MovieChat Forums > The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007) Discussion > One of the most disturbing films I've se...

One of the most disturbing films I've seen.

posted 9 years ago by LordInsect
7 replies | jump to latest

I didn't think much of it going in, but this movie f.cked me up, it's not that graphic, but the whole objectiveness of the presentation and how far they went to make it as realistic as possible is extremely unsettling. Stuff that people usually claim is disturbing, like A Serbian Film or Cannibal Holocaust don't really shock me anymore because it's just gore for the sake of gore. I know they have underlying political messages, but that's not what I took away from it (I mean a guy screaming "NEWBORN POOOOOOOORRRRN" kind of ruins the seriousness for me), though both are amazingly well shot and have great music. This one was absolutely terrifying because of how naturalistic and raw it was. Great movie, hands down one of the best found footage films I've seen (not saying much, but still), sucks that it's not more widespread.

"Ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

[–] jnic7594 9 years ago

You need to watch more films then. Had they found better actors, I might agree with you, but I just found this movie campy. The acting is far too unrealistic to make it scary or disturbing. That made it too hard to get immersed in the movie enough to get scared or disturbed. I honestly don't see how anyone found this scary at all. It seemed so fake...like more of a mockumentary.

[–] LordInsect 9 years ago

I agree, the actors were pretty bad at times, the scenes that specifically scared me, were the actual tapes and the weird, surreal footage in the killer's basement. Those scenes are absolutely haunting. The rest is okay.

"Ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

[–] mills71 9 years ago

I agree.. The reason this movie was shelved for so long was because of the actors. The story was really good. The 9/11 angle was very clever. But the performances by everyone except for the woman who played Cheryl were weak. Still pretty creepy and really original. But you need actors to sell stories.

[–] Superstar51292 9 years ago

I couldn't get past the acting either. And even with good actors, I don't think I would've enjoyed this movie. It was just boring. However, I did love the scene with the woman in front of the camera and "Ed" in the background crawling on all fours with the mask on his head. If I could make a gif my phone background, that would be it lol.

[–] AgentBlue 9 years ago

A few scenes freaked me out and made me feel uneasy but thats about it.

Lose the Game!!!!!!!

[–] bLakLuNgZz 8 years ago

One of the most disturbing films I've ever seen, and I'm pretty immune to disturbing stuff.

**********Spoiler Below************

The most horrific scene had to be the basement scene where the woman's mouth is taped so that she chokes on her own blood. The suspense was great leading up to it with the killer walking on all fours in an animalistic predatory "stalking" manner. That scene was absolutely a perfect 10 on the disturb-o-meter.

Gotta say, they did a pretty good job with this film. Far from perfect, but pretty damn good if you're a horror fan.

[–] redban (6164) 4 years ago

I feel the disturbing effects were watered down because of the saturation. There was non-stop torture and killings to the point where, by the end, you lose feeling for it