Line #22 Film/ThePoughkeepsieTapes


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/poughkeepsie.jpg]]
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3	Filmed in a documentary style complete with JitterCam, ''The Poughkeepsie Tapes'' is a movie that is best seen with the lights on.
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5	It chronicles the (fortunately fictional) spree of killings in Poughkeepsie, New York, that are all videotaped by the killer, who comes to be known as the Water Street Butcher. {{Gorn}}, [[GambitIndex gambits]], terror, and [[LargeHam ham]] ensues.
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7	The film was made during 2008 but never got a theatrical release, though a rough-cut of the film has been leaked online and is screened at film festivals. After years of being in limbo, it finally saw a home video release from Creator/ShoutFactory in October 2017, being released on Blu-Ray and DVD under their Scream Factory label.
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9	----
10	!!This work features examples of:
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12	* AdmiringTheAbomination: One police officer actually acknowledges the possibility of admiring such a skilled and elusive killer in an interview and after a moment of hesitation firmly asserts that she could never feel anything but loathing for him.
13	* AntiClimax: Around three-fourths of the way through the movie, the police claim that they've captured the killer. [[spoiler:They're wrong.]]
14	* ApologeticAttacker: Cheryl, who is forced to slit a woman's throat.
15	* ArtisticLicenseLaw: When Jennifer's mother calls 911, the operator states that 24 hours must pass before someone can be reported missing. Which is not only false, but reporting someone as soon as possible can help save lives.
16	* AxCrazy: The killer, although he's capable of retaining a semblance of sanity in public. But when he's in front of the camera, he calls his murderous madness from its deepest of depths.
17	* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler:Carver, realizing that he's getting too much heat for his crimes, starts exclusively killing prostitutes to make the public believe that they're safe. During this time frame, when the public is still searching for his new persona, he frames a cop for his tenure as the Water Street Butcher, believing he would receive the death penalty for his murders (which he does). As such, he's able to commit at least one of his "regular" murders undetected by law enforcement and then slip away.]]
18	* BeingWatched: Cheryl can feel the murderer watching her immediately before her kidnapping.
19	* ChewingTheScenery: "Your name... IS SLAAAAAVE!"
20	* ColdBloodedTorture: Ed likes to sexually torture his victims, and Cheryl seems to have gotten the worst of it.
21	* ConfusionFu: The Water Street Butcher switches up his M.O. often and even within these different phases demonstrates odd inconsistencies. This is part of what makes him so hard to catch, since it makes him nearly impossible to profile and difficult to realize it's the same culprit.
22	* DeadpanSnarker: The killer, most prominently towards Samantha.
23	-->'''Killer:''' (as Samantha tries to get out of his car) Obviously, I wouldn't leave handles on the doors.
24	* DesperatePleaForHome: After being rescued, all Cheryl is able to say is "Just take me home." It's not until later we find out she isn't talking about her mother's house, but The Butcher's basement.
25	* DeathOfAChild:
26	** The killer's murderous rampage begins when he kills a young girl by bashing her head in with the camera, and it gets worse from there. He also has the corpse of a couple and their baby buried in his backyard.
27	** Narrowly avoided with the [[spoiler:girl scouts. Although, he was going to kill them before Cheryl intervened.]]
28	* DisposableSexWorker: The killer starts targeting prostitutes to confuse the public into thinking the murderer who only targeted suburban people has stopped. It works, and some of the pressure from investigators hunting him is alleviated long enough for him to claim plenty of prostitutes on top of his 'preferred' victims.
29	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Carver escapes justice, having successfully framed James Foley for his murders as the Water Street Butcher, and driving Cheryl to suicide.]]
30	* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Cheryl...for her "Master".]]
31	* TheFaceless: The killer's face is never seen, except in an identikit.
32	* ForTheEvulz: The Butcher just loves to torture, kill and mutilates people for no other reason exepct pure sadism.
33	* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: [[spoiler: At the end the authorities say they will be keeping a close eye on places where the "documentary" will be aired as they believe the ego of the killer will not allow him to miss watching it. So maybe it's implied the Butcher could even be the viewer sitting next to you]].
34	* {{Frameup}}: The Water Street Butcher [[spoiler:successfully frames a cop, who ends up being executed.]]
35	* {{Gorn}}: Not as much as some horror movies, but definitely noticeable. There are a few crime scene photos of the Butcher's victims, and needless to say, they're not pretty. While lacking in gore, two victims of the killer are visibly and painfully killed on camera and end up spewing blood out their mouths as he digs deeper with the wounds.
36	* HeroWithBadPublicity: While perhaps not a hero, since he was a rather sleazy cop, [[spoiler:James Foley was innocent of the murders he was framed for, which the general public doesn't realize even after his innocence was proven.]]
37	* {{Irony}}: The killer kills a cop using the justice system.
38	* ItIsDehumanizing: Similar to [[Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs Buffalo Bill]], the killer occasionally acknowledges his victims as "it" to strip them of their individuality and as such, not feel any shame for what he does to them.
39	* JitterCam: In many of the scenes, the killer is holding the camera.
40	* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:The killer is never caught.]]
41	* LargeHam: The Water Street Butcher has a flair for the theatrical and tends to wear a beaked Carnival mask with a ruffed cape. There's also the [[invoked]][[MemeticMutation infamous]] manner in which he kills the English woman--he creeps up on her on all fours (actually using his feet as opposed to his knees for maximum effect) despite nobody being able to see but the camera, then slowly lances her through the neck. Justified because he uses it to dissociate himself from any guilt.
42	** It's shown also during the balloon sequence. Despite not being on-screen his voice says all (POP IT !!)
43	* MadnessMantra:
44	** " Just take me home, just take me home..."
