Or is it that there are 100 ghosts living at that location? Well, the subtitle seems to suggest that this Richard Speck character is the ghost. Of course there could be more, but why wouldn't they be mentioned? Are the other 99 ghosts just not good enough? Is this going to be a house full of a single decent ghost and a crap-ton more that just suck? And where did Richard Speck go before he returned? I didn't think ghosts went on vacations.
And on top of everything else, "100 Ghost Street - The Return of Richard Speck" is just a dumb title.
Lousy titles aside, in a small way I had a bit of hope for this one. Not much hope, granted, but a bit of hope. The Asylum's best film (in my opinion) was their ripoff of "Paranormal Activity" which was called "Paranormal Entity," and it is notable for two reasons. The first reason is that I can almost guarantee you that it is the only Asylum film that had a bigger budget than the movie it was ripping off. The second reason it was notable is because it's also the only Asylum movie that was actually better than the movie they were copying. "Paranormal Entity" was actually pretty good. It wasn't great, but it was pretty good, at least good enough to the point were I unironically own it.
So "100 Ghost Street," being a found-footage genre horror film, did have some precedent in terms of being passable. Did I expect great things? No, but I was willing to give it a shot.
Well, what it all boils down to is the fact that "100 Ghost Street" isn't the worst Asylum film I've ever seen, in fact it's not even close to the worst, but it's not that great. At least it's not as good as "Paranormal Entity." But it mostly has a decent pacing to it, it's actually fairly well acted, and there are some memorable moments to be found. It might not stick in your head, in fact I've forgotten much of it in just a few days, but overall there's not too much to get mad about.
The idea is that a ghost hunting film crew shacks up for the night in an abandoned dormitory where years earlier a psychopath named Richard Speck raped and murdered a bunch of women. I think he was executed in prison afterwards, but the movie isn't really that clear about it, at least not to the point where I remember. In any case, he's dead. Predictably, as the night goes on the ghost of Speck starts killing people, the characters find they are hopelessly trapped inside, and everything plays out exactly as you'd imagine it would.
If you're going to be the douchebag who's the first to go, you better be rocking a soul-patch.
Not helping the predictability of the plot is the fact that the very first thing we see is a black screen with text telling us the typical found-footage BS ending with "The film crew was never found." Yeah, thanks for that spoiler. I honestly don't know why they even bother with that disclaimer in the beginning of these movies. Everyone always dies at the end of them anyway. I think the bleak "no survivors" ending is a prerequisite of the genre.
The biggest question I always have with movies like this, and indeed an issue which can really make or break the movie for me, is "Why are they filming, and why do they continue to do so when stuff gets nuts?" Most of the time they don't really bother addressing that, but "100 Ghost Street" did throw out a valid reason they are still filming while they are being killed, which is that often times the camera is the only source of light that they have. Also, at later points in the film, they find out that the night vision mode on the camera is the only way to see the ghost. So okay, they get a pass for that. It's better than the standard "I just think someone should be recording this" crap explanation.
As far as horror goes, there's really not much to talk about. None of the jump scares really work that well, since a movie like this is basically a paint-by-numbers affair in terms of spotting a scare. Where "100 Ghost Street" fairs a bit better is in the moments where they use a bit of a slower burn, or unique and freaky imagery. Most notable amongst those involve a blood trail leading to impossible to reach places, and ghost rape. Yeah, I'll type that again: Ghost rape. And although it's no "The Entity," that scene needless to say is a bit disturbing. Other than that it's a fairly tame affair. But those scenes were well done.
He's following Iggy Pop up into the vent.
I also got a bit of a morbid kick out of a scene where someone is drafted to go into an insanely scary place despite her objections on the basis that she's making more money than everyone else there. I have to say, that was pretty funny. And it also provided one of the more intense moments of the film afterwards, when she is face to unseen face with her inevitable doom. They do this thing where the other characters can see the ghost right next to her via a remote camera, but she can't see it in hers, which makes for a pretty tense scene.
In all honesty the only other thing I'll probably remember from "100 Ghost Street - The Return of Richard Speck" is that I really liked Jennifer Robyn Jacobs, who becomes our main character out of the slowing thinning herd. She was really good, in fact she was better than most movies like this get. She and Jim Shipley, the second to last person alive, have a good chemistry, and I have to admit I was really pulling for them both to make it out of there (yeah right). I wouldn't mind seeing her in other things, actually, because she could have a decent career in front of her.
That and she's really cute. I'm just saying.
THE BOTTOM LINE - "100 Ghost Street - The Return of Richard Speck" is for people who are big fans of the found footage genre. If you hate that kind of movie, this isn't for you. For someone who likes it, or can at least tolerate it if it's done well, this is a "C average" movie for the genre. The only thing separating it is some decent acting and ghost rape. Unenthusiastically Recommend for genre fans.
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