August Underground is a 2001 horror film, and the first release of Toe Tag Pictures.You know that sequence in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer where Henry and Otis break into a house and videotape themselves torturing and murdering the residents? Stretch that out to feature length and you pretty much have August Underground.Presented as a degraded serial killer home movie, the film follows a sadistic psychopath named Peter as he commits random acts of torture and murder, all of it recorded by his unnamed and unseen (but very talkative) accomplice. Among the people they brutalize and/or kill are a female hitchhiker, an old woman, a convenience store clerk and two of his customers, twin brothers, and a pair of prostitutes. A girl named Laura is also kept captive in Peter's basement, beside the corpse of her dead and castrated boyfriend, Michael.A sequel, subtitled Mordum, followed in 2003. This time around, Peter is being helped out by his sadomasochistic girlfriend Crusty, and her sexually depraved manchild brother Maggot, with whom she has an incestuous relationship. The trio initially get along well (barring random outbreaks of infighting) but after a while, things turn sour between Peter and Maggot over the affection of Crusty.The final installment of the series, Penance, was released in 2007. Unlike its predecessors, the footage of this one is near-mint, so we can see all the horrors inflicted upon the victims in crystal clarity. Now it's just Peter and Crusty, whose unstable relationship is barely maintained by their mutual love of serial murder, though after a while that stops being enough, and the two deranged individuals start to turn their violent impulses on each other.Of the three, Mordum is the most well known, and with good reason; coming off like an experiment to create "the sickest film evar!" it features things like rape with a severed penis, and a blood and vomit-covered woman being cut open and "gut fucked". Obviously not for your average, sane moviegoer.
This series provides examples of the following tropes:
A Date with Rosie Palms: The female hitchhiker in August Underground, after some coercion. ("Make a finger disappear!")
While Crusty is molesting, tormenting and puking on a pair of women in Mordum, Peter and Maggot jerk off while filming it.
A Love to Dismember: After Maggot forces a man to cut off his own penis in Mordum, the chunk of dick is taken by Crusty, who violates a woman with it.
Alternate DVD Commentary: The first film has one by Peter, and it comes complete with him torturing a hapless victim in the background.
An Arm and a Leg: August Underground has Michael being dismembered post-mortem, and later one of the twin brothers has a leg hacked off with a meat cleaver.
Big Bad Duumvirate: Peter and the cameraman in August Underground, and Peter and Crusty in Penance.
Bi the Way: The prostitutes in August Underground.
Blood Bath: At the end of Mordum (after it has long lost coherency) Peter drags a near-nude Maggot under a woman who is suspended upside-down, and slits her throat, resulting in an even bloodier Maggot.
Breast Attack: Before the events of the first film, Peter sliced one of Laura's nipples off, and shit is subsequently smeared in the wound. Crusty also rips a woman's nipple ring off in Mordum.
Covered in Gunge: A number of victims get covered in a combination of blood, shit, piss, cum, and vomit.
Creator Cameo: Special effects men and producers Aaron and Ben LaBonte are the twin brothers, while co-producer and casting director John A. Wisniewski is Michael the Bathtub Corpse.
Groin Attack: Michael from the first one has his genitals cut off (whether it was before or after he was killed is unrevealed) and a man is forced to sever his own penis with manicuring scissors in Mordum, which also has Peter kick Maggot in the balls a few times during an argument.
Gutted Like a Fish: Michael in August Underground, and a victim in Mordum.
Hero of Another Story: About midway through Mordum, the trio run into Killjoy, another serial killer who stores his victims (both dead and dying) in a shack he shows off to them.
Crusty: (while in a crack house) "These people are fucking sick!"
I Lied: Crusty and Maggot telling a man they'll set him free if he cuts his own penis off Mordum.
I Love the Dead: Peter sodomizes Erika while caving her head in with a hammer in August Underground, and Mordum has Maggot have sex with the wound of a dead and gutted woman, and rape a little girl's corpse ("So fucking tight!")
Peter: (while looking at statues of Biblical figures) "You know what I don't understand? I don't understand, you know, like, in, y'know, in the bible, and y'know, the stories that you hear, y'know, they're always upset, and weeping, and crying and stuff like that. These people just have a stoned look on their face. Get it?"
No Ending: In the first film, after finding Peter raping Erika's corpse, the other prostitute makes a run for it, getting outside with Peter and the cameraman chasing her. The film cuts to black after the cameraman either drops the camera, or falls.
Mordum cuts to static after everyone starts freaking out and Maggot slits his own throat.
No Name Given: The cameraman, and most of the victims.
No You: "I'm not a fucking whore, you're a fucking whore!"
Sexy Discretion Shot: While full frontal female nudity is on display in August Underground, actual sex acts are either shown from afar, or not at all. They don't bother with the sequels, however.
Word Salad Title: Filmed in August + Underground film = August Underground.
Would Hurt a Child: A decaying infant's corpse that is covered in maggots is shown in Killjoy's shed in Mordum, and later Maggot is shown having his way with the body of a little girl.
Crusty: (mockingly) "You're not gonna have to worry about growing up now, sweetie!"
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