45	** "[[StockholmSyndrome You're the master and it pleases me to serve you]]".
46	** To a lesser extent, "I don't know. I don't know what you want me to say."
47	* MalevolentMaskedMan: The killer hides his face by wearing a creepy Venetian bird mask. Also deconstructed — one subject interviewed suggests that masks make the wearer dissociate from reality, and become that much more crazed and dangerous.
48	* MeaningfulName: The Butcher's real name, Edward Carver, for his love of ''carving'' women up in his TortureCellar with torture implements. His first name Edward may have been taken from notorious RealLife serial killer Ed Gein who was the inspiration for many fictional horror icons; [[Literature/{{Psycho}} Norman Bates]], [[Film/TheTexasChainsawMassacre "Leatherface"]] and [[Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs "Buffalo Bill"]] to name a few.
49	* {{Mockumentary}}: A rare case where a horror movie mockumentary tries to look like an ''actual'' documentary rather than simply shaky cam.
50	* MoodWhiplash: "Ed" is prone to this. One minute, he'll be [[SoftSpokenSadist speaking in a soft tone]] to his victims, but before you know it, he'll be SuddenlyShouting at them.
51	* MyBelovedSmother: According to Stacy Chbosky, Cheryl and her mother didn't get along, [[spoiler:even after her return home, where Victoria dressed her in church clothes and tied her hair in a French braid, since she couldn't.]]
52	* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: The credits in the official release reveal that the killer's real name is [[spoiler:Edward Carver.]]
53	* NoKillLikeOverkill: Tim's death, as described by Edgar Cummings.
54	* OhCrap: A very dark and serious example. When the English woman sitting in the back of his car realizes who's driving, there's a long pause as you can see her silent realization in the dark.
55	-->"I'm a butcher."
56	* OminousOperaCape: It's part of the killer's ensemble.
57	* OvershadowedByControversy: InUniverse example with the headline that James Foley getting posthumously cleared from being the Water Street Butcher getting bumped down to page 6 of their newspaper after [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror 9/11]] happened. As a result, most people are aware of the much more sensational trial and execution and not the fact that ''they got the wrong guy''.
58	* PoliceAreUseless: So much that they [[spoiler:get tricked into executing one of their own for the crimes of the Water Street Butcher]].
59	* RayOfHopeEnding:
60	** [[spoiler:Though Carver remains uncaught by the end, one of the FBI agents suggests that if the movie makes it to theaters, he would likely be unable to help himself from going to as many screenings as possible, and is bound to get caught by authorities laying in wait if he inevitably feeds into his ego.]]
61	** [[spoiler:For James Foley's son, Hank. His father was never properly vindicated for the Water Street Butcher murders because the article vindicating him was published on 9/11, which in turn caused Hank to be a sort of pariah due to his relationship to the supposed killer. With the movie's release, there's a chance that more people might finally know the truth.]]
62	* RedBaron: In the middle of his spree killings, the killer is given the moniker of the Water Street Butcher by the media. While he probably was never going to stop murdering, the nickname is flattering enough for the killer to start calling himself a Butcher to make a soon-to-be-victim panic.
63	* ScarpiaUltimatum: Subverted. He offers the English woman the chance to live if she lets him rape her. She agrees, but he immediately says he's not that stupid, and that neither of them would want her alive to see what he planned to do to her.
64	* SerialKiller: The Water Street Butcher, [[spoiler:real name Edward Carver]], has made a career for himself out of mutilating women for over a decade.
65	* ShoutOut: The first chapter is titled "[[Franchise/{{Rambo}} First Blood]]".
66	* SnuffFilm: The eponymous tapes.
67	* TheStinger: After the credits, one last tape suddenly plays of yet another woman bound and trapped in Carver's cellar, whether a new victim or an unaccounted one from his previous rampage, screaming and gasping until right in front of the camera until the film ends.
68	%%* StockholmSyndrome: Poor, poor Cheryl.
69	* SuddenlyShouting: This exchange.
70	-->'''Hooker:''' (starts bouncing on a balloon) Like this?\
71	'''Killer:''' (calmly) Yes.\
72	(the hooker continues bouncing on the balloon for a few seconds)\
73	'''Killer:''' Now pop it.\
74	'''Hooker:''' What?\
75	'''Killer:''' [[Main/MoodWhiplash POP IT!]]
76	* TooDumbToLive: Foley was urged by his lawyer to take the plea bargain to avoid the death penalty. His response was to threaten to fire his lawyer, [[SuicidalOverconfidence and that he'd defend himself if he had to]]. It doesn't end well for him.
77	* TortureCellar: A basement serves as the killer's lair, but it's noticeably corpse-free since he goes to painful lengths to hide the bodies of victims elsewhere.
78	* UsedToBeASweetKid: Footage from the Dempsey's home movies show a young, more carefree Cheryl long before her abduction.
79	* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory:
80	** The story is similar to the crimes of real-life serial killers Roy Norris and Lawrence Bittaker, who, in the late '70s and early '80s, kidnapped five young women and sound-recorded the girls' screams while torturing them with a pair of pliers and a wire hanger.
81	** It also has some similarities to Leonard Lake and Charles Ng, who would take their victims to a secluded compound, torture them, and record it on a video camera.
82	** People also think that this story is somehow based on Kendall Francois, a serial killer from Poughkeepsie, New York, convicted of killing eight women. Though that's where the similarities end.
83	* VillainProtagonist: Edward Carver, aka. Water Street Butcher.
84	* WouldHurtAChild: In a tape the killer shows he started his "career" by killing an 8 year old girl. In another [[spoiler:he attempted to kill two little Girl Scouts only to be forced to let them out of the house by Cheryl's screams.]]

Context Film / ThePoughkeepsieTapes