‘The Poughkeepsie Tapes’ is a Harrowing Found Footage Experience [The Overlook Motel]
Welcome to The Overlook Motel, a place where under-seen and unappreciated films are given their moment in the spotlight. I hope you enjoy your stay here and find the accommodations to be suitable. Now, please take a seat and make yourself comfortable, I have some misbehaving guests to ‘correct’.
On the latest installment of The Overlook Motel, I am looking back at The Poughkeepsie Tapes. Brought to us by The Brothers Dowdle (Drew and John Erick), The Poughkeepsie Tapes is a film that manages to blur the lines between real and make-believe. Solid performances across the board coupled with strategic editing serve to keep the viewer in a constant state of dread and disbelief.
On one hand, you know this is a work of fiction. But on the other, it is presented realistically enough that you couldn’t be blamed if you caught The Poughkeepsie Tapes on cable and assumed it was a documentary chronicling the horrific crimes of a real-life killer.
One of the picture’s greatest strengths is that it features a cast of talented actors that bring their respective characters to life in realistic and frightening ways. The victims’ families convey a sense of grief that feels palpable. And the various police personnel that weigh in come across as credible and believable. They take care to demonstrate that the subject matter is overwhelming and troubling to even the most seasoned professionals.
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The antagonist in The Poughkeepsie Tapes is even more terrifying than the type of masked boogeyman that stalks a run-of-the-mill horror film because there is nothing otherworldly or supernatural about him. He is evil incarnate but fully grounded in reality. Albeit a twisted and ugly reality that most of us don’t like to think about. He hasn’t died and come back to life. He isn’t superhuman. Instead, he’s a manifestation of the evil that lives among us. And that makes this film terrifying on a level that most cinematic offerings can’t match.
Sinister antagonist aside, a large part of what makes the film so harrowing to watch its masterful editing. At first, we see brief glimpses of the tapes with talking heads taking center stage. But over time, the audience is subjected to more of the killer’s tapes. And the content of the tapes becomes increasingly more harrowing to sit through. The footage feels real. Watching it feels like being in the presence of pure evil. And accordingly, the first time I watched The Poughkeepsie Tapes, I was enraptured to the point where I would momentarily forget it wasn’t real. This flick stayed with me for several days after my inaugural viewing. And that is a true feat of filmmaking. Most seasoned horror fans can shake off a fright flick before heading to bed for the night. But that’s easier said than done with this chilling mockumentary.
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As for why the film hasn’t found a larger audience, I would speculate its troubled road to release has no doubt kept the picture in relative obscurity when compared to the success enjoyed by found footage contemporaries like Paranormal Activity. It was initially scheduled to bow theatrically in 2008 via MGM. But the picture was pulled from the slate. It then sat for several years before receiving a short-lived VOD exhibition through DirectTV. Finally, in 2017, the fine folks at Scream Factory put The Poughkeepsie Tapes out on physical media. But given that ten years had passed since the flick’s Tribeca premiere in 2007, the picture didn’t reach nearly the audience it likely would have, had it debuted in theaters when it was initially slated to do so.
In spite of a misguided release strategy, The Poughkeepsie Tapes is highly effective, chilling, and has the potential to stay with you long after the final frame. If you’re keen to check this chilling film out, you can stream it for free (with ads) on Pluto and Tubi, as of the publication of this post.
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