True Crime Documentary Awards: Have You Seen Andy? for Most Uncomfortable On-Screen Moments

I’m writing this well over a year after watching Have You Seen Andy? It’s a true crime documentary about the disappearance of Andy Puglisi in Massachusetts during the 1970s. Whenever I watch true crime documentaries or any other genre I feel is worth reviewing and writing about, I’ll make a note of it. Sometimes I’ll look back and not remember a thing about the documentary. It’s different with this one.

Paradise Lost begins with the dead bodies of the three murdered boys, but Have You Seen Andy goes into a different type of creepy with some staying power. I haven’t forgotten them. Both have stuck with me because of the terror and just how down-right creepy it was.

The description in Have You Seen Andy of him being taken away is chilling

Please excuse me if I get any details wrong in this. It has been well over a year since I watched this documentary.

Anyway, there is one witness who came forward to say he saw Andy abducted by several men. Andy helped the witness, another young boy at the time, escape from the group of pedophiles who had been hiding in the woods. The boy escaped but Andy wasn’t so lucky. They grabbed him and carried him away while he was tied to a rock screaming. It’s easily one of the most terrifying descriptions I’ve seen in any documentary I’ve watched. It gives me chills thinking about it. 

Both boys knew what was going to happen next. What makes it even more heartbreaking, there is no justice in this story.

The audio of Wayne W. Chapman in Have You Seen Andy is disgusting

A main suspect in the case is Wayne W. Chapman. A known creep in the area, he was arrested for other crimes but not for the disappearance of Andy.

In one part of the documentary we hear an audio recording Wayne made while acting out a conversation he’d like to have with a child or something of that nature. He talks about the boy being hesitant at first to engage in acts with him only to discover that he’s enjoying it. I kind of remember the exact word choice he used and the unsavory and shaky voice he spoke with. I’ve done my best to try to censor this yet get the point across. Pedophiles, for obvious reasons, have always been able to get into my head. I still remember in a Marilyn Manson song it begins with an audio confession of a pedophile talking about a molestation he was arrested for. Even as an adult today I have no desire to seek it out to see if I’d feel the same way.

Have You Seen Andy is a really good yet simple true crime documentary that goes beyond these two moments. It has all of the elements of a good true crime film with only the big disappointment of not having a resolution.

I love a good mystery in true crime. I also want the comeuppance in the final act.