The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007) Review – A Grimy But Ultimately Pointless Mockumentary

Welcome to Knockout Horror. Today we are adding another entry to our Found Footage Suggested by Reddit feature. We are checking out the somewhat notorious The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007).

Are The Poughkeepsie Tapes real?

Let’s kick this review off by answering a question I see come up all the time – are the Poughkeepsie tapes real? The answer is no, they aren’t real. This is completely fictional and just produced in a found footage style to give it some authenticity. None of what you see happened.

“Are the Poughkeepsie tapes real? The answer is no, they aren’t real. This is completely fictional and just produced in a found footage style.”

I am actually a bit shocked that some people believe this isn’t the case. I don’t really think this movie does anything to suggest otherwise. It’s not even all that well acted.

This gets some frankly baffling hype

Following the story of notorious, fictional serial killer Edward Carver, The Poughkeepsie Tapes plays out like a mockumentary, featuring interviews with detectives and investigators working on the case of the Water Street Butcher. Hundreds of snuff tapes featuring brutal murders have been recovered but the killer has never been found, leading to a documentary being produced to shed new light on the mystery.

My second time around watching this movie was equally as disappointing as the first. This is just a below-average horror mockumentary. The biggest thing The Poughkeepsie Tapes has going for it is some of its disturbing violence. Outside of that, there really isn’t much to write home about. It is thin on plot, lacks in focus, and all feels a little bit pointless.

Much like the abysmal Megan is Missing, The Poughkeepsie Tapes indulges in the barbaric proclivities of its main antagonist. Writer, director John Erick Dowdle seemingly felt the need to push any real story to one side. Instead choosing to focus on getting into the minutia of the violent acts committed by the Water Street Butcher.

This is all well and good, but Carver just isn’t a very interesting, original, or intimidating antagonist. His high-pitched, awkward, line delivery of some, frankly, laughable dialogue is incredibly weak. His fancy dress choice, that’s supposed to inspire fear, actually inspires chuckles. The character also lacks any form of depth that may actually make them interesting. Carver is just an incredibly dull antagonist. Many of the traits of the character are directly ripped from real-life killers, as well. There is a huge lack of originality here.

Weak performances and ultra repetitive

The Poughkeepsie Tapes also suffers from some tremendously weak dialogue and some awful performances. The script is banal at best and wince-inducing at worst. Characters talk in a manner that could, most accurately, be described as robotic and inorganic. Acting is poor, almost throughout. Stacy Chbosky, as Cheryl Dempsey, is probably the strongest actor. Everyone else leaves massive amounts to be desired.

“The script is banal at best and wince-inducing at worst. Characters talk in a manner that could, most accurately, be described as robotic.”

This has a big impact on the mockumentary format itself as it is hard to believe in the interviews due to the weak acting. Ben Messmer, in particular, hams it up tremendously in a number of scenes, stripping believability from the tapes and robbing tremendously from what little “scare factor” the movie has.

Speaking of the tapes, all of these are recorded VHS camcorder style. Only, they aren’t, they are just heavily filtered with grain and a strange waviness to the image. It’s horrible and looks terrible. The tape sections of the movie, the place where all the scares are, are an absolute chore to get through. That’s without mentioning the unlikeliness of a documentary airing these scenes in the first place.

It doesn’t help that the scenes just descend into a loop of repeating themselves within a short space of time. You can only see a couple of episodes of uninspired, mindless, torture before it gets a bit old. Very few of said scenes are shocking and few will provoke any feeling of disgust. Sure, the entire movie is fairly misogynistic at its core. But time has severely dulled whatever impact this film would have had back in 2007.

It’s just bland and never lives up to its potential

The Poughkeepsie Tapes occasionally threatens to go in an interesting direction but doesn’t ever quite make it there. The story tying everything together is wafer thin. A typical serial killer plot with a nod to them potentially still being out there and maybe wanting to kill again.

“Whatever impact and shock value this movie had, at one point, has been dulled by time.”

It’s entirely bland stuff and, to be honest, wasn’t all that interesting, or different, back when it first released. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer was doing this type of thing back in the 80s, just told from a different perspective. 

On the plus side, mockumentary fans may find something to enjoy. It’s difficult to go too wrong with the format and if you enjoy the whole interviews and found footage thing you may find something to like. If you have limited exposure to horror, you may find this shocking in parts. I suppose it feels quite novel compared to regular horror. The presentation was fairly innovative, at the time, as well. Fans of true crime may appreciate a simple crime-based horror story, however dull it is.

But Reddit likes it

I’ve seen people mentioning this movie in found footage communities on Reddit and many of them enjoy it. That’s not saying much, though. I saw them talking about The Lost Vlog of Ruby Real, recently, and actually recommending it. Sure, I’d also like to recommend licking a “soap-free” person’s taint if you want something disgusting that will leave a bad taste in your mouth. One of them described the universally panned movie’s reviews as being a “mixed bag”. Sure, if 3.6/10 on IMDb is a mixed bag then, yeah.

Incidentally, John Erick Dowdle would go on to direct a couple more big-name found footage movies, namely the shot-for-shot remake of [REC] – Quarantine. He somehow managed to make that worse than the original while changing nothing. Reddit are an easy-to-please bunch but I kind of like that about them. It’s sort of charming. I wish I was more like that.

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A 4-star rating for a scrappy indie horror made for $10,000 is a testament to its ingenuity and raw power. A 4-star rating for a $100 million blockbuster means it delivered on its epic promises. We don't compare them side-by-side; we celebrate success in every weight class, from the back-alley brawler to the heavyweight champion. Please keep this in mind when considering star ratings.

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