Toetag Inc (stylized as TOETAG INC or ToeTag Inc) is an American Independent horror film company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company specializes in creating artistic visions of the macabre, known for edgy original content and award-winning Gore-EFX that is "cringe inducing and brutal." The company was founded by director Fred Vogel and special effects artist Jerami Cruise on April 1, 2004., and specializes in producing and distributing low-budget underground horror films. 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. 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, 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 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

Controversy

The August Underground series has been banned in several countries, including Australia and New Zealand, due to its extreme content depicting violence and torture. The film was officially classified as "objectionable" in New Zealand in 2007.

While traveling to attend a film festival in Toronto, director Fred Vogel was arrested at the Canadian border, pending charges of transporting obscene materials into Canada after customs officials found copies of August Underground and its sequel. The charges were eventually dropped after Vogel spent approximately ten hours in customs prison.

Fred Vogel

Fred Vogel was born on April 18, 1976, in Warren Township, New Jersey. He is an American writer, director, actor, and special effects artist best known for creating the August Underground series (2001–2007) and founding Toetag Pictures. His films are noted for their extreme realism in depicting violence. His first love of horror was sparked by James Whale's Frankenstein (1931), which made him fall in love with the horror genre and make-up.

References

External links

• Article at Variety