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.

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.

What happened to the last 84 minutes of my life?

What happened to filmmaking standards?

What happened to hope?

One thing that The Asylum films pretty much has going for it is consistency. 100 Ghost Street: The Return of Richard Speck is an Asylum film in every way - but sadly, that's not a compliment. As far as found footage films go, this is one of the worst that I've had the misfortune of seeing.

And I'm easy.

The setup is similar to what we're accustomed to in films of this ilk, so I can't actually take any points away for that. The technical aspects of the film follows time-worn convention; it's pretty much what you'd expect to see for a micro-budget film of this particular sub- genre. Low light, jerky camera movements, and poor sound. Again, no surprises there.

Where this film really excels at ineptitude is in the low level of acting involved and in its extremely poor storytelling. For 3/4 of the film's running time, viewers are treated to excessive yelling, frantic posturing and hysterical emotional bursts from an earnestly amateurish cast. Bad acting has been a staple of this type of film since Blair Witch, so I for one, EXPECT it. However, it's the LAST 1/4 of the film that really bites; the actors collectively go into this whole other realm of over-emoting that I've rarely ever seen outside of a badly- directed grade school stage play.

Please people, for God's sake, take more acting classes. Improvisation is an art; please take it seriously. And if you know what's good for your "career", I'd suggest steering clear of films produced under the Asylum banner. Clearly, no good can come of it.

The atrocious acting in this film is outdone only by the extremely lazy storytelling which has characters making the stupidest choices possible and taking the most inexplicable courses of action. Repeatedly.

Finally (just because a lack of accuracy happens to be a pet peeve of mine), I'd give this film a huge "fail" in the research department. For the record, the building where the actual murders of the nurses took place was in a townhouse. Also, in actuality, Richard Speck killed 8 nurses in that townhouse, not 7 which this film repeatedly and erroneously mentions. The manner in which Speck's original victims were killed is also misrepresented in this film. There are more factual errors that I could mention, but chances are, you already get the picture. For future, it'd be nice if writers who work on dreck like this would actually take the time to at least get facts right, so here's a little shout-out to all those inspiring, creatively-deficient screenwriters out there that intend on tackling real-life events: it's not that difficult - Wikipedia is only a few mouse clicks away and it's freely available to anyone.

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.

Like so many of these movies, it was made on a way to low of budget, with no talent whatsoever. The idea is sound, of course, lock a crew in a hospital, of course over night, of course with a ghost the loose, and of course nobody believes in ghosts. The acting was super horrible, the plot I liked, but the whining of the actors made me want to turn it off. Round and round in circles it felt this movie went, most of it wasn't believable but hey, these movies aren't supposed to win Academy Awards now are they? I wouldn't watch this movie if unless if you really had to, or if you are like and love these types of movies, its a definite watch!