Cropsey (2009)

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

This doc is worth it just to see Heraldo Rivera as a student reporter, lol! This movie explores a dark urban legend that very much appears to have been true - that a deranged lunatic did indeed lurk in the ruins of an abandoned mental asylum and abduct young mentally challenged children in order to 'put them out of their misery' on Staten Island, New York.The film-makers make no pretense about going for the 'scare-factor jugular' and deliberately film the terrifying abandoned asylum at night, from creepy camera angles, and all with what sounds like a modified version of the shark attack theme from JAWS playing in the background.Some reviewers may choose to crucify them for that, but I don't, by doing that they turn a somewhat dry documentary into the Blair Witch Project of documentaries, and creeped me RIGHT OUT THE DOOR, which was really fun and unexpected.The purpose of reviewing this film should not be a voice opinion on whether Rand did the crimes or not, but many reviewers are doing just that, so I'll weigh in too.I am happy to say (and much to my surprise) 'New York's Finest' actually got their man this time around. It's a shame they couldn't nail him for murder, and surprising they couldn't, given that: 1. He ADMITTED to kidnapping Jennifer Schweiger, and wanting to end the suffering of all mentally challenged children!!! A child who turns up murdered and buried in a shallow grave near one of his campsites!2. He is placed, REPEATEDLY near the crime scenes, near the victims prior to their abduction, his car is reported, he is reported hanging around or working near victims. He apparently abducted an ENTIRE BUS OF KIDS from a playground for goddsakes!!!3. His BIZARRE behavior (catatonic, wild-eyed, drooling monstrousity) after viewing the Heraldo documentary on conditions at the asylum where he worked, and his subsequent comment to police that 'we the staff were victims too' All of this and further details in the doc Should have easily been enough to convict him. The film-makers make a convincing case that is not tight enough for a unanimous jury decision, partly based imo on fear of false conviction due to the fact that in this case, 'he just looks too much like a serial killer, maybe we are making a mistake based on his appearance??'This is an excellent doc for those that like crime scene investigation thrillers, and don't mind being a little freaked out. Make sure to watch this with the lights down low on a windy stormy night, like I did! This film has some of the creepiest camera work outside of Blair Witch, and the cameraman should go on to do very well in Hollywood! I'd be grabbing him up if I was a horror director. The film-makers themselves have also done an amazing job, both with setting and sound editing, and they have BALLS OF STEEL for creeping around that asylum at night!WELL DONE TO THE NYPD!!! You couldn't get death, but at least you got this monster out of circulation!

"Cropsey" is a brilliant, yet unsettling documentary about an age-old campfire urban legend that became horrifyingly real in the 1980's for Staten Island, New York. The legend has different variances: A burn victim from a teenage prank turning into a homicidal campsite stalker (as seen in 80's slasher classic "The Burning"). A former attendant worker at a Staten Island mental institution that returns to the location after its closure, surviving in the woods and underground tunnel systems, snatching up kids in the dead of night. This documentary focuses on the latter myth., and explains how and why it became a harsh reality for residents of an "everybody knows everybody" type town.While the film raises many questions but provides little answers (mainly because the case displayed in the film is decades old, and was decided on circumstantial evidence), it is done really well and is painfully interesting. Recommended if you are into cold case files and documentaries that deal with things that are unanswered, and will probably remain that way for a very long time, if not forever.

CROPSEY is a film chock full of atmosphere, but seriously lacking in sense. Three quarters of the film is devoted to establishing an aura of unease and impending doom which is common to the Horror Genre. The film makers introduce documentation about abducted and possibly murdered children, makes the case for a mythical madman who might live near the site of an abandoned hospital, and relates numerous legends and rumors about who might have been responsible for these unsolved crimes. And then, we learn that The Bogeyman is real. His name is Andre Rand, and he has been convicted of kidnapping, but not murder. How can this be? If there was enough forensic evidence to link Rand to any of the kidnappings, how could he not be held responsible for their disappearance? The "No Body, No Murder Rule" can be waived if sufficient forensic or circumstantial evidence can be presented. It would seem that the prosecution really bungled the case, however, the film becomes almost infuriating because it stubbornly refuses to divulge details of the trial, or present reasons why a jury could reach such an absurd conclusion. It would be like finding the hijackers of the 9/11 plot guilty of plane theft, but not guilty of flying the planes into the twin towers. To borrow a phrase from the immortal Husker Du, that just, "Makes No Sense At All".

As most of us growing up were told by (some,'tho thankfully not all) parents & older siblings/peers..."the bogyman will get you if you don't watch out",just to scare the living crap out of us. In Staten Island,New York,a real life bogyman was apparently doing so. Between 1972 to 1987,several children went missing in the area of Willowbrook State School for the mentally disabled. The prime suspect was one Andre Rand,a former inmate at Willowbrook in the 1950's,and who would be found creeping around the abandoned building. Andre Rand was eventually captured,put on trial & convicted for several grisly murders. Cropsey (Rand's nick name)attempts to try & make some sort of sense out of what could have happened (and makes attempts to try & clear Rand's name). Did Andre Rand commit all of those gruesome murders,or is he (Rand) just being used as some kind of scapegoat to pacify the community of Staten Island? Life long Staten Island residents,Joshua Zeman & Barbara Brancaccio direct this riveting documentary,from a scenario conceived by Zeman. Cinematography is by Chad Davidson & edited by Tom Patterson. Not rated by the MPAA,this film contains some truly disturbing images & testimony that will haunt you for a long time after,as well as a bit of rough language. Not a good choice for children.