10 Underrated Horror Movie Moments That Will Scar You For Life

It's difficult to translate the edgy appeal that Devil director John Erick Dowdle's The Poughkeepsie Tapes had prior to its widespread release, mostly because... well, because it's now advertised as "from the director of Devil".

An intense but uneven mockumentary, this flick follows the unsuccessful attempts of lawmen to identify and apprehend a psychotic serial killer whose disturbing crimes are dwelled upon by the film.

Unlike less mainstream efforts such as the infamous August Underground series this film made no attempt to pass off its snuff film sequences as the real thing, but the flick nonetheless gained an outsized reputation online.

You know, until its directors went on to become producers of standard studio fare like Rec remake Quarantine.

Despite the film's initial impact being dulled by its lack of mystique, the faux-snuff film scenes still pack a punch that far more explicit efforts such as 2011's Megan Is Missing could only dream of. It's thanks in large part to the distorted movements of the bird-masked villain, whose stiff contortions are as unsettling as they are tensely hypnotic. Good luck looking away.