I'm somewhere between a 6,5 and 7,5 if it comes to rating this movie, so I'll keep it on a 7. It is creepy and effective, but I think more could have been done with it to make it come above average.
The story of this movie is a simple one. In the house of a serial killer there are a lot of tapes found. On those tapes are the abductions, torture and murders of his victims. The Poughkeepsie Tapes is about this found footage, and in between the footage we see interviews with all kinds of people. FBI, students, parents, friends, and a surviving victim.
A few things that annoyed me were the background music and the quality of the 'found footage'. If you are a serial killer, and you want to videotape everything you do, then why do it on such a low-quality camera? IMO it would be a lot more realistic if the 'found footage' quality was a lot better. And, found footage doesn't come with sound effects or a sound track.
An other annoying thing was the surviving victim. It made me think of a real girl who was abducted by nutcase Cameron Hooker in 1977 and been hold captive for 7 years, spending a lot of that time in a box. It is also reminding of an equally sick nutter called Gary Heidnik who kept (and killed) girls as slaves in his cellar. But though the surviving victims were obviously extremely traumatized for life, the Stockholm Syndrome of the girl in the Poughkeepsie Tapes is totally over the top. Which makes it more unbelievable. Speaking about unbelievable, what about the time he spends hidden in the girls room, with the camera still going? Does he have an everlasting tape?
The good thing though is that there are some very unsettling parts in this movie, and overall it does feel pretty realistic. One thing I liked for example was that the normal voice of the killer was indeed very next-door guy, which is a good contrast for those moments where he is a total sick bastard. There were some moments I could feel my hair standing up.
I can imagine that for people who are not used to disturbing movies, this one is very disturbing. But if you are pretty thick-skinned like me and you watch a lot of movies, then you might be disappointed. Still, I did enjoy it, it could have been a lot worse, but then again it could also have been better.
The story of this movie is a simple one. In the house of a serial killer there are a lot of tapes found. On those tapes are the abductions, torture and murders of his victims. The Poughkeepsie Tapes is about this found footage, and in between the footage we see interviews with all kinds of people. FBI, students, parents, friends, and a surviving victim.
A few things that annoyed me were the background music and the quality of the 'found footage'. If you are a serial killer, and you want to videotape everything you do, then why do it on such a low-quality camera? IMO it would be a lot more realistic if the 'found footage' quality was a lot better. And, found footage doesn't come with sound effects or a sound track.
An other annoying thing was the surviving victim. It made me think of a real girl who was abducted by nutcase Cameron Hooker in 1977 and been hold captive for 7 years, spending a lot of that time in a box. It is also reminding of an equally sick nutter called Gary Heidnik who kept (and killed) girls as slaves in his cellar. But though the surviving victims were obviously extremely traumatized for life, the Stockholm Syndrome of the girl in the Poughkeepsie Tapes is totally over the top. Which makes it more unbelievable. Speaking about unbelievable, what about the time he spends hidden in the girls room, with the camera still going? Does he have an everlasting tape?
The good thing though is that there are some very unsettling parts in this movie, and overall it does feel pretty realistic. One thing I liked for example was that the normal voice of the killer was indeed very next-door guy, which is a good contrast for those moments where he is a total sick bastard. There were some moments I could feel my hair standing up.
I can imagine that for people who are not used to disturbing movies, this one is very disturbing. But if you are pretty thick-skinned like me and you watch a lot of movies, then you might be disappointed. Still, I did enjoy it, it could have been a lot worse, but then again it could also have been better.