The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007)

Review by Adam C. Thomas



This movie is set up like a documentary about a serial killer from Poughkeepsie, New York. He meticulously details his murders by recording everything he does with a hand held camera. The killer also has an "ingenious" m.o., where he changes his killing style with each murder. This is not something serial killers do. They almost always follow the same method of operation with each victim. The tone of the movie is supposed to be creepy, and I can see where it could come off as such, but honestly, I laughed through the whole thing.

First of all, there are several glaring errors in the plot which is supposed to be based on facts, much like any documentary. First, the FBI isn’t going to be bothered to send an agent out to show you around the murderers back yard where they found the body; it just doesn’t happen like that. Second, the idea that multiple counties not working together to help solve a crime of this magnitude is utter bullshit. These police jurisdictions are going to work together to help stop this killer, no matter what. Third, there is no way that the killer will walk right up to one of the victims house, and if he did, he wouldn’t be holding his video camera. The psychology of it is just plain wrong.

As far as gore and shock value, I didn’t see anything here I haven’t seen in every other shock horror movie of the last 30 years. None of it was particularly appalling to me, having seen this kind of sadism before, and there really was nothing original here.

Overall, this movie was boring. There were a few potentially intriguing moments, only to fall flat by the director’s attempt to be shocking. The gore in the movie consisted of one dismemberment scene, and slashed throat, combined with multiple scenes of torture and sadomasochism. If you’re into the torture porn stuff, then I say give this one a whirl, but otherwise, not high on my list of movies I would watch again.

I give this one a 4 out of 10.