Directors: Barbara Brancaccio, Joshua Zeman
Writer: Joshua Zeman
Cast: Greg Cusick
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 boogeyman linked to their disappearances.
Uneasy view documentary about a series of missing children (only one ever found dead) during the early 80's in the Staten Island district of NY. The locals turned this true life crime into an urban myth giving the bogeyman responsible for the disappearances the nickname of Cropsey. The police finally charged someone with one of the murders, a local vagrant named Andre Rand, whose own history involved working in a local mental institution Willowbrook (this is when Cropsey as its most impact as it shows footage from an expose of Willobrook by Geraldo River). Well made low-fi docu containing found news footage and interviews with family, police officials and various people from the community (the makers send and receive letters to Andre Rand but he never grants them access to interview him in person). Does have slightly dodgy moments, like when it slips into almost faux Blair Witch type drama when the crew go inside the old long since closed Willowbrook building with flash lights. Worth a view even if it never uncovers any fresh evidence on the disappearances.
(6½ out of 10)
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