Realizing the urban legend of their youth has actually come true.Two filmmakers delve into the mystery surrounding five missing children and the real-life bogeyman linked to their disappearances.Nothing really new here, but it puts everything together in one place. Goes on a bit long. The filmmakers try to suggest the killer was supplying kids to devil worshipers to to a group of abusers. The killer denies everything of course even though he was the last person seen with all the victims.I would have preferred way more information on the killer than just random conversations with cops and residents trying to remember what happened 20+ years ago.So net net is the documentary could have been way better than it is. And the fact that they could not get an interview with the killer sort of creates a big dud.

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!

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.

First, I'm a native NYC'er. I grew up in Manhattan, and remember this (and the Willowbrook exposé of Geraldo Rivera).I remember Holly Ann Hughes disappearance, and a lot of the stuff presented in CROPSEY. Also, I went to one of the 'Jewish Sleepaway camps, up and down the Hudson Valley' – in my case, it was Camp Equinunk, where kids DID hear stories of the 'Cropsey Maniac' from our counsellors (to this day, I HATE the woods). I also lived in Staten Island for about 6 years.Having said all that, this is ONLY about the DOCUMENTARY - NOT about horror movies, etc. JUST about what's presented.Personally, it's been a long-time since I heard any reference to Cropsey. I heard the 'Cropsey Maniac' stories in camp during the late 70's - so, that urban legend's been out there for years.The documentary opens up a wound that engulfed both Staten Island, and NYC'ers as a whole. ANY town, ANY city where such a (similarly) unfortunate event took place can identify with the story.Did André Rand do (all) the killings? After watching this, I can't say.YES - he's a VERY 'strange' man, but, as one person in the documentary said, does being 'weird' MEAN you're a killer? As a reporter for the S.I. Advance pointed out, (after the murder of Jennifer Schweiger) one paper said a 'drifter' had been caught, with 'drifter' being 'shorthand' for 'undesirable, not normal.' Mr. Rand DID feel he was 'on a mission' to 'save families' of the 'burden' of having disabled children,' but, what exactly did that 'mission' entail? The cops (here in NYC we're constantly bombarded with the NY Post constantly calling NYPD 'heroes')are civil servants, doing a job. Yes, there ARE good ones - but, there ARE bad ones as well. NYPD has (had) a history of making the crime 'fit' the criminal, and, as the two defense attorneys of Rand point out, a lot of the evidence (in the Holly Ann Hughes trial) was circumstantial.I think the film makers have opened up a sad time here that NYC'ers remember. A story of a ghoulish time here, and have (hopefully) encouraged the POSSIBILITY of bringing this tale of horror here to an eventual resolution. Considering their budget,and resources, the film-makers made a valiant documentary, using archival news reports, and interviews - both past and present - with NYPD detectives, family members and others connected with Staten Island/Cropsey, examined and retraced these events.Ultimately, HAS Cropsey been caught (Rand)? DID the murders stop AFTER his 1st conviction? Or, did THAT murderer continue (and, maybe STILL is killing), only the capture/imprisonment of Rand 'solved' the cases for NYPD - and they never bothered to investigate further? CROPSEY leaves us with the thought that - maybe - one day - Rand will talk, and with that an end. But, now - more than 20+ years since Rand was arrested, this sad, horrible time still is left to dangle. For the families of those children (and, perhaps others), Staten Island, and, NYC as a whole.It's a mystery that only André Rand can help illuminate (and perhaps solve), but as of this time, he isn't, so one can only wait. And hope.