#they wanna be a creepypasta so bad

[moondeathhorror]

is Poughkeepsie Tapes the WORST MOVIE EVER?!?!?!

Probably not. Statistically, there have got to be worse ones.

The Poughkeepsie Tapes is a 2007 found-footage horror film that purports to be a documentary about the Poughkeepsie Tapes, films of torture and murder, and the serial killer behind them. The film alternates between interviews with various officials about the killer's methods and excerpts from the tapes themselves showing his crimes.

And, of course, it's really bad. I'd like my time back for watching it and everyone who told me it was the mOsT diStUrBiNg fiLm eVeR drawn and quartered. It feels as though the rise of TikTok was the best thing that could ever have happened to it; the three or four most iconic "tape" scenes could be removed from the context that makes it impossible to take them seriously, stripped of the audio that exposes the rubbish acting, and shown to millions of gullible fourteen-year-olds who would then be scarred for life.*

man, that acting

I actually remember exactly when I was pulled out of the movie for good: it was the "YOUR NAME IS SLAVE!" scene. Until then, I had been willing to forgive the film its conspicuous cheapness (we can't all be '70s John Carpenter) and rather stilted acting, but this broke any investment I had had. So the killer was young Ted Cruz? How can I possibly take the man seriously?

Not that the killer is the only one bringing it down; most of the other performances are forgettable. The issue is that some lacking acting around the margins would be forgivable, but most of this film is pretty poorly acted, and the killer especially—man. Probably at least partially an issue of direction, but I can't get over his high-schooler hamminess. Actually, this makes a lot of the FBI segments unintentionally read like satire. The writing and performances are awful in such a way that it feels like an entertaining send-up of true crime documentaries, even though they were absolutely trying to play it straight. In isolation, you should absolutely watch them; they're really funny.

About the only exception to this rule is Stacy Chbosky, who plays Cheryl Dempsey, a girl kidnapped and brainwashed by the killer into subservience and loyalty. She gives a great scream-queen performance when being captured, which morphs over the course of the film into something much darker and more depressing. She gives it her all throughout, making the transformation as credible as possible through the poor writing, and as a result is and the end responsible for perhaps the only disturbing (good) scene in this film.

serial killer Mary Sue

Whenever someone asks what a Mary Sue is now, I will direct them to this movie. Well, I won't, because if I did I would look even more like a freak than I do currently, but if I had no self-awareness I would, because this film's killer is the perfect example. He is never caught by police or seriously challenged in any way; he flawlessly executes his crimes and disappears from the house in which the Tapes are found without a trace; he baffles every level of law enforcement and is three steps ahead of them at all times. He is simply unbeatable. The world is not constructed in such a way as to check his power over it.

Actually, when you start looking, you find that almost half the scenes in the film, rather than provide any substantive plot information, serve solely to inflate the killer's mystique. The tapes are set up to be so disturbing that an FBI agent's wife who accidentally watches a few minutes won't touch him for a year. The killer's methods are breathlessly explained by multiple agents to be brilliantly designed to evade capture. Hell, there's even a scene where Ted Bundy is interviewed Silence-of-the-Lambs-style about the killer. This makes the film feel oddly frictionless; it's not a believable, credible story, but a wish-fulfillment sadistic fantasy piece.

the only good scene + some potential

In fairness to Tapes, there is one good scene in it, which I reference in the acting section. It is an interview with Cheryl Dempsey, the abducted and brainwashed girl from the beginning, who was recovered in the raid on the house that also uncovered the tapes. It's a short scene, because she says little, doing a thousand-yard stare into the lens, and the interview quickly goes nowhere. Through whispered tears, she proclaims her love of the killer and her undying loyalty to him. At one point, she brings her arm into frame to scratch her head, which is when we realize that she has only a stump for a left hand. It's cold, desolate, and Chbosky is magnetic in the role.

