Before winning the gig of remaking [REC] for Hollywood with the surprisingly adept QUARANTINE, the Dowdle brothers cut their teeth with this (still unreleased) entry in the found-footage horror sub-genre. Parts of THE POUGHKEEPSIE TAPES, which exploits the ever-commercial subject of serial killing, are as creepy as hell - and its format (talking heads interspersed with “real” footage of the horrors the heads talk of) would be reworked for later movies such as this year’s excellent LAKE MUNGO. The comparison is apt, since one key area the Dowdle brothers’ movie falters in - the authenticity of the acting - is one of the great strengths of MUNGO.

   This film is largely set in the early 90’s, presumably because grainy, mediocre-quality video footage feels more “real” and unsettling than the kind of uber-sharp HD cameras any self-respecting nut job would be using to film their handiwork these days. Serial killer statistics help lure us into the story of a particularly sadistic serial killer who terrorized the eponymous area and was never caught. We hear from FBI agents and experts on the case, grieving parents, an inappropriately upbeat “Dismemberment Expert” (at least someone’s having a good time!) and a retired FBI profiler who is using the titular tapes in his teachings to new recruits. Said cassettes, of which there are many, were made by the theatrical-minded killer to document his life’s work, and to provide him with cheap kicks.

   This movie is, effectively, the natural 21^st century extension of all those p.o.v. subjective stalking scenes in slasher movies dating back to PEEPING TOM and even earlier. We’re in the HOSTEL era of nihilistic, unforgiving horror, so this movie opts for shock value and taboo-busting early on with a (discreet) child killing, though the Dowdles - like Romero in DIARY OF THE DEAD - buck at least a large part of the found-footage trend by using non-digenetic music to amp up the uneasiness.

   Often the gimmick works well and achieves the desired effect of being genuinely uncomfortable to watch. There is a bravura, extended, horribly voyeuristic riff on HALLOWEEN’s classic prologue, as the killer breaks into the home of a teenage girl, patiently waiting as she showers and watches a movie with her boyfriend before killing them. We get to experience, more than normal, what it’s like to be a deranged stalker biding his time. Subsequent scenes of a bound victim being verbally and physically tormented by the costumed / masked killer, caught by a locked-down camera in the basement, are vivid and distressing. Some of the creepiest moments involve no explicit violence : there’s a queasy scene of implied threat to a pair of girl scouts and the harrowing sight of a victim who, having survived being this sick bastard’s “slave” for some considerable time, is brought on camera just so we can see how fucked up she has become a couple of weeks before she takes her own life.

   It is not the most authentic of this sub-genre, with too much obviously scripted dialogue and a significant amount of performances that fail to meet the naturalistic standards demanded by the script. The killer proves to be outrageously ingenious, and the twists in the final act (including the execution of the wrong man) play out too movie-like to convince. This killer, while genuinely frightening and vividly portrayed, has a lot of John Doe attributes that prove distracting in this context.

   Nonetheless, for all its flaws, this is an unnerving spin on the played-out serial killer / police procedural theme, with a nasty edge and moments that border on the nightmarish. Typical of this cycle, the ending offers no hope, while the end credits thank the families of the fictional victims.