User Reviews

Despite the obvious fact that this movie was filmed on a budget, I continued to watch it beyond this realization; for the acting was par; the overall ambiance created was effective and the vivid accounts of Specks heinous crimes were jaw dropping; however, two small details within one scene were inexcusably overlooked...The present day Fax machine and desktop computer that were on the desk behind the clerk at the hotel where Speck was staying. It's supposed to be 1966; and even if on a budget, I imagine it wouldn't have taken much effort to either conceal those items, or remove them completely; and after all, how could they have gone unnoticed. I consider this downright sloppy; for when a film such as the docudrama that this could be considered to be, if it's not historically accurate in every detail, then it's hard to "get lost in the moment". Especially considering that the best thing this film, in my opinion, had going for it- was it's "ambience"...this strongly detracted from that.

I was unfortunately taken for a ride by purchasing this movie on my on-demand service. I can normally pick out a straight-to-DVD title but my knowledge of Richard Speck's horrific crime and unusual prison experience made me purchase this film out of pure curiosity. I was curious to see how this story would be tackled. Would they emphasis the crime or rather would they examine Speck's unusual twisted tenure in prison? They did neither. I could have even handled a Zodiac type film where they went into an in-depth look at the investigation but the investigation was actually the worst portion of the film with over dramatized cop clichés and really predictable dialogue.

In no way do we get to know the young Speck and what would lead this man to carry out such a terrible crime. An attempt is made to show abuse in his childhood by a step father in the form of a vague two minute abuse scene. We then move right into a build up of the crime without demonstrating any background of Speck's psych besides that he smokes a ton of cigarettes, drinks, and is at the very least is full of bad jokes. No mention is made of his time in Navy, long stint of unemployment nor any mention that he was lead to Chicago to visit his sister whom is never referenced in the film. Two random flash back type scenes demonstrate his marriage but early on..basta..nothing. Once the crime is portrayed they constantly go back and cut in and out of it for no apparent reason. In my opinion they did this to get the cheap shock and unnecessary violence in because gore sells. I then thought at this point in the film the meat and potatoes would be Speck in prison i.e his smuggling of hormone injections to cause him to look like a deformed old woman with breasts, his infamous porn tapes with other inmates or at least his open access to illegal drugs. Instead, they decided to go into the court hearings and some more smoking of cigarettes with a shrink. No reference is even made to the senatorial hearings on prison reform that were later conducted due the leak of Speck's videos. This is just really bad story telling because of lack of research and a bottom line bad script.

In no way am I saying that Corin Nemec is a bad actor. He was just the wrong guy for the job. The real Speck did not possess any boyish charm nor a voice that high. The make-up work on Nemec is also rather tame compared to the real acne Speck possessed. A deeper voice Jackie Earle Haley would have been a great pick but they probably believe it or not could not afford him. This leads me into the budget.

This film is extremely low budget and should maybe not have even been attempted in order to not spoil a proper future Speck film. When I mean low budget I mean a real lack of showing Chicago in the sixties, empty sets i.e the crime scene, very limited locations and bad secondary actors.

Do yourself a favor and do not bother with this film. If anything, watch the Richard Speck specials with Bill Kurtis on Cold Case Files or American Justice. At the very least you'll get the real story and see a piece of the real Speck prison videos and not the lame re-enactment in the film. Believe it or not they screwed that up too. If they had any marketing savvy they would have made up for this bad piece of film making by showing the real Speck video footage at the end.

Worst thing is... I don't even know who to ask for my money back......

Yet another low-budget film 'based' on an infamous killer This time It's Richard Speck again (an earlier 2002 movie already had mined the same territory) To refresh a bit, Speck was the nut who killed eight student nurses from South Chicago Community Hospital on one ill-fated night. While this film does go into a tad more detail on his life than the earlier "Speck", it still choose to omit enough that it feels like a cliff-note edition. Also the film suffers from horrid editing, lousy acting (save for Corin Nemec, who does a fairly adequate job), horror genre mainstays Tony Todd, Debbie Rochon, and Andre Divoff are all terribly wasted. All of the aforementioned make this one a chore to sit through and one I couldn't recommend at all. Eye Candy: Kelsey McCann My Grade: D- Where i saw it: Fearnet on Demand

(Some Spoilers) Based of the brutal 1966 murder of eight student nurses in their dormitory in the Jeffers Manor section of Chicago "Chicago Massacre: Richard Speck" is far more upsetting in what went on after mass murderer Richard Speck, Corin Nemec, was arrested for his crimes then the crimes themselves.

