The Poughkeepsie Tapes | Rotten Tomatoes (2024)

FAQs

Is Poughkeepsie tape based on a true story? ›

The Poughkeepsie Tapes was not based on a real-life event. Instead, it was influenced entirely by past serial killers and their crimes, rather than a Poughkeepsie Tapes killer, as well as the exploitative contents of snuff films. Snuff films commonly depict obscene content, normally acts of real homicide.

Frightening & Intense Scenes (3)

Many crime scenes (including remains of corpses) and autopsy documentations are shown. No rape or sexual abuse is shown, but forensic and other experts describe the evidence of it, including genital mutilation.

The Poughkeepsie Tapes is a 2007 American pseudo-documentary horror film written, directed, edited, and co-developed by John Erick Dowdle. It is about the murders of a serial killer in Poughkeepsie, New York, told through interviews and footage from a cache of the killer's snuff films.

Prime Video: The Poughkeepsie Tapes.

We are shown footage of these tapes, interwoven with interviews of police officers, family members of victims, and even a victim herself to get a perspective of the killer and his crimes. Some of the footage is downright creepy and disturbing, including the murder of a young child and torture of several victims.

Francois was arrested, and on May 5, he pled guilty to third-degree assault, a misdemeanor for which he spent 15 days in jail. Perhaps the increased heat from the police department slowed the killing spree. It wasn't until June 1998 that Francois claimed his sixth confirmed victim, 51 year old Sandra Jean French.

The Poughkeepsie Tapes was never banned due to its content, but rather it struggled to find an audience and distribution after its Tribeca Film Festival release. Despite its reputation for being too gory, the film is not particularly gruesome compared to other horror movies like Saw.

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This is a movie that features acts (either filmed or described) of violent homicide, child abduction, sexual assault, corpse mutilation, live victim mutilation, prolonged psychological torture, self-mutilation, suicide, self-harm, Satanic rituals, and more.

Cheryl gives an interview where she says she believes her captor loves her and will return shortly to collect her. Soon after the interview, she commits suicide and in a note states her undying love for her "master". Not long after Cheryl is buried, her remains are mysteriously dug up and disappear.

How old was Cheryl Dempsey when she died? ›

Cheryl Lynn Dempsey (born Van Orden), 1961 - 1984

Cheryl passed away in 1984, at age 23 in death place, New Jersey.

For two years, the humble New York town of Poughkeepsie was terrorized by a 250-pound serial killer named Kendall Francois, who murdered eight women before he was caught in 1998.

The movie's marketing campaign and grainy images contribute to its alleged realism, causing some viewers to believe it is a real documentary. While The Poughkeepsie Tapes is not based on a single true story, it may draw inspiration from real-life serial killers like Ted Bundy and Kendall Francois.

The Poughkeepsie Tapes is 1 hr 26 min long. Who directed The Poughkeepsie Tapes? Who is Cheryl Dempsey in The Poughkeepsie Tapes? Stacy Chbosky plays Cheryl Dempsey in the film.

Edward Carver, better known as the Water Street Butcher, is the main protagonist of the 2007 horror film The Poughkeepsie Tapes. He is an unstable serial killer who records all his murders so that the police can witness all his crimes. He was portrayed by Ben Messmer.

The film actually angered viewers with clips of sad*stic violence and graphic torture, acted out by the murderer, James Foley, also known as "the Water Street Butcher." However, Foley isn't real. None of the film is.

The name Poughkeepsie is derived from a word in the Wappinger tribe's Munsee language, roughly U-puku-ipi-sing, meaning 'the reed-covered lodge by the little-water place', referring to a spring or stream feeding into the Hudson River south of the downtown area.