Movie Review Rewind: Cropsey (2009)

Brandon Vick flips the calendar back to 2009 for a look at Cropsey on the latest edition of Movie Review Rewind.

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A documentary that would scare kids and give adults chills, Cropsey is about a folklore that kids from Staten Island would be told by their parents to keep them out of certain areas or buildings. Sort of like their own local Boogeyman. Filmmakers Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio grew up in Staten Island and are familiar with the story of Cropsey. He was an escaped patient from the Willowbrook Mental Institution who had a hook for a hand or an ax, and would kidnap children off the streets at night.

Joshua, Barbara, and the other children who lived on Staten Island became believers in Cropsey once a 13 year-old girl, Jennifer Schweiger, with Down Syndrome went missing in 1987. And once Jennifer went missing, it opened up several more cases in which children had disappeared in the 1980s and were never found. Most of these kids had some kind of learning disability or were physically disabled.

A man named Andre Rand became a prime suspect in Jennifer’s case and in the other children’s cases. Whether he was framed or not is unknown. He looked the part and had connections with most of the children who had gone missing. Or maybe it was just a coincidence. Either way, he is in prison for something that he personally has never admitted to and there is no strong, hard evidence to support him being guilty. But someone had to take the fall.

Cropsey is not as terrifying as I thought it would be. But this documentary is disturbing and will definitely bring chills. The fact that these cases still remain a mystery and how only one body has been found is a scary thought. This still haunts Joshua and Barbara. As they investigate Jennifer’s case and the other children who disappeared, they run across some clues and revelations that keeps you wondering what really happened to these kids and who could have done such a thing?

The documentary uncovers some interesting stuff, but you still do not know. It’s just as much of a mystery when the documentary ends as it was when it began. Is Andre Rand guilty? Did he have help? Is the real murderer still out there? Those are questions that run through Joshua and Barbara’s mind just like they will run through yours.

Cropsey may remind you of The Blair Witch Project. There are some similarities,  but keep in mind, this documentary is real, as are the cases. It is a part of reality and the history of Staten Island. The stories that are true stay with you because it can happen. It has happened. Zeman and Brancaccio try to get answers and uncover the truth. They go into these abandoned buildings that are a part of Willowbrook and it makes you nervous for them. That is where a lot of the suspense comes from because who knows what they will find?!?! They don’t even know what to expect.

Cropsey is not able to nor was it supposed to provide closure for these children disappearances and their families. It leaves the audience thinking about what horrific things people are capable of and sometimes there are no answers for that. There are just possibilities.

Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.

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