Review of Cropsey (2010) by Kenny M — 13 Jun 2010

"Cropsey" is part of that new era of documentaries that is more concerned with putting you into the social and emotional context of a fact than actually digging the facts out. Is "Cropsey" (a sort of basic boogeyman term) like Errol Morris' "The Thin Blue Line", in it's unearthing of judicial errors and faulty witnesses to free an innocent man? Or is it just a step above any episode of " A Current Affair in it's attempts to sleaze you into caring about an important topic? To me, the true triumph of "Cropsey" is it's use of the "Andre Rand" case as a portrayal of Staten Island from the 1980s through to today.

The place who many in the documentary describe as the "garbage dump" of NYC. From the investigative report by young Geraldo Rivera that exposes the horror of Willowbrook Mental Institution as a "dumping ground" of mentally disabled children to the homeless who live in it's abandoned grounds like Andre Rand who was convicted of kidnapping two children who had gone missing near the abandoned hospital.

What fails in this documentary is the dramatic over narration and music that overwhelms most of the crucial scenes in the film. The images of Rivera's expose of Willowbrook come to mind. So horrific are the sights and sounds from that early 1970s news piece, that the need for extra creepy music is just unnecessary and manipulative.

Also is the late night walk through the abandoned Willowbrook where the filmmakers encounter children looking for a fright to compound the filmmaker's argument about the creation of the local "boogeyman".

That reeked of a bad episode of "Ghosthunters". Despite it's failing, "Cropsey" does paint a picture of a sad time and a desperate community that finds any means possible to overcome the dubious intended use of their world.