Speck had a run of good luck in prison that within five years after his conviction and sentence to the Illinois electric chair the US Supreme Court overturned his, and every other, death sentence in it's June 29, 1972 ruling stating that the death penalty was unconstitutional.

Speck was to spend the remainder of his life behind bars living the life of Riley with him having all the drugs and sex, he somehow even had female hormones smuggled into his cell to enlarge his breasts, he can ever want. He also did his best in rubbing mud in the faces of the families of the victims that he so brutally and sadistically murdered! It was this wild lifestyle, of unlimited use of drugs and sex with fellow prisoners, Speck had while incarcerated that may well have lead to his death from a massive heart attack on December 5, 1991, just one day before his 50th birthday, in the Joliet Illinois Correctional Facility.

The film has Speck commit is horrendous crimes in a piecemeal fashion spicing them in between his life in both Texas and Illinois. Having had suffered severe brain damage as a boy when he accidentally hit himself in the head with a claw-hammer Speck turned to alcohol and drugs becoming addicted to both before he was even a teenager. We also get to see in the movie a young Speck being abused both physically and sexually by his drunken step-father which may have added more fuel to the fire to his already screwed up mind.

Speck's life of crime isn't exclusively that of the brutal massacre of eight student nurses on the evening of July 13/14, 1966. There are suspicions that he in fact murdered some eight other women in Texas Michigan and Indiana in the two years prior to the infamous Chicago Massacre.

Not being the brightest of criminals Speck was quickly apprehended, after a failed suicide attempt, and booked for murder with his only defense, which could well have been true, in that he didn't remember committing the murders. With his brain so saturated with booze and drugs Speck may well have been telling the truth for once in his life. It only took the jury 49 minutes to deliberated Speck's fate sending him straight to the electric chair followed later by, after the death penalty was overturned by the courts, sending him to jail for a millennium like 1,200 years!

Even though he died in prison some five years earlier the A&E network's Bill Kurtis had obtained a video of Speck's escapades behind bars and had it shown on his show "Investigative Report". The broadcast of the video not only outraged Speck's victims family members in his gleeful and disgusting description in how he strangled their loved ones but most of the audience who happened to see it as well. The sight of a grotesque looking breast enlarged Speck bragging about all the good times he's having behind bars was just too much for anybody to stomach!

What A&E should have done with the "Speck Tapes" is what was done with Speck himself! Have the tapes burned or, like in Speck's case, cremated and scattered to the four winds to never have them see, or be seen by the public, the light of day.

Based on real life events, but liberal in skirting the facts. Richard F. Speck was born in Illinois, but moved to Texas around the age of six. Growing up in more trouble than not. The acne-pocked high-school dropout was a lifelong criminal and was pleased with himself for living his life the way he wanted. In July 1966, Speck(Corin Nemec)shocked a nation with the brutalized rapes and murders of 9 Chicago student nurses. Methodically beating, raping, stabbing, choking and shooting them to death in one of the horrific atrocities committed in American history. With his death sentence overturned; was set to be in prison for over 400 years, when he died of an enlarged heart in 1991. Five years later, a video tape surfaced that showed Speck in his cell with female breast, the results of smuggled female hormones; doing hard drugs and having sex with his cell-mate. He also spoke explicitly of the murders he committed...with bravado and no remorse. Also in the cast: Andrew Divoff, Joanne Chew, John Eric Bentley, Debby Rochon and Tony Todd.

This movie was more factual than most movies that are "based" on spree/serial killers. If they had stuck to the facts it would have been much more interesting. The acting is pretty bad - especial by Joanne Chew. The others are tolerable for the most part. The make-up on Speck was HORRIBLE. We thought it was supposed to be facial burns at first. Also, I'm not sure why they had everyone smoking constantly in every single scene. The movie is also a bit incoherent in places such as it never shows why the hobo was angry with Speck. However, it is hilarious. I really don't believe it should be under the horror section. I might actually watch it again for the laughter.