With The Poughkeepsie Tapes so seemingly realistic in its telling, we’re all wondering, “Is Cheryl Dempsey a real person?” The movie follows a serial killer’s reign of terror in Poughkeepsie, New York. However, filmmaker John Erick Dowdle made the film in a manner that confused many audience members into thinking they were watching a documentary. nd since much of The Poughkeepsie Tapes focused on the snuff films that the serial killer recorded his murders, it caused a small uproar when it was released.

This also led people to question if Cheryl Dempsey actually existed. Played in The Poughkeepsie Tapes by Stacy Chbosky, Cheryl is a teenager whom the serial killer (Ben Messmer’s Edward Carver) terrorizes, and she eventually dies by suicide at the end due to the trauma inflicted on her. The Poughkeepsie Tapes was removed from its theatrical release after its premiere at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival generated a ton of controversy. A short 2014 VOD release, but the film wasn’t available until 2017 when it was released and remastered on DVD and Blu-ray, a whole decade after its premerie.

The Poughkeepsie Tapes Isn’t Based On A True Story

However, The Murders Were Based On Real-Life Killers

The Poughkeepsie Tapes is part of the found footage horror genre. As a result, there are many people who believe that this was actually a movie that showed bits and pieces from real snuff films, which is entirely false. This was mostly due to the viral marketing campaign, which claimed that this was a look at a real serial killer named Edward Carver who left behind 800 videotapes hidden in his basement, which depicted his various twisted crimes. Thanks to the rise of true-crime documentaries, this made the found footage movie seem a little too real.

However, while The Poughkeepsie Tapes was not based on a true story of finding uncovered videotapes, the actual murders shown on the snuff tapes were at least based on real murders. Dowdle based most of the tapes’ footage on serial killers and their crimes, but while all the footage was disturbing and terrifying, nothing in the movie was real. It was all fictional footage created with bits of real killings used as inspiration.

Cheryl Dempsey Is Not Based On A Real Person

Cheryl Was The Final Girl In The Poughkeepsie Tapes

In The Poughkeepsie Tapes, serial killer Edward Carver left behind 800 videotapes with all his various crimes on them. Many of these tapes showed a young woman named Cheryl Dempsey, whom Edward abducted and kept alive, abusing her and forcing her into Sєxual enslavement, and later had her to help him become a reluctant ᴀssistant in his murders. By the end, the police saved and rescued Cheryl, but she ended up dying by suicide after this because she was unable to handle the trauma that she suffered while helping kill people for so long.

However, as with the movie itself, Cheryl was also fictional. While many of Carver’s murders were based on real-life serial killers, Cheryl herself was not based on a real person.

Stacy Chbosky Talks About Playing Cheryl Dempsey

“It Was Challenging”

For fans who watched The Poughkeepsie Tapes and thought it was real, it should come as a surprise to know that Cheryl Dempsey from the tapes is played by actress Stacy Chbosky. While most of her roles were smaller, with some not even including character names, she has appeared in TV shows like Code Black and Victorious and in movies like The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Devil, and Quarantine (which was also directed by John Erick Dowdle).

It should also be noted that Chbosky is director John Erick Dowdle’s real-life wife (they married in 2005, two years before making The Poughkeepsie Tapes. She is also the sister of author Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower). When talking about starring in the movie, Chbosky told The Drew Carson Show:

“I love The Poughkeepsie Tapes. It’s the only time I’ve ever starred in a movie, and it was so much fun to have that big arc and all those meaty scenes. To get to make lots of choices. It was challenging, for sure: physically, vocally, and emotionally. I got tied up; I screamed myself hoarse. I got held underwater for real and hog-tied for real and dragged out of a grave for real. And I had to cry a lot, which is draining. But I loved it. I was creating a cool character in a movie I love very much.”

The Legacy Of The Poughkeepsie Tapes Explained

There Were Further Urban Legends After The Movie’s Release

Dowdle released promo materials that claimed the murder tapes were real, and over a decade after The Poughkeepsie Tapes was released, rumors began to circulate on social media that the real tapes had been discovered. In November 2020, Michael Goi’s Megan Is Missing was released, which itself was another found footage movie and was criticized for its brutal depiction of Sєxual violence that many mistakenly thought was real. At the same time, people began talking about The Poughkeepsie Tapes again.

This led to people who had never seen (or in many cases, heard of) The Poughkeepsie Tapes seeing footage from the movie for the first time. Many of these fans began to believe they were watching a real snuff film. This wasn’t the first time that a movie like this caused people to either recoil or watch in fascination due to its authenticity.

1978’s Faces of Death was a movie that still has fans believing the film was real. Of course, The Blair Witch Project was similar on a bigger level when it was released in 1999. However, The Poughkeepsie Tapes’ cult status helps it stand out years after its release.