‘Skin crumbling’ horror movie based on real life serial killers branded one of ‘most unnerving films’ people have ever seen
Topics: TV And Film, Halloween
Gregory Robinson
Featured Image Credit: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Topics: TV And Film, Halloween
Halloween is the time of year to rewatch all the spooky films that will send shivers down your spine. One terrifying horror movie you may not have heard of is so scary it has been called ‘skin crumbling’.
The film, directed by John Erick Dowdle, is a pseudo-documentary found-footage film inspired by real serial killers and their crimes, but is not actually a true story itself.
The 2007 film follows the crimes of a serial killer named Eric Carver in Poughkeepsie, New York, who is not a real man.
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The Poughkeepsie Tapes begins with the discovery of over 800 videotapes of Carver’s crimes after a police raid on a house. Despite popular belief, the tapes are entirely the work of fiction, although they are inspired by real-life crimes.
People are fascinated with serial killers and their crimes, as evidenced by the massive popularity of the true crime genre.
The crimes of the made-up serial killer Eric Carver and his video mementos of them aren’t impossible to comprehend. It fits in the same realm as other found-footage horrors like The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity.
The Poughkeepsie Tapes director John Erick Dowdle helped to market the film in a way that would make people assume it was based on true events.
There was, however, real-life serial killer in the real town of Poughkeepsie in the 1990s - Kendall Francois, who was convicted of killing eight women, from 1996 to 1998, but the film is not directly inspired by his crimes.
Given the controversial nature of the film, you may be wondering why you haven’t heard of it... well, The Poughkeepsie Tapes didn’t have an easy release.
After debuting in 2007 at the Tribeca Film Festival, it was originally meant to be released widely by MGM the following year. However, it wasn’t until 2017 when it was finally released on DVD and Blu-ray. It can also be streamed on Amazon Prime.
The film went viral on TikTok in November 2020, along with another unsettling film, Megan Is Missing, which is about a high school girl who goes missing after meeting up with someone she had been chatting to online.
And it seems people are still disturbed by The Poughkeepsie Tapes to this day.
"Host but The Poughkeepsie Tapes is a very uncomfortable creepy watch," said one viewer on X, as another horror fanatic tweeted: "It has a skin-crumbling story, fantastic acting, and a dreadful finale. Not just as a horror, but overall, it is a good movie and, of course, very disturbing."
And a third shared: "The Poughkeepsie Tapes is one if the most unnerving films I've ever seen. Stuck with me long after watching."
Good luck sleeping tonight if you're planning to watch it!