10 More Great Horror Movies That Are Ugly On Purpose
8. The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007)
John Erick Dowdle's brief and brutal documentary horror The Poughkeepsie Tapes sets up the case of a serial killer from Poughkeepsie, New York as if it's the real deal. So far, so every other found footage movie. But, rather than withholding of its subjects and objects through misdirection, shaky-cam, and all manner of stylistic tricks - an element so essential to its filmic forebears - Poughkeepsie Tapes bites right into the meat of its cruelties with a cache of the killer's own snuff films.
A blend of talking heads, CCTV, news reports, and footage from the titular tapes, the picture is anything but pretty, with production values that would make Tommy Wiseau cringe. But this is precisely the point of the whole endeavour - in order to create a believable facsimile of a sadistic serial killer, Dowdle and crew had to act like the real deal.
The quality of the tapes ranges from grainy VHS to barely coherent, but throughout every clip and reel there is a very convincing sense of danger. Indeed, it is as if these miseries - inflicted on primarily female subjects, ranging from run-of-the-mill abuses to extreme sexual and psychological violence, alongside some oddities like a waking Caesarian section - are authentic documents of real-life crimes.