Memorable, crazy movie

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

This whole mockumentary has interviews with profilers, cops and detectives praising this killer as elusive and dangerously smart at evading and misleading the authorities.Except the tapes themselves show him as a careless individual who almost get's caught by two little girls selling cookies. Ignoring the unbelievably tame tapes themselves (I don't really find "gore" scary when it's overdone), the fact that the killer goes around recording everything, even at his own crime-scene with cops around, would get him caught REALLY fast. The killer is basically like one of those attention-seekers who keep recording themselves and posting it on Twitter and Instagram for the world to see. And what exactly was he recording on? That camera's battery lasts longer than most cameras these days.I got hyped up with people recommending this movie, and it's a dud with a LOT of "logic" (it is trying to present itself as a documentary) issues that can't even be ignored cause of "suspension of disbelief". That excuse doesn't work when you are making a documentary and pretending to have a story of a serial killer that is the smartest killer every born, while he's saved by camera cuts and fade-outs instead of a proper explanation/excuse.Waste of time.

Firstly, I must point out that this film had me second guessing the backstory research (that I had done previously) throughout! Some of the clips from this series found footage 'tapes'-that we are exposed to- are reminiscent of scenes from snuff films and appear so vividly realistic; that it became hard to distinguish when the narrative was being genuinely scary rather than real ( I will say this film is NOT a true story, but speculation is that it has some moments that resemble actual cases). It is through these raw realistic portrayals and crime show documentary style techniques, that we are drawn into the film with both awe and repulsion. We recoil at some hideous moments, terrified of the fate of the person we are viewing. We gasp as people are bound,gagged, tortured and then slain in front of our eyes. This is a film on par with Cannibal Holocaust or even the original release of The Blair Witch project, for it's believable portrayals and twisted take on the horrifying insight into a criminal's psyche. Like a studious serial killer who is etched forever in our memory (like the evolution of Hannibal Lector in the films The Silence of the Lambs, Red Dragon and Hannibal), we learn how intelligent The Water Street Butcher (as he is dubbed by investigators) is and how creatively he has developed his techniques, his executions and ultimately his power over his victims.Our killer uses his crimes to set up a series of red herrings for the police, which ultimately help him to evade capture. One particular victim develops a love so fascinating for her captor that it makes us shudder at her unnerving desire to continue to please her "Master". We learn of how she has slowly been tortured, dominated and submerged within his world, to the point of developing symptoms of Stockholm Syndrome and thus furthering her twisted attraction to her captor (more so due to his perpetual dominance over her for several years and an inability to break free from it once her ordeal is over). Through the interviews with the victims families, forensic specialists and differing levels within law enforcement and their equally involved legal guides, we learn more about the details for these crimes and the hellish nightmare like levels of depravity our killer delves into. The use of the documentary style, the camera/video techniques, the dialogue (which is wonderfully realistic) and the casting -all unknown and believable in their roles from each angle of the film have all created this very pragmatic and factually realistic film that is a superb, if not unnerving watch in parts. My only fault is the limited release of The Poughkeepsie Tapes. It did appear at some festivals with the Dowdle brothers in 2007 upon release, but since has been pulled from the actual release (despite cinematic advertising) and not been released either cinematically or on home media to this date! It's been 9 years and further developments on why are torn between issues with distributor MGM and the possibility the films likeness was too realistic and possibly touched on some actual real life crimes of a similar nature. The truth.....we may never know.

I saw this on TV, on of those nights were you just can't sleep and found this...let's not call it a hidden gem, but man it kept you on your seat.This movie took a lot of effort and research, at times it actually felt like a real documentary, the acting was pretty good as well. You actually feel disturb in some scenes specially the ones with kids. As the FAQs says they made a lot or research on actual serial killers and their bizarre behavior with the victims, it's very shocking.I don't understand why this movie is so "hidden" it's one of the few found footage (some of it) that's feels accurate to why it's tape the way it is. With a few plot holes involving a suspect,this movie is very gripping and shocking. I say give it a watch

Oh dear. I had been told this was an amazingly disturbing film, genuinely horrific, a must-see for fans of the genre. There was so much hype that I just had to see it.Oh dear.There is a kernel of a good idea here: a serial killer so meticulous that he changes his MO periodically to throw investigators off his scent. The sub-story of "murder by bureaucracy" is also a creepy concept, worthy of a whole film in its own right - a cop framed by a serial killer to take the fall for his murders, and revealed to be innocent only days after his execution? That's a great idea, but it's wasted in this film.Sadly, these interesting ideas are destroyed utterly by a laughably bad script, idiotic attempts at police procedure, and universally appalling acting. Not a single performance in this entire film is convincing. Every single person who appears on screen or is heard in voice-over sounds like exactly what they are: bad actors reading a bad script.For those seeking a dumb, trashy thrill, it doesn't even satisfy on that level: a handful of reasonably effective scenes of psychological horror are padded out by interminable periods of hilariously bad actors trying and failing to sound like cops and FBI agents.This is a bad mockumentary, a bad horror film, and a bad thriller. It fails on almost every level. Don't waste your time with it.