''August Underground's Mordum'' is a 2003 direct-to-video horror

exploitation film An exploitation film is a film that seeks commercial success by capitalizing on current trends, niche genres, or sensational content. Exploitation films often feature themes such as suggestive or explicit sex, sensational violence, drug use, nudi ...

created and distributed by

Toetag Pictures Toetag Inc (stylized as TOETAG INC or ToeTag Inc) is an American Independent horror film company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by director Fred Vogel and special effects artist Jerami Cruise, and specializes in prod ...

. It is the

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

to 2001's '' August Underground'', and was followed by '' August Underground's Penance'' in 2007. The film is purposely shot in an amateur way to pass it off as a faux

snuff film A snuff film, snuff movie, or snuff video is a type of film, sometimes defined as being produced for profit or financial gain, that shows, or purports to show, scenes of actual homicide. The concept of snuff films became known to the general pub ...

Plot

''Mordum'' is a home movie shot by

serial killer A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone: * * * * * (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...

s Peter Mountain, his

sadomasochistic Sadism () and masochism (), known collectively as sadomasochism ( ) or S&M, is the derivation of pleasure from acts of respectively inflicting or receiving pain or humiliation. The term is named after the Marquis de Sade, a French author known ...

girlfriend Crusty and her depraved man-child brother, Maggot. After Peter walks in on Crusty and Maggot having sex, an argument erupts between them. It is quelled when Crusty sexually arouses Peter and herself via

self-mutilation Self-harm refers to intentional behaviors that cause harm to oneself. This is most commonly regarded as direct injury of one's own skin tissues, usually without suicidal intention. Other terms such as cutting, self-abuse, self-injury, and se ...

with a piece of glass. The two then break into a

crack house A drug house is a residence used in the illegal drug trade. Drug houses shelter drug users and provide a place for drug dealers to supply them. Drug houses can also be used as laboratories to synthesize (cook) drugs, or cache ingredients and p ...

, where Peter beats the owner to death with a hammer. Crusty films the filth-encrusted building and the decaying corpse of an overdosed addict. When Peter starts stripping the body of the house's owner, claiming it will be easier to dispose of without clothes, another fight breaks out between him and Crusty when she questions his motive for undressing the body, accusing him of being "a

faggot ''Faggot'', often shortened to ''fag'', is a Pejorative, slur in the English language that was used to refer to gay men but its meaning has expanded to other members of the queer community. In American youth culture around the turn of the 21s ...

." Crusty demonstrates her love of self-harm to Maggot and a friend, cutting her scarred arm with a knife. Crusty and Maggot remove a bound and masked woman from a box they have been keeping her in for "a long time." Maggot

rapes Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person w ...

the woman while Crusty cheers him on and taunts the victim. When Maggot is finished, he then lets a male captive out of another box, and he and Crusty force him to perform a

penectomy Penectomy is penis removal through surgery, generally for medical or personal reasons. Medical reasons Cancer, for example, sometimes necessitates removal of part or all of the penis. The amount of penis removed depends on the severity of the ...

on himself with a pair of cuticle scissors, then seal him back up. Crusty mimics

oral sex Oral sex, sometimes referred to as oral intercourse, is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a person by another person using the mouth (including the lips, tongue, or teeth). Cunnilingus is oral sex performed on the vu ...

with it, then uses it to violate the female victim. The trio of killers go to town, where they torment a shopkeeper, eat

fast food Fast food is a type of Mass production, mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. ''Fast food'' is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheat ...

, and wander around. Maggot and Peter then watch and

masturbate Masturbation is a form of autoeroticism in which a person Sexual stimulation, sexually stimulates their own Sex organ, genitals for sexual arousal or other sexual pleasure, usually to the point of orgasm. Stimulation may involve the use of han ...

