diff --git a/compressor/templatetags/compress.py b/compressor/templatetags/compress.py
index 7d9643b..ae81600 100644
--- a/compressor/templatetags/compress.py
+++ b/compressor/templatetags/compress.py
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ class CompressorMixin(object):
                 cache_set(cache_key, rendered_output)
             return rendered_output
         except Exception, e:
-            if settings.DEBUG:
+            if settings.DEBUG or forced:
                 raise e
 
         # Or don't do anything in production