dvts First, the good - it's a very involving doc, well-made and interesting and full of good interviews and inherently fascinating material. But that's also the problem. The material is so good, and so involving, that you wonder why the filmmakers, in editing, didn't think better of their idiotic, immoral crusade, abandon their untenable argument, and just make a straight documentary about the killings.What we have here is a prime example of an agenda running up against reality. Andre Rand is obviously guilty of these killings. A reasonable person watching this doc, which means to cast doubt on his guilt and on the process involved in arresting and prosecuting him, will come away 100% sure he did it. How did the filmmakers fail to realize this? The man is obviously guilty. They mention his presence near literally every single dead kid around the time of the kid's disappearance, but never even attempt to address this impossible coincidence. They just leave it there, and it looms over the entire film and undermines any attempt to exculpate him. He did it. Obviously he did it. His letters and his lifestyle and background and the entire set of circumstances only reinforce his guilt. This guy did it. Did he do it alone? Hard to say. The film never said whether or not the one body showed signs of sexual abuse (if that could even have been ascertained), and imo, the involvement of others would only have occurred had there been a sexual element. But, imo, the nature of his likely motive would seem to exclude sexual elements or that kind of exploitation. He would seem likely to have just killed them. But yea, this is a nonsense documentary. It spends all this time trying to paint the cops as out of touch and incompetent, and undermine them, showing them chasing Satanist boogeymen - but then later on we're told an important Satanist figure lives on Staten Island and has for years. Oh, and we're shown a Christian cult-y church on the island whose creepiness and weirdness is shocking - if THAT can exist, why couldn't a Satanist church exist there?We're shown witnesses obviously making stuff up and lying in court. But so what? This is heartening, to me, since he's obviously guilty. It's nice to see a community not be victimized by its own laws, but stand up for itself and use the law to get justice and protect the community. But the worst sin is a cheap shot at one of the contributors to the doc, the woman who runs the local Friends of Jenny or whatever it's called. This woman helped the filmmakers, gave interviews, let them into her home - they even thank her in the credits. But they end their film on an out-of-nowhere cheap shot at her, painting her as an attention-seeking glory hound with base motives. At the same time, in doing so, they effectively absolve Rand of the same thing, when HE is obviously guilty of just that (as well as being guilty of, ya know - the murders). Rand plays these dumb, credulous, misguided kids like a piano, as his sister wisely observes in meeting them. One of his letters (the one where he talks about other filmmakers/writers "continuing what you've started") pretty much outright reveals how he's using them. And they were only too happy to be used this way - maybe they considered it mutual exploitation and manipulation. They got a film out of it, and the child killer got free public advocacy and got a start at being turned into a 'legend'. In any case, the filmmaking wasn't nearly skillful enough to hide the obvious fact of the man's guilt. This is ultimately an immoral, exploitative film. I feel bad for the families of the children Rand murdered, who participated in good faith and were straight with the filmmakers. Perhaps they didn't even realize their grief was being exploited, and that they were contributing to a piece of advocacy in defense of their child's murderer. There was more than enough material here to make a great documentary about the true story of Rand, the mental institution, the island, and the killings. It's a shame the filmmakers didn't realize it.

Michael_Elliott Cropsey (2009) **** (out of 4) Excellent documentary from filmmakers Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio, two people who grew up hearing stories of Cropsey, a killer of children living up in Staten Island, New York. Through the documentary we hear how various children were told different stories of who exactly Cropsey was but then we get to a drifter named Andre Rand who many believed killed at least five children in the area. Throughout the documentary we hear about the urban legend that stalked the people of this town and we learn about the little evidence that got Rand convicted and how perhaps the legends are what got him found guilty and not the actual case against him. CROPSEY came to my attention as a horror movie fan because I had heard that both MADMAN and THE BURNING were based around this case. Both of those slashers took a lot of liberties with the actual story and that's what makes this documentary so interesting because it really does seem as if the two filmmakers wanted to get the truth and not just paint a picture of a monster. The directors try to paint an open and honest look at the case and by the time the picture is over you really don't know what to believe in regards to Rand's guilt. There are moments where you feel this guy is a monster and he must have committed the crimes but then a minute later you realize that there's really nothing connecting him to the crimes and there are even more mysterious circumstances around the case. As someone who had never really heard of the cases, I found it really interesting seeing the news clips from back when the crimes were committed as well as hearing from those who actually searched for the children. Out of the five victims only one's body was recovered and how it was uncovered was a little suspicious to say the least. The documentary also gets quite a few interviews with those who were connected to the case, those who searched for the body as well as a possible witness who is the most questionable person in the entire film. CROPSEY is certainly a very entertaining documentary taking a look at the connection between an urban legend and the truth.

nathanschubach I wasn't very thrilled by this movie at all. The directors' goal was to prove that there wasn't an urban myth around the "Cropsey" tale at all, but in fact, the tale supposedly really happened. The thing is, the Cropsey legend doesn't have anything to do with a mental ward or a "dumping ground" for mentally-handicapped people at all. It was a camp story about a possible madman who worked in a summer camp, seeking payback for an atrocity done to him. This tale didn't have anything to do with the Cropsey tale.The movie looks more into how we treat possible who MIGHT BE the killer of a young girl (and 4 others). The sister of the supposed-killer in the movie had it right all along (when she was speaking with the two directors of this documentary: "I feel that my brother is just manipulating you." In other words, he's leading people through some maze of a game that doesn't explain any of his motives or whether or not he really even did anything with the missing girl in question, and hardly any mention is made of the other four cases he might have caused.This review is pretty vague about what happened in the documentary altogether, but from what I saw, my suggestion is don't bother watching it. I wasn't creeped out by anything in this movie (OK, well, I hardly get creeped out on most occasions, but here especially). The story ran dry, as the documentary did. I have to note the obvious ripoff score of Halloween as the "main theme song," too. Not worth it. Go re-rent Silence of the Lambs or something.

druid333-2 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.