Dowdle tries to make the documentary as realistic as possible to trick the viewer into believing that this was an actual case. And he nearly pulls it off. Nearly. Although a number of flaws and leaps in logic show that this is a faux documentary, it may make it easier to view the GIMP action knowing that it is not based on real events. However, the grainy quality of the tapes remains an annoyance. And if you cannot stomach shaky camera action like in Blair Witch Project, this film may not be for you.

There's certainly no shortage of video from the tapes. The killer seems to film everything he does, including the abduction of his first victim, a young girl playing with her dolls in her front yard.

As the FBI profilers explain, the killer later becomes more bold and creative. He pretends to have car trouble and is picked up by a young couple. He films the entire sequence, including him clubbing the guy from the backseat and chloroforming the woman. (An FBI guy explains how he does this while still filming.) Nothing GIMP-worthy is done to the woman, unless you enjoy scenes of dismemberment of dead bodies.

So onto the good stuff. Much of the documentary concerns the 8-year ordeal of Cheryl Dempsey (Stacy Chbowsky), a cute blond university student whom the killer takes a particular interest in. He stalks Cheryl, filming her from his car, and eventually breaks into her apartment while she showers. After waiting patiently, he butchers her boyfriend and knocks out the fleeing woman. The stalking parts are fairly well done and creepy, and may be of interest to those who like the first-person perspective.

In between interviews with the cops and Cheryl's mom, we get to one of the best hogties I have seen in a mainstream movie. Cheryl, still fully clothed, is trussed up and the maniac has gagged her with rope that's also looped over her face and tied to her ankles so her head is forced up. Her abductor demands that she state her name. In between muffled sobs and screams, she says "Cheryl Dempsey." The killer responds with "WRONG!" and punches her in the ribs. He demands that she call herself "Slave" and him "Master." OK, a creative hogtie, but a not-so-creative dialogue.

Cheryl, by the way, does an excellent job as the confused and terrified victim.

Moving on, we get a scene of the early stages of Cheryl being broken. She's chained arms behind back in a strappado position in a dingy, poorly-lit basement. The maniac releases her, dunks her head in a water-filled sink, says he has killed her family and generally isn't a very nice guy.

The next GIMP scene has Cheryl, still clothed, hands tied to a plank over her head and sporting a black ballgag. She has become rather dingy herself. The killer says he'll remove the gag if she does something for him. A forced blowjob perhaps? Nah. He dresses her up in Victorian-style dress and opera mask. Oh well. Who can understand the minds of the truly depraved?

To confound police, the killer changes his MO and targets prostitutes. The killings aren't really shown, only glimpses of the corpses, some naked, abandoned in public areas. But there's one exception. A blond hooker gets her wrists tied behind a pillar in the basement. He orders Cheryl to slit the prostitute's throat, which she does rather easily, showing that she has been broken.

The final scene of note has the killer pretending to be a cop and offering a ride to a female whose car has broken down. When she realizes he's a nutcase and panics, he offers her a deal. If she "allows" him to rape her, he'll let her go. She agrees. He then laughs and says that he can rape her and do anything he wants to her. He rapes her in the woods, but we can't see it because he dropped the camera. Although a bit long, I thought this setup was well done.

Our unfortunate motorist ends up in the basement. We get a face-shot of her with a wraparound clear-tape gag. A leather strap is on her forehead to keep her in place. The killer, wearing that pointy nose mask thing sneaks up on her in Golum-like movements and jabs a needle in her neck.

I must applaud Dowdle's approach to The Poughkeepsie Tapes. I found the movie rather entertaining. However, if he wanted to really pull it off, he should have left out all of the "Hollywood" stuff, like the cliched remarks made.

Cheryl's mom to the news cameras: Whoever took Cheryl, please bring her home. She (pause) is a good girl."

FBI profiler: "Maybe he thought we'd be strangely sort-of impressed by it. (pause) No. After seeing what he did to Cheryl Dempsey, I can feel nothing but loathing for this guy."

The whole Stockholm Syndrome angle was way overblown, and perhaps the filmmaker's way of adding a "love story" element to the documentary. TV news footage says someone, presumably the killer, stole the corpse of Cheryl from her grave. Oh please.

And there's the persistent implausibility that the FBI would allow such footage to be used in a documentary, or the parents of a messed-up rape and torture victim agreeing to let her do an interview.

As for the GIMP scenes, there really is no nudity, and although the killer is also a rapist, the acts are not shown. I guess the scenes may work if you are not too bothered by the glitches and poor quality associated with camcorders of yesteryear. Coupled with the good acting, it actually did seem to enhance the realism and menace in the scenes. The killer's face is not shown, so we only hear his voice, which alternates quite well from normal (and a bit creepy) to psychotic.

There was a real serial killer in Poughkeepsie, but the documentary is not based on him. The viewer can safely watch this "real-life" movie as pure fiction/fantasy.

My Grades:

As a movie: B

GIMP scenes: C+