Hell hath no fury like the pure rage of a parent of a murdered child, as referenced by the various families in "Cropsey" who, despite being warned otherwise, relentlessly search for their presumed dead children over a decade after they had supposedly been killed at the hands of Andre Rand, an accused child murderer and urban legend of Staten Island. Fortunately (or unfortunately), the film leaves many holes unfilled, making me a bit less scared but also a bit more perplexed.

What starts out as a documentary on Staten Island urban legend Cropsey, who manifested himself in the form of a blunt weapon-wielding maniac who would pluck children off the streets, kill them, and dispose of their bodies on the grounds of the local abandoned mental institution (now you understand my fear?), "Cropsey" takes a few different turns when a suspect is introduced, thrusting the narrative from courtroom expose to horror film at breakneck pace.

The majority of the scares in the film come from old investigative journalism tapes chronicling the squalid conditions inside of the Willowbrook Mental Hospital, where Rand was a janitor and on which grounds he lived later in his life. Rand himself is a terrifying persona, a bald giant with a death-stare that is nothing short of petrifying. Psychological horror fans beware, this little film may shock you.

Astonishingly enough, the film is also successful in being incredibly touching. The gritty true crime quest on the part of the parents of the murdered children takes them from grim locale to grim locale, usually with no lead or positive result. It's mostly a grim affair, and one that doesn't provide much closure whatsoever, though this is not the fault of the filmmaker. The film leaves the viewer with a sense of dread.

"Cropsey" as a movie ends up being as befuddling as the urban legend that it originally set its eyes on unmasking. Is it a horror story? A courtroom drama? I don't really know, though it honestly doesn't matter. For as many questions as it leaves frustratingly unanswered, "Cropsey" provides its audience with a slew of superb images and a fascinating story, previously untold until now, making it certainly worth the inevitable frustration as you attempt to piece together the missing ends while the credits roll.

Thomas Sullivan is a staff writer. E-mail him at film@nyunews.com.