This is How Movies Should Be Made

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The makers of Cropsey don't seem to know what kind of film they wanted to make and as a result the finished product is a mishmash of story bits that never come together. The first few minutes make it look like this film is going to be an exploration of an urban legend about 'Cropsey,' Staten Island's version of the bogyman. The film makers talk to Staten Islanders about the various forms of the legend and an urban history/legend expert at a university. They discard this storyline and move on, never to return to it. Then the film moves on to talk about the history of a cruel and inhumane facility in the borough where the city hid its unwanted developmentally disabled. However, the film relies on Geraldo Rivera's gripping expose and moves on with the throwaway line that it still took the city 10 years to close down the asylum. Except for the fact that the asylum is on Staten Island, its real relationship to the Cropsey legend (the origin of that name is never discussed)is not answered. They jump into a convoluted story of some real child murders on the island and the police's hunt for the killer. A former employee of the asylum is arrested and the documentary gives a brief nod to the possibility that he was convicted because the islanders were looking for a scapegoat. The remainder of the film is devoted to a trial of the man two decades later for a second child disappearance. Here again the movie falls short. Despite interviews with police and the defense they can't decide whether to advocate that perhaps the man is innocent of the second murder. A brief exploration of the possibility of satanic rituals rounds out the film, but aside from a remark from one of the directors on camera that there is no devil worship here (in the remains of the asylum), they leave that aspect unexplored. Overall they ended up with very little in terms of exploration of 'Cropsey'. The film makers end up with even less in terms of expose.

This doc is worth it just to see Heraldo Rivera as a student reporter, lol! This movie explores a dark urban legend that very much appears to have been true - that a deranged lunatic did indeed lurk in the ruins of an abandoned mental asylum and abduct young mentally challenged children in order to 'put them out of their misery' on Staten Island, New York.The film-makers make no pretense about going for the 'scare-factor jugular' and deliberately film the terrifying abandoned asylum at night, from creepy camera angles, and all with what sounds like a modified version of the shark attack theme from JAWS playing in the background.Some reviewers may choose to crucify them for that, but I don't, by doing that they turn a somewhat dry documentary into the Blair Witch Project of documentaries, and creeped me RIGHT OUT THE DOOR, which was really fun and unexpected.The purpose of reviewing this film should not be a voice opinion on whether Rand did the crimes or not, but many reviewers are doing just that, so I'll weigh in too.I am happy to say (and much to my surprise) 'New York's Finest' actually got their man this time around. It's a shame they couldn't nail him for murder, and surprising they couldn't, given that: 1. He ADMITTED to kidnapping Jennifer Schweiger, and wanting to end the suffering of all mentally challenged children!!! A child who turns up murdered and buried in a shallow grave near one of his campsites!2. He is placed, REPEATEDLY near the crime scenes, near the victims prior to their abduction, his car is reported, he is reported hanging around or working near victims. He apparently abducted an ENTIRE BUS OF KIDS from a playground for goddsakes!!!3. His BIZARRE behavior (catatonic, wild-eyed, drooling monstrousity) after viewing the Heraldo documentary on conditions at the asylum where he worked, and his subsequent comment to police that 'we the staff were victims too' All of this and further details in the doc Should have easily been enough to convict him. The film-makers make a convincing case that is not tight enough for a unanimous jury decision, partly based imo on fear of false conviction due to the fact that in this case, 'he just looks too much like a serial killer, maybe we are making a mistake based on his appearance??'This is an excellent doc for those that like crime scene investigation thrillers, and don't mind being a little freaked out. Make sure to watch this with the lights down low on a windy stormy night, like I did! This film has some of the creepiest camera work outside of Blair Witch, and the cameraman should go on to do very well in Hollywood! I'd be grabbing him up if I was a horror director. The film-makers themselves have also done an amazing job, both with setting and sound editing, and they have BALLS OF STEEL for creeping around that asylum at night!WELL DONE TO THE NYPD!!! You couldn't get death, but at least you got this monster out of circulation!

Cropsey doesn't work. The parade of witnesses and their stories are all befuddling; The film-makers haven't done their job which was to suss out (for the viewer) which of the hordes are the most trustworthy, not to get every single variant story thread (via every person willing to talk on camera) onto the screen. Nobody seems to have the slightest objectivity.It assembles into an incoherent blame narrative that doesn't even establish why Rand was captured in the first place. The trail of evidence implicating Rand is just not good enough. If Rand was arrested for some actual culpability, the film-makers have done a disservice to the community by leaving it out.In the end these people and the convoluted story they weave, just serve to persuade me that Andre Rand is a patsy. A bunch of impressionable bourgeoisie who seem to have no idea that they are capable of projecting their fears onto to a total cipher & scapegoat; and then are terrified by the result. When society is almost done with you, there's still one role they have waiting; designated victim... and a run though the persecution complex.Session 9 also took a real disturbing location/ruin and also produced a muddled result, by fictionalizing the narrative.

Children's goes missing, police catch a guy, who obviously have mental issues and looks bit "funny", get him to jail for kidnapping with very little evidence, for the next 20 years.Add a lot of white trash religious bigotry, some religious nutcase who wont to talk in front of the camera because she believes that satanists could harm her, some retired policemen and DA who have absolutely no problem charging people with no proof whatsoever and the list goes on.I don't know, and nobody knows if the suspect was guilty or not, but what about the presumption of innocence if there is not enough proof ?? This documentary reminds me of another one called "Murder on a Sunday Morning", an excellent doc about some black guy who was unlucky enough to be at the wrong place at the wrong time