Takluk@menoauw

from the wiki on "Cropsey " amovie about Staten Island and the boogie man by Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio:

The Boogeyman: “Everybody has their guy,” says Brancaccio. “Horror, no matter what artistic form it takes, did not create the boogeyman – he created horror. We have been telling stories about him since our earliest beginnings”.

Treatment of Andre Rand: Andre Rand’s court case did not start for four years after his indictment – one of the longest pre-trial motions in New York State history. Zeman reflects: “I don’t know if they actually even wanted to go through with the indictment. I think maybe it was more of a threat for Andre Rand to try and reveal where he may have buried these kids.”

Film’s “Indictment”: The culmination of the film alludes to indicting Rand, which became controversial. Zeman responds: “Cops typically say to each other there is no such thing as coincidence. Then again, on the other side, I don’t believe justice was served to the letter of the law. It was never our intention to indict Rand. I think a lot of the indicting happened through himself.”

Staten Island: According to Zeman: “As kids, we always wanted to get out of this one horse town. Everybody couldn’t wait to leave Staten Island because it was so suburban. We wanted to get to the city where the real action happened. As we got older, we realized there was a lot going on in Staten Island. There was a huge seedy underside. We had just been so sheltered growing up that we didn’t know it existed. When we searched for it, it was there: pedophilia, child prostitution, homelessness, mental institutions, garbage, toxic waste. All these things go on in communities and as a kid you are kind of just oblivious to it.”

Community’s Reaction: There were conflicting reactions from the close-knit Staten Island community during the making of Cropsey. Zeman describes: “Everybody in Staten Island knows each other. It’s one of the biggest small towns around. Everybody we spoke to knew about this story. It really gripped Staten Island. The search for Jennifer had been the largest civilian manhunt in New York history. I think there was a feeling of, ‘why are we dredging all this stuff up?’ for the older folks. But the younger folks felt like, ‘Oh, yeah. This is the story that really affected me as a child.’”

Communal Responsibility for Willowbrook Mental Institution: Zeman reiterates: “As a community, Staten Island especially, we allowed Willowbrook to happen. I think Andre Rand is a direct function of that. I think he is almost the physical embodiment of the collective guilt of the island.”