Cropsey

GENERAL INFORMATION

Release Info: 25 April 2009

Director: Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio
Running Time: 84 Minutes

Staring:  Documentary

Rating? Unrated

SPOILERS? YES

REVIEWS

IMDB: 6.4 of 10

MY RATING: 8

STORYLINE

Realizing that the urban legend of their youth has actually come true, two filmmakers delve into the mystery surrounding five missing children and the real-life boogeyman linked to their disappearance.

MY REVIEW

Firstly, I'd like to say that this is a quite disturbing documentary. I am always indescribably more frightened by psychotic people than chainsaw wielding demons! What the hell is a Cropsey? Well, that was the name that the kids on Staten Island called the Boogeyman in the 70's. In 19688 Andre Rand was of one missing child, Jennifer Schweiger, one of several children gone missing between 1972 and 1987, of which the majority were special needs. 

THIS is true horror

What I DID LIKE about this movie:

• Zeman and Brandaccio do an amazing job piecing together available evidence regarding Rand including interviews with family and friends of Rand as well as the missing children, and the detectives who worked on the case.
• Z and B even go so far as to make a move to interview Rand from Prison. It's an abject failure, but they tried.
• The footage and research into Willowbrook are skin-crawlingly effective and visits to the ruins are equally effective. This documentary looks specifically at the Willowbrook State School, a place for the mentally ill that journalist Geraldo Rivera took a focus on in 1972. Rand was known to have lived on or near the property at the time of the disappearances. 

What I DID NOT LIKE about this movie:

• Some of the interviews seems like they were cut short or just didn't have all of the level of detail. This would have been a better three part documentary with 60 minutes each to really go into the children, the place and the possible murderer.
• We constantly see pictures of the missing children and are told that only one was found, she was murdered, but none of the others were ever located. Jennifer Schweiger was found near a campsite where Rand was known to live. Other than that simple conjecture, THAT is the only proof that was given that Rand was the murderer. It seems they were either missing some important details or the case was flimsy at BEST! This is where it loses it focus for me in about the last third of the documentary. Some of the harsh realities are replaced by fanciful supposition.

On a more personal note..... So, today at work, this pigeon hung out on the ledge outside my window for about an hour, flew away and came back. I've named him Harvey. Came home to Captain Boomer hanging out with Terry and later in the evening, Boomer and Teddy were getting their nap time in before actual bedtime!