Toetag Inc (stylized as TOETAG INC or ToeTag Inc) is an American Independent horror film company based in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. The company was founded by director Fred Vogel and special effects artist Jerami Cruise, and specializes in producing and distributing low-budget underground horror films. In 2004, Cruise created the special effects department for Toetag Pictures, Toetag EFX, which would go on to work on Toetag Pictures films as well as independent productions. The company gained its notoriety for its '' August Underground'' film series. In 2010, Toetag Inc officially became incorporated and changed its name from Toetag Pictures to Toetag Inc. In 2014, the company began distributing films not made by Toetag via a new department, Toetag Releasing.text of the citation Toetag Inc, Toetag EFX, and Toetag Releasing have all been on hiatus since 2015.

Pre-Toetag Pictures

Before Toetag Pictures was founded, director Fred Vogel and special effects artist Jerami Cruise both attended the same university, the

Art Institute of Pittsburgh The Art Institute of Pittsburgh was a Private university, private Art school, art college in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The school emphasized design education and career preparation for the Creative industries, creative job market. It was founded ...

, where they began shooting underground short films with a focus on gore and violence. After graduating from university, they made the first ''August Underground'' film together in 2001.

History

Toetag Pictures was founded after the creation of '' August Underground's Mordum'' (a sequel to Toetag's 2001 exploitation horror film '' August Underground'') in 2002. Following the success of ''August Underground'' and its sequel, Toetag Pictures was able to lease their first studio in Bellevue, Pennsylvania. Parts of the studio can be seen in the

pseudo-documentary A pseudo-documentary or fake documentary is a film or video production that takes the form or style of a documentary film but does not portray real events. Rather, scripted and fictional elements are used to tell the story. The pseudo-documentary, ...

'' S&Man''. Due to the continued success of Toetag, the company was able to move to a 7,000 sq ft studio in Pittsburgh. The team would go on to make seven films under the name Toetag Pictures before rebranding to Toetag Inc in 2010. The company lost its Pittsburgh studio that same year. After the Pittsburgh studio closed, Toetag went on to work on special effects for the segment "Wet Dream" in the horror anthology film '' The Theater Bizarre'', and also contributed to SFX for the films White Reindeer (2013) and Fractured (2013). In 2012, Jerami Cruise moved the Toetag EFX department to Los Angeles, California. The company also opened a storefront in 2013 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 2014, Toetag Inc created Toetag Releasing, which went on to distribute four films: "Arme/Lust", "Cross Bearer", "I Am No One", and "Deadwood Park". In 2015, Toetag Inc, Toetag EFX, and Toetag Releasing all went on hiatus.

Toetag Pictures/Toetag Inc

Toetag EFX

Toetag Releasing

References

External links

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Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' {{Toetag Pictures Film production companies of the United States Mass media companies established in 2002