Story: You’ve heard the Urban Legend; a crazy killer that prowls the woods will get’cha if you don’t watch out.  So stay away from that old building deep in the woods, or better yet just don’t go near the woods, period.  But what if that legend was real?  Two documentary filmmakers dig for the truth and come up with some pretty horrifying stuff.

Scares: Only those of the true crime kind, though there is a life Blair Witch-like sequence when directors Barbara Brancaccio and Joshua Zeman head into the woods at night.

Splat factor: Zero, but Geraldo Rivera’s footage of Willowbrook Mental Institution is shocking in it’s raw, unedited look at the treatment of the mentally ill.  Those images will stay with you long past the end of this documentary.

Closing scene “shocker”?: No, but since this is a documentary that’s a relief.

Remake, Sequel or OG (Original Ghoul)?: Though this legend has been around for some time (there was even a version of it in Maryland when I was in elementary school), this documentary is the first of it’s kind.

Trick or Treat?: Like the glow-in-the-dark toothbrush you find in your bag, Cropsey is pretty awesome, but definitely not what I was expecting.  Chalk up my disappointment to too many “documentary”-style horror movies that have tried to pass themselves off as the real deal.  I’m looking at you, Blair Witch Project, Trollhunter and even Diary of the Dead.  So when I saw the eerie one-sheet for Cropsey, I figured it would be along the same lines; a pseudo-doc with a bunch of scares.  Cropsey is scary alright, but the horror comes from the idea that there are actually people like Andre Rand in the world.  They say that this type of legend has a basis in reality, but Cropsey is the only documentary that has tried to track down the reality behind the myth.  And while the story may not be terrifying in the safety of your home — convicted child killer Andre Rand is safely behind bars, for now — it’s a horrifying story of child murders in Staten Island that will keep any sane person out of the woods for awhile.

Score: out of 5 pumpkins.