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Filmmakers Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio both grew up in Staten
Island, and when they were kids they have both heard stories about
Cropsey, who was supposed to be an escaped mental patient who lived in the
abandoned, decaying Willowbrook Mental Institution and who loved to kill
little children - in other words stories that were the typical mix of
cautionary tales and urban legends that exist in every neighbourhood. But
when young Jennifer Schweiger disappeared in 1987, the stories about
Cropsey suddenly got their belated grain of truth, and the stories totally
came to life when Jennifer's body was found and a certain André Rand, a
drifter who had found abode in the vast underground system of the
Willowbrook Mental Institution about the time Jennifer had disappeared. All
the evidence was purely circumstantial, but Rand fitted the profile of
Cropsey just so perfectly - he even was a resident of Willowbrook Mental
Institution when it was still in operation, though as an employee, not a
patient -, so he was tried and convicted ... though interestingly only for
kidnapping Jennifer, not for murdering her, since there was insufficient
evidence for that. Inm a way, it seems like the public needed their
boogeyman after the death of Jennifer, and they got it, and one has to
admit, André Rand looks rather creepy (which in itself of course is no
crime). Later, other, older cases of missing children surfaced, which
all could be somehow linked to Rand (though mainly because he was living
in the neighbourhood), but the bodies of these kids were never found,
their whereabouts are unknown to this day. Still, Rand was eventually
convicted for a second kidnapping, on at times questionable evidence -
which is not to say he didn't do it, just that the conviction might have
been premature. Soon, tons of weird stories about Rand surfaced which
made it almost impossible to remain objective about the case, stories that
claim that Rand was either a loner, a leader of a gang of outcasts,
someone who sold kids into slavery, or a footsoldier of a satanist cult. Filmmakers
Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio decide the ony way to find something
to even resemble the truth would be to try to get in touch with Rand
directly, but at first he refuses to even answer their letters, then
becomes a quite frequent letter writer though. He even invites them to
visit him in prison, but then pretty much turns them away at the door. He
continues to write letters though, even if they become more and more
bizarre in tone. Is this proof that he is the insane child killer
everyone believes him to be? Or only due to the fact that he's an old man
and former drifter who has spent almost two decades in prison and will
spend several more? If you thought you'd find the truith about
André Rand and the child murders attributed to him in this movie, you'll
probably be disappointed. Instead though, this film gives you much more
on another level, it actually gives you insight into the creation of an
urban legend: During their investigations, the filmmakers have collected
so many facts that claimed to be the truth that they have come to the
conclusion the actual truth may be obscured forever (and the filmmakers
themselves couldn't make up their mind whether Rand is a monster or a
scapegoat). But they leave you with a puzzle which is quite fascinating to
piece together, to say the least ...
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