THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.
by Jarrod Jones. This is Re/Play, where we take a fresh look at an older film, TV series, or video game to see if fond memories hold up under remastered scrutiny — or, failing that, whatever it is we’re doing right now. This week: August Underground’s Penance, the last entry in Fred Vogel’s found-footage series, now available on Blu-ray and DVD from MVD Entertainment.
THE MOVIE: August Underground’s Penance
ORIGINAL RELEASE DATE: March 30, 2007
NEW FORMAT: A 2-disc set, with a remastered Blu-ray transfer of the original DVD release. With stereo and mono audio formats. An MVD Entertainment exclusive.
RE/PLAYING: Here’s a first: a movie so heinous (and hazy!) that it’s impossible to source images from it that are either A) clear enough to be seen or B) interesting to feature without being totally gross. Oh well!
Those who exclusively prowl for bad vibes and a gross time might have hit the jackpot with Penance, the third and (thankfully) final film from Fred Vogel’s August Underground horror series. I chose not to eat before screening it, and my stomach is grateful for the foresight; as a showcase for convincing gore effects, Penance overachieves. The effects were done by Jerami Cruise, and sitting through the entire movie is my tribute to his work. For hardened gore hounds, the wait to see how Cruise’s methodically assembled decapitations and eviscerations are pulled off on camera is worthwhile. For virtually everyone else, Penance will be a slog.
Nobody looks for a movie like this unless they know it’s what they want to see. It’s made by horror goons for horror goons, the type of scuzzy indie feature assembled by friends and financed by paychecks and favors. August Underground is part of a scene where bands and local artists collaborate on the sick things they’re into. (Its production house, TOETAG, Inc., is based in Pittsburgh.) In Penance, The Murder Junkies (the former backing band of GG Allin) perform live. Vogel is seen getting drunk and hitting things with a hammer as he wears a brand-new shirt from a band called Rue. This is for pals and fellow travelers only, a middle finger to people who only enjoy gore movies as a small part of their broader cinematic experience. Penance is clear in its assertion: no tourists wanted.
So it’s unpleasant by design. The people who made it might call it “twisted,” and use the term unironically. Despite its edgy posturing, as an example of the found-footage splatter film, Penance is almost sweetly earnest in what it wants to accomplish. Vogel clearly wants to harness the brutality and uncomfortable soulfulness of John McNaughton’s Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer and incorporate a bit of cinema verité while he does it. (Evoking the term in this instance, as TOETAG does on its website, is like hawking a loogie in the face of Robert Drew, but still.) It follows Crustie (Cristie Whiles) and Peter (Vogel), two serial killer/lovers filming their latest murder spree, discovering their personal limits and then transgressing them again and again in a mutual downward spiral.
There’s a story here. It’s not much to work with — Crustie and Peter begin to bicker about shit about halfway through, which comes to a head once Peter takes his knife to a pregnant woman — but at least it’s something. Other rough moments begin to stack up that suggest Crustie is snapping out of her violent fugue. They break into a family’s home during Christmas and do all sorts of heinous things to a father, mother, and daughter during their stay (including opening their victims’ presents, the fiends), and when Peter goes off for a shower, Crustie stays behind and euphorically considers what she’s done. Later, Peter’s fascination with porn becomes a sticking point for Crustie, though that’s given less shape.
To summarize this movie is to revisit it in my mind, and when I do that all I get is blurry digital noise, sexual violence, a bag of guts purchased from the local butcher, and loads and loads of ass crack. Penance is scenes of Vogel and Whiles screeching at each other while Cruise squirts blood all over someone’s disgusting Pittsburgh basement. To understand it is even trickier; there might also be some commentary on the food chain and how it’s a prism through which some serial killers might view their victims, but it’s clearly there as an excuse for Vogel to film a lion eating a field-dressed deer and to show the viewer what it looks like when an alligator is fed a mouse by a pack of drunk dudes — the latter being an incredibly shitty thing to do. Still, it’s in keeping with Vogel’s ethos (if I dare use that word in this context). He’s so eager to shock and confound us that he ends up making his movie annoying — and, worse, boring.
ACTUALLY SPECIAL FEATURES: Among the disc’s many features, few of them special unless you’re a TOETAG fan, I’d recommend checking out Disemboweled: Behind the Bile, a 55-minute documentary that digs into Jerami Cruise’s gore effects — easily Penance’s greatest asset. Watching him walk Vogel through how the onscreen eviscerations work, with a basement full of friends looking on with equal parts fascination and humor, is fun. (The guy knows his craft!) There’s a chance to view Cruise’s fleshy dummies, which are impressive even when they’re not drenched in blood, and he walks away with the best quote of the entire production: “I’m gonna hook these, uh, blood tubes up.”
RE/PLAY VALUE: August Underground’s Penance is the kind of movie that demands attention from snooty film types who prefer their disturbing viewing experiences to resemble shock fare like Henry, Nekromantik, A Serbian Film, and the like. Its insistence on this front at least makes it a vivid experience for gore completionists and/or connoisseurs; this two-disc set should be a welcome addition to their archives. It has a nice retro home video look to its menu, and there’s new cover art by Paul Naylor that puts a dementedly saintly spin on Penance‘s not-so-happy couple. However, if there is a sizable enough customer base for this release, it begs the question: where’s the box set?
3/10
August Underground’s Penance is available on Blu-ray/DVD now. For purchasing information, click this.
Directed by Fred Vogel.
Written by Cristie Whiles and Fred Vogel.
Starring Fred Vogel and Cristie Whiles.
Produced by Jerami Cruise, Christie Whiles, Shelby Lyn Vogel, and Fred Vogel.
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