By MICHAEL GINGOLD
Ten years ago, John Erick Dowdle and Drew Dowdle’s documentary-style shocker THE POUGHKEEPSIE TAPES premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, was picked up by MGM…and then went into limbo despite posters and other promotion for a theatrical release. Now it’s finally set to emerge on disc, and the details have been announced; read on for those and the cover art.
Shout! Factory will issue THE POUGHKEEPSIE TAPES as a Scream Factory Blu-ray/DVD combo on October 10. John Erick directed, Drew produced and the two scripted the movie (which led them to subsequent films like DEVIL, QUARANTINE and AS ABOVE, SO BELOW); it will be presented at 1.85:1 on the discs, accompanied by new interviews with the brothers and actress Stacy Chbosky and the theatrical trailer. The synopsis: “Throughout the 1990s, a serial killer terrorized upstate New York. After a decade-long crime spree conducted largely under the radar of law enforcement, the killer left behind the most disturbing collection of evidence homicide detectives had even seen—hundreds of homemade videotapes that chronicled the stalking, abduction, murder and disposal of his victims. THE POUGHKEEPSIE TAPES examines these horrific tapes at length: what they reveal about the killer, why they were made and how FBI profilers have used them to better understand violent, psychopathic behavior. THE POUGHKEEPSIE TAPES combines interviews surrounding the devastating impact of the ‘Water Street Butcher,’ with shocking footage from the tapes themselves.”
Retail price is $29.99, but you can pre-order it from the Shout! website for $23.99 and get it shipped two weeks early.
I really enjoyed this movie. I didn’t expect too much and I was surprised! A true underated movie
One important objective the Movie wants to achieve is to depict itself as a documentary film . I would have to say that indeed that objective was met. I was introduced to the film by someone who led me to believe it to be exactly that. A documentary about an actual event. Now I don’t say “led me to believe “, as if to say this someone intended to “trick me to believe”, but he himself thought it to be about an an actual event. So once again it must be said. The film meets another important objective. Realism! You see, I was sickened by the video content and the way the documentary film makers made no attempt to soften up on the video’s visual evidence of horror. I didn’t need the killer’s actual video play by play to be convinced that horrible crimes were committed. I was appalled by the film makers lack of privacy for the victims. Telling the news doesn’t always require video to get the gist of the story. Serial Killer is what defines the seriousness of this news , not visual evidence on the manner in which they were murdered. I couldn’t go further then the video of the first murder. Who could? Why would you? I couldn’t believe that they would show the actual video of murder in progress. Disturbing to say the least. Now remember until today I believed this to be an actual event documentary. Now I found the news documentary to be extremely disturbing. But now I learn this to be a pseudo-documentary . A documentary film but does not portray real events.
It’s a movie! With actors, directors, producers, and the premise of it all is to entertain. I must ask, who and why would anybody invest time and money to make a movie on a topic of this nature, thinking it a tool to entertain. When did disturbing someone become a form of entertaining? Why would anyone seek out such topics as entertainment? What kind of emotion does a film of this type deliver? The I just shit my pants emotion? That’s disturbing!