This scene may contain a twist as well? The voice of the interviewer in the Dempsey segment bears a suspicious resemblance to the voice of the killer. Throughout the film, profilers have explained that the killer is egotistical and will want to remain close to his crimes in some way; thematically, the killer being the documentarian would fit with him being "behind the camera" for his actual crimes. Honestly, my only reservation in declaring this canonical is that if that was what the film wanted to do, I don't have faith in its ability to execute the twist that subtly.

In a way, this scene also frustrated me. It's not just a good scene relative to the rest of Tapes; it is a well-paced, well-acted, strong horror scene in general. It serves as a kind of proof of concept for what the movie could have been if it had been more thoughtfully written and better-acted. What if more of the scenes, instead of sucking the killer's dick with a fifth discussion of how smart he is, had focused on the experience of the victims of his crimes, both firsthand victims and the families? What if more of the actual tapes, had been pre-crime or concerned an actual challenge to the killer, even one he eventually overcomes? Hell, what if the whole thing had been about the horror of Dempsey's abduction and brainwashing? It would have been more focused, made more use of easily the best actor they had, and would feel significantly more grounded than the current serial killer OC fic on show.

some final thoughts + better recs

Poughkeepsie Tapes is not completely without potential, but then, no film is. It's poorly written, poorly acted serial-killer wish fulfillment that mostly fails to touch on any of the elements that make the man's crimes truly disturbing, like the human toll that they take on the victims and their families or the mental disturbances that could lead a person to do these things. The most artistic value it has is as a so-bad-it's-good campy send-up of true crime documentaries, but that effect is unintentional and therefore inconsistent. No, just watch something else.

For "glimpse into my twisted mind" sorts of movies, The House that Jack Built (2018) by Lars von Trier is pretty hard to beat. It is a retrospective by a serial killer on his life, as told to the poet Virgil while he is led through Hell. Very pretentious, and quite a commitment at two and a half hours, but it's elegaic, disturbing, provocative, and delivers on "eloquent, obsessive murderer" very well.

For "mockumentary/found-footage scares", Hell House LLC (2015) is kind of a return to form for American found-footage horror, which after the success of The Blair Witch Project (1999) and Paranormal Activity (2007) has felt a bit out in the wilderness (no pun intended). It's about five friends who rent an abandoned hotel and turn it into a haunted house, but get more than they bargained for when paranormal evil starts to manifest.

* Please understand that here at Moondeath, our official position is generally supportive of scarring children. Having the bed scene from The Exorcist (1973) seared into your retinas when you're nine years old or some equivalent precocious visitation of the sick is a formative experience in any horror fan's life. No, the concern is with the atrocious quality of this film's traumatic ammunition, which could lead impressionable young dilettantes to develop an incurable taste for Disney-themed r/nosleep stories and other crippling maladies besides.

[banemaus]

couple of dudes

[goatgutzupon]

[mullet--head]

Fan art for @dangerbizz !!! I absolutely love their art a lot and it’s possessing me to embrace creepypasta once again

[jeffthegriller]

doodles

[ghostydrawsstuff]

Trenderman, I can name sooooooo many BETTER fashion icons with better style.

-Mable Pines (Gravity Falls)

-Gene Belcher (Bob's Burgers)

-Barbie

-Minnie Mouse

-Angle Dust (Hazbin Hotel)

-Alastor (Hazbin Hotel)

-Masqueraderman (Asktehslenders Deviantart)

-Verosika Mayday (Helluva Boss)

-Velvette (Hazbin Hotel)

-Leslie (The Amazing World of Gumball)

-Lori, Leni, and Lola Loud (The Loud House)

-Sally (The Nightmare before Christmas)

-Power (Chainsaw man)

-Rarity (My Little Pony)

-FUCKIN' OFFENNDERMAN (not biased at all)

But goddam your rivalry continuesss! He's definitely very much done with it, like just let him do his thing XD

[jrueships]

Paul George on Stephen A. Smith’s Kawhi Leonard jab: “I didn’t like that moment… Kawhi wants to play… We exhausted a lot out of Kawhi this season. So at some point your body breaks you down… I didn’t appreciate that moment. I know I laughed because the situation was lighthearted, but deep down it was like you gotta let that go, Stephen A.”

