Cropsey: A Documentary Review and Interview w/ Director

As a kid I, like most of us, heard many urban legends. I heard everything from Bloody Mary to the gang that would drive around with its headlights off. If you bright lighted them they would turn around and drive you off the road. Nearly every time, the story was followed by a declaration of, “It’s true, it happened to my cousin.” On Staten Island, New York, they had a local one of these legends too, but theirs was real.Its (his) name was Cropsey.

Cropsey was an escaped mental patient who would snatch kids who went into his woods or strayed too far from where they were supposed to go. For years parents and camp counselors would tell the story of Cropsey to either scare children or keep them from going someplace they shouldn’t. But in 1987, after the disappearance of a little girl, Staten Island’s boogey man became all too real.

Cropsey is a documentary chronicling both the urban legend that Staten Island children had driven into their minds by adults telling scary stories, and the real life tragedy surrounding four missing kids and a mentally disturbed man named Andre Rand.

Rand was an orderly at the Willowbrook mental institution on Staten Island. The facility was shut down in the late 70’s but Rand continued to live in the woods surrounding the facility in make shift camp sites. In 1987 a young girl with down syndrome name Jennifer Schweiger went missing. Rand was the only suspect.  As investigators continued searching, more missing children cases began surfacing. Eventually it was suspected that at least four other missing person cases were associated with Andre Rand. While there was never any physical evidence linking him to the crime, Andre Rand was found guilty of the kidnapping of Jennifer Schweiger.

Directors Josh Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio both grew up on Staten Island. When they first met their conversations led to them discussing the urban legend of Cropsey. At the time they began exploring this legend for a documentary, the district attorney announced he was bringing charges against Andre Rand for the kidnapping of Holly Ann Hughes, 22 years after she went missing. The documentarians now had a new focus and a new zeal. Weaving together the history of the urban legend, archival footage from the 80’s, modern interviews and news footage of the latest trial, the filmmakers manage to orchestrate many working parts into a seamless narrative that grips you for the entirety of the film.

Volunteers and police searching tunnel systems for missing children.

Cropsey is being marketed as a horror documentary. In some ways this is a very true statement. I found myself petrified during certain segments, not so much out of fear, but disgust. The directors of Cropsey use the documentary format to draw out emotions and make very real connections with the subject matter. It is those emotions that are being drudged up that lead to the horror and pain in your gut. This is the best psychological horror film you will see this summer. And if you’re a parent, forget about it, it may be too much.

Using archival footage and interviews with people involved in the cases, the filmmakers reveal quite a bit about Staten Island: the history of a very poorly run New York mental health facility (thanks to a pre-fame Geraldo Rivera expose that will stick with you long after the film is over), and even a primer on how easily you can turn public opinion with a well timed perp walk.

The film also explores many of the different theories people have about the kidnappings. Many believe Rand worked alone, while some suggest he had partners that helped him move the children through the tunnels beneath the abandoned mental hospital, while still others suggest he was procuring children for satanic rituals for a cult involved in the Son of Sam killings of David Berkowitz. The filmmakers do an excellent job of tying the theories into the telling of the various abduction cases, so the film rarely gets stale.

Documentaries are an opportunity to enlighten and educate. Cropsey does that, while still maintaining a narrative, something many other documentaries lose sight of. It also manages to do something few documentaries feel the need to do: remain slightly ambiguous. Most documentaries I have seen the past few years beat me over the head with an agenda, not the case here. The filmmakers have present good arguments on both sides of the issue. Is Andre Rand an evil murderer? Possibly, but the filmmakers do an excellent job of turning that back around and asking, “Was Andre Rand the wrong type of guy, at the wrong place, at the wrong time?” In this particular case it works to their advantage.

The only victim whose body was found, Jennifer Schweiger.

Cropsey is a must see documentary. Not because of the over sensationalized “horror” aspects, but because it’s entertaining and compelling. The film invites discussion. It wants you to think about it. You don’t leave the theater thinking about what you thought of the film, you leave thinking about what you thought of its subject matter, and that’s a win. Josh Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio have made a great film, and I hope you guys take the time to see it.

 Below you’ll find an interview I was able to do with Cropsey co-director Josh Zeman. He gives some great insights into the making of the doc. The film is available On Demand through your cable operator through August 12th.