final installment.This time the faux-VHS look of Mordum has been tossed aside in favor of a more contemporary digital look.The gore effects made by ToeTag crew are very convincing and the violence is dirty and vile.There are some boring moments,but overall "Penance" is not as perverted and repulsive as "Mordum".7 out of 10.

angrymidget19 Holy ****, this movie is a hell of a ride. It demonstrates the volatile relationship between Fred and Crusty, their eventual hatred of each other, Fred's utter remorselessness and Crusty's self loathing and hatred for hers and Fred's deeds. It starts off with a nice bit of violence, always a great way to kick off an underground film. From there, it goes to a bit of beauty, which is not without its methods of getting under the viewer's skin in ways not thought possible by the simple video.In one scene, Fred assaults a homeless man, played by the Toe Tag Forum's very own Fuctup34 (whose piercings must weigh more than his head by now). To the average person, this is a simple act of dramatized assault. To the more in-depth watcher, it's much more. That happens every day, and that's the marvel of these films. It shows what happens every day, but what society turns a blind eye to. The rapes. The murders. Assault and robbery. Toe Tag Pictures has done it again by showing us what the public doesn't want to know.Please, if you liked Mordum, and expect this to have the same all out guts and gore approach, then avoid it. This one, though it has its gory moments, including a very graphic and gut wrenching (pun definitely intended) gutting scene, is not about that. It's disturbing, not in a "Silence of the Lambs/Hannibal Lecter" way, not in a "Saw" way (if one can call Saw disturbing) and not in a "The Eye/The Changeling" way. It's something unlike anything you've ever experienced, especially the soon-to-be-infamous "Christmas" scene (trust me, if you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about, and you agree).Once more, everything in this film has a purpose, nothing is just to make it longer. Everything from Crusty and Fred's drives through the city, to them firing guns at targets (not live targets, to those wondering). It all has a purpose, and it all serves its purpose very well.The reason this film is so great is because you don't just see the horrible, perversion that you saw in Mordum, you see Fred and Crusty having fun, you see them as normal people, then get slapped in the face with another kill. Like a deer in the headlights, you want to look away, you know you have to look away, but you just can't, and that's why though the violence is much less intense than Mordum, it hits so much harder emotionally.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!SPOILER WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The end is one of the most powerful scenes. In it, Crusty has a mental breakdown (one that had been building since the very beginning, not just shitty out of the blue), places the camera on top of the toilet, and strangles herself (again, not just random bull****, it's done very well, and very horrific, harder hitting than any amount of gore at this point could be). She fails the first time, and almost collapses, panting. So, she tries again shortly afterward, and collapses. We hear a sharp thud, and see a bit of movement (as well as a hand in the bathtub, which, in the slideshow on the DVD, we see belongs to a woman's corpse, we don't know who) and that's it. It leaves the viewer wondering what happened to the bound woman in the basement? is Fred still alive (while he was sleeping, Crusty stood over him, anyone who's seen it would agree, you'd expect her to kill him)? Is Crusty actually dead? We will never know, and personally, I'm not sure if Fred knows. Perhaps he designed it that way because he may think any ending he could give it would be a cliché, or perhaps it's just one of those things the public isn't meant to know.One theory, nothing has been confirmed by Fred Vogel (though it has been hinted that this may be correct), but one theory on Crusty's breakdown is that in the bathtub was her miscarriage (which would explain her complaints throughout the movie). This would also explain why Crusty began sobbing upon seeing the forced abortion of the woman, and the fetus on the table.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!END OF SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For more information on this film, and other Toe Tag Films (such as August Underground, or August Underground's Mordum, as well as The Redsin Tower) or to purchase it, go to www.toetagpictures.com Rating: Acting: 10/10 Story: 8/10 Gore: 10/10 Character Development (one of the most amazing aspects of this film): 10/10 Disturbing Factor: 12/10 Overall: 10/10 The best horror movie to come out in the past 20 years. I challenge anyone to name a better one. If you think you know better than me, email what you think is the best horror in the past 20 years to Matt@angrymidget.net

fertilecelluloid The scariest and most disturbing thing about "August Underground's Penance" is that Fred Vogel and his team of no-talents deemed what they'd shot worthy of release. This is a tedious, protracted, poorly photographed piece of video age masturbation about two losers (a male and female) who waste their lives indulging in psychotic behavior. Unfortunately, that psychotic behavior is boring and not fit for the most amateurish of home movies. There is some gore and ugly nudity, and an alligator eats a live mouse, but none of this redeems the endless, directionless, vertigo-inducing scenes of pseudo-shock that make up this rotten failure. There are no characters, there is no story, the Killers' POV perspective is now clichéd and done to death, and the ultra-shaky camera-work just further illustrates the lack of intelligence and talent behind this abortion. If I ever have to watch another Fred Vogel piece of anti-cinema, I'll poke my eyes out and puncture my ear drums. As penance for making this crap, the filmmakers should refrain from touching a camera for the next one hundred years.