After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

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.

The basis for this entire documentary is: 'what are the stories about Cropsey?'and 'are they true?' The plot really goes nowhere because there is nothing to be said, apart from regurgitating some urban myths and bouncing questionable testimonies off each other to no conclusion. The main Cropsey character never voices his opinion on the matter, despite all the footage they showed of his scary bald head. After an hour and a half of vague misleading weasel words and hinting at nothing, you end up right where you started. Some say it's true, some say it's false. Well tell me something new. I say, don't waste your time with this one.

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

First, I'm a native NYC'er. I grew up in Manhattan, and remember this (and the Willowbrook exposé of Geraldo Rivera).I remember Holly Ann Hughes disappearance, and a lot of the stuff presented in CROPSEY. Also, I went to one of the 'Jewish Sleepaway camps, up and down the Hudson Valley' – in my case, it was Camp Equinunk, where kids DID hear stories of the 'Cropsey Maniac' from our counsellors (to this day, I HATE the woods). I also lived in Staten Island for about 6 years.Having said all that, this is ONLY about the DOCUMENTARY - NOT about horror movies, etc. JUST about what's presented.Personally, it's been a long-time since I heard any reference to Cropsey. I heard the 'Cropsey Maniac' stories in camp during the late 70's - so, that urban legend's been out there for years.The documentary opens up a wound that engulfed both Staten Island, and NYC'ers as a whole. ANY town, ANY city where such a (similarly) unfortunate event took place can identify with the story.Did André Rand do (all) the killings? After watching this, I can't say.YES - he's a VERY 'strange' man, but, as one person in the documentary said, does being 'weird' MEAN you're a killer? As a reporter for the S.I. Advance pointed out, (after the murder of Jennifer Schweiger) one paper said a 'drifter' had been caught, with 'drifter' being 'shorthand' for 'undesirable, not normal.' Mr. Rand DID feel he was 'on a mission' to 'save families' of the 'burden' of having disabled children,' but, what exactly did that 'mission' entail? The cops (here in NYC we're constantly bombarded with the NY Post constantly calling NYPD 'heroes')are civil servants, doing a job. Yes, there ARE good ones - but, there ARE bad ones as well. NYPD has (had) a history of making the crime 'fit' the criminal, and, as the two defense attorneys of Rand point out, a lot of the evidence (in the Holly Ann Hughes trial) was circumstantial.I think the film makers have opened up a sad time here that NYC'ers remember. A story of a ghoulish time here, and have (hopefully) encouraged the POSSIBILITY of bringing this tale of horror here to an eventual resolution. Considering their budget,and resources, the film-makers made a valiant documentary, using archival news reports, and interviews - both past and present - with NYPD detectives, family members and others connected with Staten Island/Cropsey, examined and retraced these events.Ultimately, HAS Cropsey been caught (Rand)? DID the murders stop AFTER his 1st conviction? Or, did THAT murderer continue (and, maybe STILL is killing), only the capture/imprisonment of Rand 'solved' the cases for NYPD - and they never bothered to investigate further? CROPSEY leaves us with the thought that - maybe - one day - Rand will talk, and with that an end. But, now - more than 20+ years since Rand was arrested, this sad, horrible time still is left to dangle. For the families of those children (and, perhaps others), Staten Island, and, NYC as a whole.It's a mystery that only André Rand can help illuminate (and perhaps solve), but as of this time, he isn't, so one can only wait. And hope.