Cropsey

I've never heard the term 'Cropsey'. Apparently, it's the name for any lurking maniac of urban legend. It's also the title of the film by Barbara Brancaccio and Joshua Zeman, pictured above next to the ruins of the Willowbrook mental institute.

The film has grabbed my attention. I love creepy movies and this one has a disturbing feel.

Here's a comment I found on the IMDb page for the movie:

I worked on Cropsey and it was a crazy experience. So many unexplainable coincidences, so much left a mystery still. And the audience response at the Tribeca Film Festival was amazing! I've seen Cropsey a million times now and every time, I finish wondering if my own urban legends, the stories that haunted my neighborhood as a kid, have a seed of reality. Aren't all myths, after all, somehow founded on the real? If you've ever been to camp and been spooked the local ghost story,been terrorized by a mythic murderer in the woods, or ventured into the forest at night Blair Witch style and left genuinely terrified, you must see this documentary.

The movie investigates the possible connection between Andre Rand (above, in handcuffs) and the disappearance of five Staten Island children. Rand was convicted of killing Jennifer Schweiger, a 13-year-old girl with Down syndrome who was kidnapped from the area.

What adds a macabre element to the story is that Willowbrook institute was known for abusive treatment of its patients, which included many children, and was shut down for that reason. Rand had been a janitor there, and Schweiger's body was found in a shallow grave near the institute.

Rand (yes, he is drooling in the picture) was convicted of the crime despite a lack of physical evidence.

From Bob Mondello's review:

Rand so looked the part that he might as well have been a monster out of central casting, the filmmakers suggest. But, they wonder, does that make him guilty? His behavior was (and apparently still is) odd, his statements suspicious, but through many years in prison he's always claimed innocence. The filmmakers tried to get him to tell his side of the story, but he's unwilling to appear on camera.

I love this kind of story. A compelling, unsettling film.