100 Ghost Street: The Return of Richard Speck

Let me start off by saying that found footage genre flicks CAN be scary as it plays on the innate fear of the unknown. Having gotten that off my chest, let me proceed. Admittedly, there are found footage creations that are effective at playing on peoples' fears inducing anxiety, claustrophobia, and/or abject terror. What I find completely annoying about the paranormal investigation found footage genre, which this flick demonstrates blatantly, is as follows:

1. Why include stereotypical "weak" women who have absolutely zero fortitude on a night time ghost hunt when you HAVE to know they are going to become nothing but hysterical liabilities (and I can say this as I'm a woman)?! Women's can be mentally just as strong as a man in their own right. All women are depicted in this genre, as equal rights advocates are eager to point out, as the panicky, emotionally frail, screaming, I-just-might-faint types that need to be protected and saved. Why would you even bring women you view as such on a overnight paranormal investigation when you know that at the first hinky incident they're going to run away hysterically screaming into the dark without so much as a flashlight?!

2. Flashlights, headlamps extra batteries, portable chargers, portable comms, maybe even a small generator... Does no one who has permission to enter said property ever consider or plan for redundancy of vital basics?

3. Would it be too much to ask property owner and/or manager for extra key(s) for the exit(s) so more than one person has the ability to unlock said points of egress in case of an emergency?

4. Does no one come prepared with a first aid kit and the knowledge to render assistance in case of an emergency?

5. How about portable food and hydration in the preparation of a longer than planned stay?

6. If you have permission to be on the property to be investigated and explored, why don't you tell a friend or three where your going and when you're due back so if you don't reappear or contact said friend(s) after you're due back someone knows you need rescue?

7. Is there not a single person on the investigative team to stand up to the one in charge that if s/he wants to leave the endeavour it's their god-given right to think for his/herself and act on such? And why is the one in charge always a conceited a-hole who feels everyone else is there simply to stroke HIS narcissistic ego? Why is a woman never in charge, btw?

I could keep going but this review is getting far longer than I anticipatedbur, you, dear reader, assumedly get my point. Four stars for decent visual quality, average acting, and for effectively sucking me in hoping for some originality. Unless you're a fan of this genre, I cannot recommend this pick.

"100 Ghost Street" is a found footage paranormal flick from The Asylum. It is told through recovered documentary video footage retrieved from the stories set location. A team of paranormal researchers head out to record any phenomena where the infamous killer Richard Speck murdered several people. The film stars Jennifer Robyn Jacobs, Jim Shipley, Tony Besson, Jackie Moore, and Hayley Derryberry.

"100 Ghost Street" begins just as most of these found footage paranormal ghost stories do by setting up the story with video sequences that conveniently introduce the location and purpose of the visit. In this case a documentary investigating the paranormal activity at the scene of grisly murders committed by Richard Speck who along with his victims is said to still be haunting the location. There is nothing that really sticks out in this film as groundbreaking or original but it is a pretty good movie. The story is believable and comprehensible. The action begins almost immediately and convincingly. The special effects in this film is standard play in this subgenre and is done very well. There is plenty of gory death scenes and melodramatic acting from the cast. The scares are not so much instantaneous or shocking but the whole film is pretty entertaining.

There is really nothing in this film that stands out as nail biting or 'edge of your seat chills' but the film manages to keep you interested by showing a steady amount of action and drama. I actually found it to be a very enjoyable paranormal film that brought the blood and gore. The effects are not high end but they are better than a lot of the films in this subgenre of horror. If your looking for sudden chills or scare moments that make you jump then look elsewhere, but that aside it is a very good ghost story. The atmosphere is creepy, the location is dark and the story behind the paranormal activity is gruesome. I think any paranormal movie fan will be pleased to see this film.

In 2010, paranormal investigators tried to film Richard Speck's ghost at the site of his heinous killing spree. The victims' families have finally released the footage that documents their last days.

This is yet another found footage and pseudo-documentary film, which nobody demanded. The only person of note in it is Jackie Moore, who has appeared in the Maxim Top 100 and in another Asylum film, "Atlantic Rim". Most people probably have no idea who she is.

This is apparently the fourth installment in the "Paranormal Activity" copycat series, "Paranormal Entity". The title does not make this evident, and near as can be found, there is no need to watch any of the previous entries.

Scott Foy of Dread Central rated it 3/5 stars and called it the best found footage film made by The Asylum. Now, that may be so, but even if it is, "the best" of anything from The Asylum is still not great. Foy was being much too generous. But at least it was not made by Ulli Lommel, who would have made it terrible.

" Richard Benjamin Speck (December 6, 1941 - December 5, 1991) was an American mass murderer who killed eight student nurses in their South Deering, Chicago, residence via stabbing, strangling, slashing their throats, or a combination of the three on the night of July 13-14, 1966. One victim was also raped prior to her murder. A ninth potential victim, student nurse Corazon Amurao, survived by hiding beneath a bed.

Shortly before December 5, 1991, Speck was transported from Stateville Correctional Center to Silver Cross Hospital in Joliet, Illinois after complaining of severe chest pains. Speck later died in the early morning hours of December 5, of what was believed to be a heart attack, one day shy of what would have been his 50th birthday. The coroner stated that Speck had an "enlarged heart, emphysema and clogged arteries" which most likely contributed to his fatal heart attack." - Wikipedia

I tried watching this movie a few times, but I kept getting distracted. I finally decided to look up who the Mass murderer was since I've never heard of him. Was after that point where I finally became interested and at least the beginning of the movie. Towards the middle of the movie, I lost interest again. The did catch my attention again. The acting was not bad, that is the reason I gave it a five.

I would not recommend this movie.

There's a good thing/bad thing dynamic to Instant Netflix, good in that all the dubious Asylum 'films' go on it before too long which means aside from the monthly fee, one doesn't have to spend a dime on this crap. The bad news is what you save in money, you lose in sanity. So a toss-up if you will.

This particular pile of excrement is one of the endless "found footage" movies that are as numerous as they are atrocious. A few friends go to the boarding house that Richard Speck murdered in half a century ago only to be stalked by a poltergeist. Yawn. Bad all the way around. The fact that its unwatchable is redundant as its an Asylum film.