i must have seen a different film!!

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Penance is the third and final film of the August Underground trilogy.If you have seen the first 2 you will know of the grainy, amateur camera work used. This time it seems the killers have bought a new camcorder. The picture is much better quality but still amateur like making you believe that this is for real.Again, it's very gory and disturbing for some but doesn't have quite the intensity of some of the extreme scenes in Mordum. Still it's a class act and Fred Vogul has done yet another great job both directing and acting. The effects are fantastic and it's certainly pushing the boundaries again although not as much as Mordum.Not for everyone but a very good view for gore hounds.

The shock film, August Underground's Penance, is the pinnacle of holiday filth. I suggest using your Christmas stockings once you run out of barf bags, you'll definitely need them for this movie! T'is the season for child molesting and baby killing! The August Underground trilogy is a collection of snuff footage filmed by the murderers, one male and one female, themselves. The first August Underground is disturbing in the way that it depicts a snuff film so accurately. August Underground's Mordum, as far as I am concerned, is the most disgusting and upsetting movie ever made. So what does the latest installment have to offer? Pure unabashed gore! Blood, guts, intestines, nails through the head, disembowelment, cigarette burns, limb sawing and heads being opened like Christmas presents! Thanks to the special features section in Penance we learn that real pig intestines were used in the film making the actors sick to their stomachs! Yes, these poor psychopaths actually got immortalized vomiting nearly constantly during the taping. The effects in this gore-fest are so realistic that the Toe Tag crew decided to use a better quality camera then in their previous movies to show off their skills and attention to detail. This film shows the character development of the killers and adds that touch of humanity to contribute to the realism to this movie. And, while Penance may not be as disgusting as Mordum, it does manage to supply a generous amount of its own sickness to the trilogy.Which brings us to the only thing worse than Christmas carolers; home invaders! Focus on a standard suburban family. Let's call them the Cleavers. Each of the Cleaver family is beaten, raped and killed all on Christmas day. It's better to give then to receive! Of all the atrocities committed on this family the worst by far is done to sweet baby Jane. After the killers viciously beat and rape the sweet lass, her butcher delivers one of the cruelest lines in cinematic history: "Kill it." Did you get that? Not her - "it." Another offensive scene which actually triggers the emotion of one of the killers highlights a very realistic looking fetus being ripped from a mother's womb. The female slayer finally breaks down and cries once she realizes they've finally go too far. The dead mother-to-be experiences the one instance where it's not better getting your present too early! Taking violence to another level all together. It is chilling the way these serial killers are portrayed so believably. August Underground's Penance also has an ending that has to be seen to be believed! The final scene might leave fans a little choked up.August Underground's Penance is a shockingly gruesome movie filled with anger, torture, and ejaculation. It looks like it will be a White Christmas after all! This film is a holiday must own for any true gore-hound like me!

Don't know why I'm just now getting around to giving my thoughts on AUGUST UNDERGROUND'S PENANCE - I watched it quite a while ago, and typically try to give my 2 cents shortly after viewing. I guess it didn't make that much of an impression on me, though honestly - I'm not surprised about that. I'm not a real big fan of this series (or the fake-snuff genre in general...) - but I like to keep up on the latest "shock" films out there, so of course I had to give this one a whirl too...If you've seen the other AU films - PENANCE is much of the same: Guy and girl "serial killers" graphically murder people and then do a whole bunch of boring sh!t - all captured on their cam-corder.Compared to the other two AU films, I liked (and I use the term "liked" quite loosely...) PENANCE more than the first AU film, and less than MORDUM. There were a few elements to PENANCE that were a bit stronger than AU (the "downward spiral" of the main characters in this entry particularly), but it lacked the gleeful and almost cartoonish violence of MORDUM which made that entry notable. If you're a fan of the other entries in the series, then I'm pretty sure you'll dig this one too. If not, then skip it - the material has been handled pretty much the same way in the other two films...5/10

First of all , I feel an irresistible urge to say something about those " Fred - Vogel - and his - gang - of - non - talents - made -a horrible - piece - of crap " reviews . OK , I acknowledge the fact that we're all entitled to have our own opinion and like or dislike all sorts of things , but for God's sake , how can anyone state something that's obviously not true and ignore things that are apparently there ? Is orange blue ? Is cat a mouse ? Unbelievably small crew , using equally small budget , makes a horror movie so terrifying , meticulous , realistic , important and effective that all the slasher - ghost - haunted house - mutated zombie - cannibal inbred redneck killer nonsense put together fades away when compared . These people are talented . These people are intelligent . There are characters in this movie , there is even a story , albeit a simple one . This is not some amateurish attempt at shocking people , this is extreme horror at it's best .That being said , I can go on to reviewing .What we have here , in the 3rd part of August Underground series , is a complete downfall of our beloved , slimy , pathetic characters . I have to admit that I enjoyed their suffering , that's how much I started to hate them . And exactly because of that I felt that there is something lacking in Penance : we don't get to see more of their misery . That's too bad . But what we DO see is educational : these killers obviously get less and less pleasure from all the twisted things they do , and that's something that happens in reality with serial killers. There is some character development , especially in the case of Crusty's character . The scene when she breaks down and cries " I wanna die ! " is one of the strongest - and definitely proves that she is a good actress . Besides , she looks a lot better in this sequel because she got thin and really cute ( except in certain scenes where she applied some really horrible make - up to show us the physical effect of her decline ) , I wish she stays that way ... but that's slightly off - topic . Fred's character still shows no remorse , but apparently disintegrates .Of course , Mr Cruise did a brilliant job with special effects , make - up is also top notch , and acting very good . The whole crew works like a precise , powerful mechanism . The movie is delivered with great force and without compromise or relenting . I'm not saying it's perfect - I prefer Mordum , because I think it's stronger - but this is still some very serious horror cinematography , no doubt about it . It becomes apparent if you get to see the snuff edition which contains some deleted scenes and audio commentary from the crew . There is also a documentary about making of two scenes that involve some nasty disemboweling . Yummmy , yummy .All in all , Toetag crew are my definite favorites when it comes to contemporary horror movies and I can't wait to see their future projects . I give Penance 9 out of ten . It's one of the best horror movies I've seen so far .