Review of Cropsey (2010) by Spencer S — 25 Nov 2014

This film has been commended for its horror genre type narrative surrounding the urban legend of Cropsey, but what documentarians Zeman and Brancaccio only serve to accomplish is scare themselves. The urban legend surrounds a creepy, somewhat crazed killer, who snatches children for their bad behavior.

The two point to this urban legend, in conjunction with the case of Andre Rand, a former care worker at the closed Willowbrook Mental Institution, who was accused of the abduction and murder of four children on Staten Island.

The actual mental facility of Willowbrook was closed for abuse from workers and unseemly conditions, its ghosts haunting the hallowed halls and lending shelter to a supposed clan of former workers and residents.

Though we do not see these people, nor are they interviewed, Zeman and Brancaccio want us to believe they exist, as well as that Rand is the eponymous boogeyman Cropsey. While these two definitely frighten the viewer with the real story of the closed institution, and intrigue us with a narrative of a misanthropic clan of hermits out in the woods, their link between Rand and Cropsey is tentative.

Rand's case is picked apart here, and subjected to questioning by the documentarians, witnesses, the defense, and local residents of the adjoining town. The film doesn't serve to solve any larger mystery, but instead prods at the past in order to show "Hey, this is pretty creepy, right?" It drags on forever, trying to show inconsistencies with the case but also claiming Rand could also be the killer.

The film ends ambiguously, which I absolutely hated, since this is supposedly a story of a child killer. They tried to fit this story into the overarching theme of urban legends, showing the inconsistencies between stories and the adding of elements from one person to another like a foul game of telephone, but they end up just throwing their hands in the air and walking off, unsatisfied.