The Poughkeepsie Tapes

You know there just aren’t that many things that frighten me.  I mean that I have seen plenty of horror flicks in my lifetime. Actually I have seen enough for my lifetime and a few others lifetimes but that is because I am a fan.

I have however seen plenty of flicks that will give you that uneasy feeling that tells you not to go somewhere alone but yet I still go there alone.

The truth is that your average person needs to feel fear. As a matter of fact some people do it just for the rush and the adrenaline. 

In the days before the silver screen people would sit around the campfire and spin yarns about a ghostly local legend or young girls would dare each other to go into the restroom and repeat the name of spirit hoping to see her in the mirror. Mothers would tell their children tales of a roaming spirit that takes young children to make sure that they would not stay out after dark.

That Ladies and Gentlemen is why most people go to horror movies is simply because they want the rush of being afraid. Some people go to give the fear to the one they are with to make them get closer.

Now in recent years there have been some major changes in the movies that I have heard mixed reactions about. The two biggest trends other than remakes are the “Torture Porn” movies that I feel are getting the bum rap and I feel that they should not be labeled with such a name.

 The other trend is the dominance of the Found Footage genre. We are seeing a slew of these flicks at this time. Some of them are even cross genre in the past few years we have seen footage a monster attacking New York and of sisters being haunted by a family entity as well as a showman priest performing his final exorcism. One of my more favorites is Chronicle showing the creation of both a superhero and a supervillian.

 

In 1999 we saw the Release of the Blair Witch Project that to many is the standard found footage but I honestly felt that Curse of the Blair Witch a documentary about the Blair Witch that was released on the Sci-Fi Channel to promote the movie was far more creepier than the movie itself and I am not the only one as it is included on the DVD releases of the film. However that same year I saw a movie that was made in 1997 but wasn’t released until after what was known as The Blair Witch Phenomenon.

 

That film was called The Last Broadcast.

The primary difference between the two films is the fact that while Blair Witch is followed in the footage alone Last Broadcast is shown in Mockumantry format following the investigation of the murder of two internet hosts doing a documentary about the Jersey Devil in the Pine Barrens.

The Last Broadcast keeps you on the edge of your seat with its creepy atmosphere and footage until the ending when it abandons the subgenre all together which I feel is where the movie is hurt.

Well I have just finished screening The Poughkeepsie Tapes and we now have a new winner in the Creepy Found Footage Subgenre.

Now for the record The Poughkeepsie Tapes has yet to receive a wide release so this flick you need to seriously look for  which should not be too hard for those of you that like searching for these films.

I am not going to refer to The Poughkeepsie Tapes as an underground film as the Filmmaker John Erick Dowdle with his brother in the role as producer has gone on to other films that have received a wide release such as Quarantine and Devil.

This movie goes into a new level of creepy. Shot in a documentary format This flick follows the “Water Street Butcher” who after police raid his home they find that he had fled however he had left behind a large collection of tapes documenting his crimes.

 

The crimes follow both his stalking of his victims but also his torment, torture and finally the murder of the victims.

This footage is intercut with FBI and the Police as well as profilers and the victim’s families speaking about the crimes and their reactions as well as documenting the type of killer that he is in the fact that he has no fear and can even manipulate his prey. At some points in the film the authorities even show footage of the killer as he looks at security cameras and gives them deliberate clues to where his victims can be found.

One of the Killer’s Victim’s in particular is his “slave” Cheryl Dempsay  who he stalks and kidnaps after murdering her boyfriend when she is 19 and keeps her for 8 years torturing and tormenting her the whole time even making her participate while he kills prostitutes.  

 

The subject matter is chilling because it really can happen today and the footage of some of the kills is haunting as the killer dons several theater costumes while he films himself tormenting his victims. Nothing or no one is sacred to the Water Street Butcher even when you think that he has been caught.

The acting from the “experts” is at times hokey and a little cheesy but to some of us that watch these kind of documentaries sometimes they are hokey so that I am willing to forgive as well as some of the scenes that if this was a real documentary would be regarded as sensationalism but for this movie it works but it hurts the believability giving the film the Faces of Death Feel.

Some scenes you even feel that you are watching a snuff film.

The film is shot I believe by a VHS Camera as it takes place in the 90s and is clearly shot in the SLP mode as the footage is deteriorated which gives the killer an eerie POV shot of his crimes. A move that the DP Shawn Dufraine needs to be commended for.

 

I would definitely recommend this film for both the searchers of Rare Movies as well as the Found Footage fans.

10 Dead Bodies

6 Breasts

1 Beast

Gratuitous Balloon Fetish

Kid Bashing

Severed Head C Section

Creepy Mask wearing from both Killer and Victim

Needles to the Throat

Multiple Throat Slashing

Multiple Beatings

Hooker Fu

Video Fu

5 Stars

Check it out