to Crusty torturing two women, sexually abusing and repeatedly vomiting on them while a male corpse rots in the corner of the room. Eventually, the women are killed. Maggot disembowels one, chewing on her spilled innards and masturbating with them, while the other is beaten to death by Crusty and Peter, the latter dragging the body away to presumably have sex with it. They get drunk, and afterward, Maggot is found in the bathroom by Crusty, shaving and cutting himself to "look beautiful" for her. The trio are next shown playing in the snow, attending a concert, meeting up with friends, raping a woman, and going to a piercing shop, where Maggot receives a nose ring and gets into a fight with Peter over his relationship with Crusty. The group then visit another serial killer, who shows them the contents of his shed; mutilated bodies, dying victims, and a headless and maggot-covered toddler, which Maggot eats a chunk of. Later, while the others are asleep, the new killer borrows their camera, and films himself taunting and slitting the throat of one of his female captives. The trio attacks a family, killing the father first by hanging him. While Peter tortures the mother, Crusty watches Maggot have sex with the corpse of the young daughter in a bathtub. The three get into a fight, which escalates to Peter slitting the throat of the wife, while abusing Maggot with her blood. Peter threatens to kill Maggot and takes a knife. Maggot snatches the knife from his hand and holds it to his own throat. The final shot of the scene looks like Maggot is cutting his own throat. Maggot apparently kills himself, and Crusty's scream can be heard in the background. This, and Maggot's absence from the next film, suggests that he had probably cut his throat and died. In the post-credits scene, a cat is shown eating a mouse.

Cast

* Cristie Whiles as Crusty * Fred Vogel as Peter Mountain * Michael Todd Schneider as Maggot * Jerami Cruise as Man Shown Having Sex in Window * Killjoy as Fourth Killer * M. Kadath * Erika Schultz * E. Jay * Midian Crosby as Brunette Vomit Torture Victim * Elmo Painter as Blonde Vomit Torture Victim * Dave Brown as Dead Man in Vomit Torture Sequence * Art Ettinger as Male Friend * Rick Kundrach as Jonesy * Tim Grubjesik as Dead Junkie * Allana Sleeth as Female Friend * Shelby Vogel as Fourth Killer's Victim/Dead Mother * Shannon Thames * Chris Shaw as Dead Father * Daisy as Daisy * Superkollider

Release

Schneider left the crew shortly after the wrap of production on ''Mordum''. He released his own cut of the film, subtitled "The Maggot Cut", through Maggot Films, and the official cut of the film was released on DVD in 2003.

Reception

The exploitation film database The Worldwide Celluloid Massacre has ''Mordum'' ranked as the fourth most "vile" film viewed by the website, below ''

Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom ''Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom'' (), billed on-screen as ''Pasolini's 120 Days of Sodom'' on English-language prints and commonly referred to as simply ''Salò'' (), is a 1975 political art horror film directed and co-written by Pier Paolo P ...

'', '' The Angel's Melancholy'' and ''Carcinoma''. The review of the film (which is categorized as "worthless") referred to it as "pointless hardcore depravity".

Controversy

While traveling to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

to attend the

Rue Morgue Festival of Fear Toronto, Canada's Festival of Fear is an annual multigenre fan convention that runs as part of Fan Expo Canada. It was founded as the Canadian National Horror Expo in 2004 by '' Rue Morgue Magazine'' and Hobby Star Marketing Inc. It is traditiona ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, co-director and writer Fred Vogel was arrested, pending charges of transporting obscene materials into Canada, when copies of ''Mordum'' and its predecessor were found by customs officials among the merchandise he had intended to bring to the convention. The charges were dropped, after Vogel had spent roughly ten hours in customs prison, and his films were sent to Ottawa for further observation. Copies of ''Mordum'' were confiscated by Australian customs officials in 2004, the reason given for the seizure of the DVDs being that "they offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults to the extent that they should not be imported".

References

External links

* * {{Toetag Pictures 2003 direct-to-video films 2003 films 2003 horror films 2003 independent films 2000s American films 2000s English-language films 2000s serial killer films American exploitation films American independent films American sequel films American serial killer films American splatter films Camcorder films Direct-to-video horror films Films about cannibalism Films about pedophilia Films about rape in the United States Films about self-harm Films about snuff films Films directed by Fred Vogel Films set in Pennsylvania Films set in Pittsburgh Films shot in Pennsylvania Films about incest Films about necrophilia Obscenity controversies in film English-language horror films English-language independent films English-language crime films Found footage films about psychopaths and sociopaths