History NightmareFuel / ThePoughkeepsieTapes

* TheStinger with the killer [[BlatantLies "proposing"]] he'll let a victim live...as long as she doesn't blink. She pants loudly while gagged as she futilely attempts to keep her eyes open right before camera sharply cuts to black when she fails.

** It may not be '''physically''' scary but - together with the immediate follow-up where it is revealed that she took her own life '''declaring undying love for her torturer''' - it is arguably the most '''psychologically''' horrifying scene in the whole movie. Probably the darkest depiction of StockholmSyndrome in the history of cinema.

* In one scene, the killer invites two Girl Scouts into his home. He offers to show them a raccoon in [[Main/TortureCellar his basement]], with the obvious intention of doing all sorts of horrible things to them, and then killing them. Thankfully, he lets them leave unharmed when he hears Cheryl whimpering, but it still manages to be one of the most disturbing scenes in the movie even without any real form of violence, being a prime example of AdultFear.

* In one scene, the killer invites two Girl Scouts into his home. He offers to show them a raccoon in [[Main/TortureCellar his basement]], with the obvious intention of doing all sorts of horrible things to them, and then killing them. [[spoiler:Thankfully, he lets them leave unharmed when he hears Cheryl whimpering, but it still manages to be one of the most disturbing scenes in the movie even without any real form of violence, being a prime example of AdultFear.]]
* The scene in which the English woman is killed. The shot starts out with a close-up of the woman restrained in the TortureCellar, gagged with some manner of clear plastic wrapped around her mouth. After a few seconds, some booming music begins playing. Then, from around a corner, appears a white, hollow-looking face. [[spoiler:This turns out to be a mask worn by someone (on the back of his head, resulting in a BodyHorror effect that only adds to the creepiness) in black wetsuit-like spandex, who proceeds to slowly creep along to the music, on all fours using his feet rather than knees, and slowly disappear from view as he gets closer. He then slowly comes up right beside her, revealing himself to be the Butcher by his plague doctor mask, and produces a hand on which he's wearing a needle-glove similar to [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Krueger's]] knife-glove. He then proceeds to stab the woman in the neck with two fingers, and she begins bleeding from the mouth and ultimately dying.]]
* [[spoiler: The interview with Cheryl.]] Overall not even remotely scary unless you find it creepy that [[spoiler:the Butcher ''cut off her hand.'']]

** It may not be '''physically''' scary but - together with the immediate follow-up where it is revealed that [[spoiler: she took her own life '''declaring undying love for her torturer''']] - it is arguably the most '''psychologically''' horrifying scene in the whole movie. Probably the darkest depiction of [[spoiler: StockholmSyndrome]] in the history of cinema.

* This is a story about a SerialKiller. That's not terribly new as a genre, but the added perspective of the killer himself (as a POV character, no less) adds a new, quite disturbing angle to the tired SerialKiller thriller and increases the NightmareFuel qualities of the film.

* In one scene, the killer invites two Girl Scouts into his home. He offers to show them a raccoon in [[Main/TortureCellar his basement]], with the obvious intention of doing all sorts of horrible things to them, and then killing them. [[spoiler:Thankfully, he lets them leave unharmed when he hears Cheryl whimpering, but it's still a very disturbing scene.]]

** This is right around the time it's revealed that she tortured herself in the hospital. She may have ''cut it off herself.''

** This is right around the time it's revealed that she tortured herself in the hospital. She may have ''cut it off herself.''
* The part with the girl scouts. This troper spent the first half of the scene screaming variations of OhCrap at the screen [[spoiler: only to sigh in relief over the girls apparently getting away. Then it turns out that a strange sound the girls heard was ''Cheryl, who was huddled in the box serving as the coffee table in the living room.'']]

* [[spoiler: The interview with Cheryl.]] Overall not even remotely scary unless you find it creepy that [[spoiler:the Butcher cut off her hand.]] (No offense meant towards the actress if this is a real injury.)

* The scene in which the English woman is killed. The shot starts out with a close-up of the woman restrained in the TortureCellar, gagged with some manner of clear plastic wrapped around her mouth. After a few seconds, some booming music begins playing. Then, from around a corner, appears a white, hollow-looking face. [[spoiler:This turns out to be a mask worn by someone (on the back of his head, resulting in a BodyHorror effect that only adds to the creepiness) in black wetsuit-like spandex, who proceeds to slowly creep along to the music, on all fours using his feet rather than knees, and slowly disappear from view as he gets closer. He then slowly comes up right beside her, revealing himself to be the Butcher by his plague doctor mask, and produces a hand on which he's wearing a needle-glove similar to [[{{NightmareOnElmStreet}} Freddy Krueger's]] knife-glove. He then proceeds to stab the woman in the neck with two fingers, and she begins bleeding from the mouth and ultimately dying.]]

* [[spoiler: The interview with Cheryl.]] Overall not even remotely scary unless you find it creepy that [[spoiler:the Butcher cut off her hand.]] (No offense meant towards the actress.)

* [[spoiler: The interview with Cheryl.]] Overall not even remotely scary unless you find it creepy that [[spoiler:the Butcher cut off her hand.]]

* The scene in which the English woman is killed. The shot starts out with a close-up of the woman restrained in the TortureCellar, gagged with some manner of clear plastic wrapped around her mouth. After a few seconds, some booming music begins playing. Then, from around a corner, appears a white, hollow-looking face. [[spoiler:This turns out to be a mask worn by someone (on the back of his head, resulting in a BodyHorror effect that only adds to the creepiness) in black wetsuit-like spandex, who proceeds to slowly creep along to the music, on all fours using his feet rather than hands, and slowly disappear from view as he gets closer. He then slowly comes up right beside her, revealing himself to be the Butcher by his plague doctor mask, and produces a hand on which he's wearing a needle-glove similar to [[{{NightmareOnElmStreet}} Freddy Krueger's]] knife-glove. He then proceeds to stab the woman in the neck with two fingers, and she begins bleeding from the mouth and ultimately dying.]]

* This is a story about a SerialKiller. That's not terribly new as a genre, but the added perspective of the killer himself (as a POV character, no less) adds a new, quite disturbing angle to the tired SerialKiller thriller and increases the NightmareFuel qualities of the film.