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After discovering hundreds of VHS tapes showing the torture and murder of various people, the police do what they can to piece together the clues to capture a serial killer. This 2007 film, which saw a huge delay in its release (more on that in a bit), is shot like a documentary, and contrary to what many may believe, is neither real, nor based on a true story--that said, for being a mockumentary, this one looks as real as any such film you will come across. If you are a fan of true crime shows, this movie is right up your alley. We see interviews with people involved in the case, such as police, FBI agents, the guy who had to watch all the tapes, family and friends of the victims--you get the idea--intertwined with clips from the found tapes--and this is where things get weird.
Not calling YOU weird...
Back to the distribution thing--the film was set for a theatrical release in early 2008, but MGM, for reasons not explained (or found by this reviewer), pulled it, shelved it, and seemingly forgot about it. The flick saw the light of day (bonus points if the song and/or movie of the same name just entered your mind) in 2014, when DirecTV gave it a video on demand release--it found even more fans three years later, when Shout Factory gave it a DVD and Blu-Ray release, a full ten years after it was shot.
That's a long time to be tied up
In this case, it's better to be released late than not at all. This movie has a very unsettling feel from start to finish, and the fake documentary/found footage approach is presented quite well. Some parts of the movie are hard to watch, both in their level of violence/torture and in the graininess of the films. If all home videos looked like this in the 1980s or 1990s, they would have never stuck around. For a guy so invested in making these videos, you would think that, at some point, the killer would get a different camcorder, or maybe try a different brand of tape, but alas, all are damaged to the point of being hard to watch--a more subtle approach in post would have been very much appreciated by the viewer. One also wishes the momentum would have kept up throughout, but the intriguing story eventually gives way to more and more video clips meant to shock the viewer instead of advancing the story. The Poughkeepsie Tapes still comes off as a unique, fresh entry in the found footage genre, and certainly is worth watching.
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