terrible all the way through. i never felt that i was watching a documentary, because the film is poorly shot. in the end, i was left thinking, "what was the point?"

Creeped the bejeezus out of me. Way more so that Paranormal Activity.

I'm thoroughly shocked people aren't ranking this higher. From every standpoint, this film works. Just look at the effort that was put into making the tapes themselves look authentic. Besides the kudos I have to give to the actual production of the film, it does serve to a) effectively freak out the audience and b) lampoon the audience for being into true crime documentary in the first place. Bravo. Genius. The defense rests.

Terrible acting and some lousy dialogues ruin a good idea. The bit about "the missed one" was really creepy though.

Kudos to the filmmakers for making something that appears realistic, but man, never has serial killing been so utterly boring.

"The Poughkeepsie Tapes" is a mockumentary about a killer who video tapes his murders and torture. Most of the movie is, what looks to be, VHS footage that the killer took, and everything else is set up as a documentary on the killings. I found it believable for the most part, aside from some of the actors in the documentary portion. But the reason to watch this is, of course, for the murder sections. They do very much with very little. They're very scary and realistic.

Tiresome faux-documentary hampered by poor production values, bad acting and unrealistic dialogue. I realise that it was made with a low budget, but the acting feels so forced and unnatural that it never allows you to immerse yourself into the film. The fake camera distortion on the tapes is distracting, too. The killer supposedly spent all those years making video tapes, you'd think he'd buy a decent camera, no? Tedious and annoying - I considered turning it off several times.

It was well made and all but shit, I hate this post-Saw torture horror. Watched it by accident and now can't get images out of my head. Basic serial killer horror's moved to tv. We no longer get Se7ven or Bone Collectior, it's all Criminal Minds and Dexter nowadays.

This Was Pretty Bad

The goal is to make you feel deeply uncomfortable, and it succeeded in my case. A lot depends on the believability; the documentary elements were pulled off pretty well and draw you into the dark revelations of the film. The tapes themselves vary from deeply disturbing to a bit silly (the killer in theatrical garb trying to be menacing didn't work for me). Amusing closing statement regarding the killer probably watching it in the theater.. WITH YOU! Effective horror, but would not watch again.

there is a few moments in here that are really scary...from a reality standpoint..esp the child abduction scene..but the movie s selling points the tapes were so poorly shot I know its suppose to feel like they were real...but even a real person would have had better quality

Wow, was this ever uncomfortable to get through.