Review of The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007) by Chris H — 21 Dec 2010

Really well done I thought, and incredibly scary - not in a make you jump sense, like most horror films go for, but in a this world is fucking evil if there are people like this out there (which there are) and making you feel like locking all your doors and never leaving the house again, or at least being super fuckin' guarded with everyone you meet kind of scary.

The harsh kind that alters your perspective on everything. For example, if I had a young son or daughter, they'd probably suddenly find play time in the garden taken away from them completely, at least for a few weeks.

For all of this, it's a triumph. Acting wise it derails a bit at times, and I don't really like how it insists too heavily upon trying to persuade the audience that it is real (though the cinema threat at the end is kind of creepy, if cheesy).

We don't need to think that this film itself is real - the fact that there are people out there like this is more than enough. There are moments here so unique are worthy of a nut job serial killer that they will no doubt stay with you, like the the creepy double mask walk.

I like how they bring up the topic of attempting to live with the fact that this kind of evil is in the world, which they do nicely through the teacher's speech in class. You can't call this enjoyable (and hence it isn't one to watch over and over - I think you'd go mad as a result), but horror films are at their core meant to scare, and this does it really well by being so damn realistic in the fears it chooses to play with.