Paul George, knight in shining armor

[ellzilla]

I love monster girls {women who are physically and mentally a monster}

[mewpirate]

What is one controversial opinion that will get you jumped , whether it be a certain wiki character , the wiki itself , (maybe the Heykids wiki too itself if you wanna count that in ) , or just anything about the fandom that you wish to see improvement on 🤔🧐

[lindamccartneysstrap]

Same anon that said John would be on 4chan I dunno if you’re actually interested but the context I feel is kinda important to what I was trying to imply about John. okay I haven’t been on there for a while so my memory is kinda hazy but to my memory /tttt/ was originally the lgbt forum but as time went on and became more Nazi-ish a lot of people left, leaving only the most self-hating trans people mostly trans women, and the forum mainly consists of trans women discouraging each other transitioning “because they’ll never pass” and pointing out each others insecurities. If you’ve never heard the term “hon” it’s a shortening of “oh honey” that’s usually used by trans women to shit on other trans women basically saying like “oh she’s so delusional she thinks she’s passing,” and if I remember correctly it originated on /tttt/.

I just think John would be really self-hating in her teenage years and take it out on others the same way 60s John was really insecure about being queer and took it out on others. But she’d mellow out more once she got on E and especially after she got all the surgeries she wanted but it would haunt her to have at one point been part of that community.

I have no idea in this universe if Paul is also trans because the idea of t4t lesbian McLennon is compelling for obvious reasons but I could also see Paul being like, one of those “trans inclusionary misogynists” where he’s really accepting of John but also immediately starts acting like she’s too weak to do anything, and in their teenage years it would probably be morbidly euphoria-inducing for John. Sorry long anon message but I’ve been thinking about this topic a lot.

What a fascinating world you've conjured here thank you for sharing. In my heart I need them to both girls for toxic yuri reasons but I do see your vision

[pastellmochi]

[just-a-creep-babe]

Bestie i am in need of assistance, i tried posting on my blog and its been ten hours and not a single like :<

(the post was how i need a proof reader and someone to help with brainstorming and a couple general outsider views) for a fanfic i'm writing i want it to be generally big, maybe larger than 50k-70k words (not sure yet) right now i mainly need someone to help with brainstorming. i was hoping you could help??? It's a "Jason The Toymaker" fic, and if you can't find the time to help it's perfectly fine, but if anyone else would like to help my dms are always open! there are a few (negotiable) requirements though.

i don't have much of a deadline but i'd like to get the first chapter out in like 4 months give or take so there's some time i guess in case you need to think about it or anything, i haven't really thought of a schedule yet but that's something that can be worked out.

(also have you seen the creepypasta movie yet?)

Ahh I’ve got my hands pretty full atm so I don’t think I’d be much help with how inconsistently I’d be able to communicate ^^;

BUT!! If anyone’s interested, please check em out!!!

[officialcreepypastareheated]

I'm bored and feel like sharin silly things about the reheated gang.

Drop some prompts/questions about my goobs or the universe they reside in PLEEEEASE!!!!!

[thebananaiscold]

Issac and Ashley Sketch

oooo they fightin. Will they kiss? No. Issac definitely thought about it though.

[watermel0ns-dumb-cringe]

Yknow. The paranormal activity AU would go so hard as a horror animated series. But like

In the style of the Ted's Caving Journal vlogs. That kind of horror (if you know what that is I love you/p)

Like no jumpscares, no like. Explicit gore. Just pure anxiety inducing shit that's immersive(as much as it can be for animation) LIKE WOULD THAT NOT GO HARD??? HEAR ME OUT,,,,

[tunaclownpasta]

doing art request !! ( Closed temporarily)

Things I will draw:

Batim

Undertale

FNAF

Creepypasta

Re-Animator

Slashers

DDLC

Welcome home

OC's

South park

What I'll draw!:

Oc x canon

Oc x oc

Canon x canon

Fluff

Gore

Body horror

Anything really

What I will not draw:

Anything racist, homophobic or political

Lemon or nsfw

Proshipping