100 Ghost Street: The Return of Richard Speck is an Asylum-produced ghost hunting film. It's not directly ripping off any particular movie, as the infamous production company is wont to do (Transmorphers, Terminators). But that doesn't mean it's original. I mean, the ghost-hunting/found footage genre has a pretty well-established set of conventions (or more accurately - there just isn't all that much you can do in the confines of that set-up), and 100 Ghost Street doesn't stray far from the formula. Still, despite having a near total lack of story, it's decently-executed, which is high praise for an Asylum flick.
Rather than being boring with too much padding, in a way the action here *is* the padding - there's just too much of it. It's loud and effective at times, but eventually you just kind of get numb to all of the screaming/chasing/shaky-cam. A good balance is hard to pull off in a found footage film - you at least want a little calm before the storm. I mean, it's better to err on the side of too much action, but ideally there would be a little better balance. And the action happens early and often - Ghost Street probably sets some kind of record for the shortest amount of elapsed time until someone getting dragged away from the camera in that "classic" found footage shot (about 90 seconds). So at least it gets that requirement out of the way early.
I mean, you do get that shot (with different victims) a couple more times. Although the nice thing about Ghost Street is that the person getting dragged away leaves behind a big, messy trail of blood. (So presumably the ghost cuts them first?) And that's the big thing that sets Ghost Street apart. It's pretty gory for a ghost-hunting flick. Usually these sorts of things will rely more on tension/atmosphere, but here we have a film that isn't afraid to revel in the gore a bit. And honestly, it's a nice change of pace. The story/set-up is nothing you haven't seen before, so you have to take what you can get.
The story? A television show is filming a documentary about notorious murderer Richard Speck. (A real guy with a nasty story - he raped, tortured, and killed 8 student nurses in the summer of 1966 in Chicago.) This crew is investigating the supposed location where Speck committed the crimes, which has been said to be a hotbed of haunted activity. They say they're making a documentary, but they've got all the standard ghost hunting stuff - infrared cameras, little recorders for EVPs, and cameras situated throughout the building. The one twist is that a couple of them are total amateurs, and scare easily. Anyways, you know from the get go that the place is haunted and that everyone dies. (The screen cap above is from the opening of the film and says "The TV crew was never found." Spoiler!) The "fun" is getting there.
The characters in 100 Ghost Street are seriously not even worth mentioning. There are hardly any defining characteristics between the lot of them, and they are the very definition of interchangeable. Basically, if they got killed in a different order it would have no effect on the story whatsoever. Not that you expect strong characters from a ghost-hunting movie, but this is weak even by the low standards of the genre.
The horror elements of the film are okay. Like I said, it's got the gore going in it's favor. I dug how a person getting dragged away would leave a trail for the other people to follow. It's one of the few original ideas in the film and it works pretty well. (It does lead to some stupidity from our characters though - there is no chance in hell I'd follow a blood trail that leads from the ground to a HOLE IN THE CEILING!) Plus, the ghost looks good when you see it - it's definitely a less-is-more design (you really just see a shadow with white eyes), but it works. I've seen enough of these things derailed by a really stupid looking ghost, so I appreciated the simplicity on display here. Otherwise, there isn't much to get worked up about. There are a lot of telegraphed jump scares and not really all that much tension (I guess because you don't really care about anyone). And like I said, there is some decent found-footage chase scenes. But the number of them is overwhelming, to the point where you just kind of lose interest.
I do have to give them props for sticking to the found footage aesthetic though. There are a handful of title cards at the beginning (property of the whatever police department), but no film credits of any sort. And when the film ends, it's just over. So it's pretty well presented - and there doesn't seem to be any cheats in terms of editing or music. They use the excuse that they need to record everything so they can see (using the cameras lights and night vision), so they've got that covered as well.
Overall, you could do way worse than 100 Ghost Street. It isn't really all that exciting, but it's competent (and gory) enough that you are never really mad at it. The bar for a relatively decent ghost-hunting film is pretty low - 100 Ghost Street isn't one of the better ones, but it isn't one of the bad ones either.
I would shrug if asked about this film.
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