Customer Reviews

Speck

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

"Speck", released on DVD in 2003, explores the mass murder that occurred in 1966. This edition follows the series of films based on real-life serial killers including "Dahmer", "Ted Bundy", "Ed Gein", and "The Hillside Strangler". However, the basis of this film, Richard Speck, wasn't a serial killer. This true account desplicts all eight individual murders committed in the nursing school house. The time it happened, no other mass murder reached or exceeded the severity since 1941 when 15 people were killed. Meanwhile, the film also explores the motives of his crimes and his past committed crimes: rape, threatened murder, theft, harassment, and others.

"Speck" didn't explore Richard Speck's life very broadly as they should have. Though the madness is fairly expressed, they didn't show much deep or specific details about events outside the massacre. The film contained too many empty scenes should have added more action and terrorism through the characters. They cause the intense scenes to loose their edge very quickly. Since this film is about mass murder, they should have added more suspense. Instead, every scene is predictable, even to those who have never researched this.

The acting is average, though the lead actor who played Speck expressed some strengths as an actor, namely in the rage scenes. He truly shows in his mannerisms and his face that Speck was truly dangerous. However, those who played the victims could have expressed more terror. It seems like they don't care as much as they should about dying suddenly. They don't seem deathly scared like the actual victims surely were. Had the actors dug deeper into their roles, this film could have contained the necessary emotional value.

Those wanting to experience true terror through film should not watch "Speck". This is not a film that will please many audiences. Instead, the other films from the serial killer semi-set are enjoyable, though they don't reach a five-star rating.

Having been familiar with Richard Speck and his mass murder spree in 1966 and having read a book written by the Prosecutor who was responsible for putting Speck behind bars, I was expecting a much better movie than this. This movie sensationalized Richard Speck in a way he does not deserve. Bad movie. If you're looking for a good movie/docu-drama, see Helter Skelter instead.

This was a really awful movie. It could've been better, certainly, but I think that Richard Speck simply isn't a good subject for a feature-length movie. His killings take place over the course of only one night; most of the movie was limited to Speck dragging a girl from one room to another room, where he murdered her. That pattern was literally almost the entire movie. Furthermore, the film was composed of amny wavy, dreamlike shots, which only served to be annoying and boring after a while. Basically, Speck was extremely boring. The filmmakers did a bad job of portraying one grisly night in a deranged man's life.

Yet another true-life-killer movie that doesn't show all the events of the characters life. This movie brings you right into the heart of the action. Which, in most movies cases, is not a bad thing; However, This movie really doesn't explain his history: How he had over 30 arrests prior to this incident (which is how the police had his finger prints to begin with). The movie also leaves you to believe what he really did to the victims, and doesn't show how bad he really was. (of course, no movie ever will show that, in reality there was eye gouging, and, trying to keep it as clean as possible: torture using unknown instruments in certain parts of the body the would really hurt!!) The movie also doesn't give specifics on his capture. A bungled up suicide leads to his capture but it doesn't say if he turned himself in, or if in fact someone found him. The movie finally mentions details of his fate in prison, but does not mention the video tapes later found by the media, and Richards new found breasts due to hormone pills, and his confession and no remorse for the murders he committed.
Anyway, excluding the missed facts, the only other things I could say about the movie: It was better than I thought - the back looked very generic, and it is a no-name movie company. Don't get me wrong, you can tell it is low budget, but I have seen much worse. They also have an advertisement on the DVD for another movie from this company, and it looked really generic, so I was pleased with what I had. Only other complaints were minor production\editing problems. They try to make the movie "creepy" by using a "dreamy/drugged out" view, ex: like the killer talking slow, walking slow, the movie moving slow at times. After awhile I thought it was overdone. Also, in reality (however I could have my facts wrong on this) I thought he only changed his outfit/cleaned up once during the killings, in this movie he cleans up after every victim and talks to himself in the mirror, which after awhile gets old. final verdict: not bad at all, but not mind blowing either. P.S. "what the heck richard speck?" - Macabre

If you read the book "The Crime of the Century" written by the man who prosecuted Speck, you will find this terrible movie grossly inaccurate and a true insult to the memory of the eight young women whom Speck brutally murdered. Whoever thought to make this film did so in very, very poor taste. The film borders on the ridiculous and it is hopelessly inaccurate in most parts. According to the book and to the testimonies from the trial, Speck told the women not to be afraid, that he wasn't going to kill them. Yet, the way he is portrayed here it is evident that he wants them to know immediately that he is going to kill them! He is brutal and forceful, not soft-spoken the way Cora Amurao described him. What really bugs me is the way this film shortchanged us by the way the nurses were portrayed. We see no interaction between them before the murders. Also inaccurate is the way Corazon Amurao (the lone survivor) was portrayed. The woman who portrayed her looks like her and did a wonderful job but they showed her as maneuvering herself downstairs to hide while Speck was killing the other women. THAT IS NOT WHAT HAPPENED!! Cora remained in the room with the other nurses and as the killings went on, each of the nurses tried to hide under beds or wherever else they could. Cora hid herself under one bed but her head protruded, because she could not get all the way under. Then, after Speck took Gloria Davy away downstairs after raping her, Cora, the only one left, maneuvered herself in her tied up condition to another bed in the room where she was concealed by a blanket that draped completely over the bed. She stayed there and prayed Speck wouldn't find her (he didn't) and it wasn't until 5:00 o'clock the next morning that she was able to untie herself and drag herself out to the window on the second floor of the townhouse and scream for help. At NO TIME did she go downstairs and hide the way it is portrayed in the film. Another inaccuracy is that when she identified Speck in the hospital, Speck grabbed her arm and screamed at her. That DID NOT HAPPEN. She identified him but he was heavily sedated at the time and didn't even know she was there. The casting of the other girls was quite terrible. They did the best they could under the circumstances but the least they could have done was to cast girls who looked like the victims and done their hairstyles up to resemble the mid-sixties. All in all this is a movie that should never have been made. Those nurses suffered unspeakable horror at the hands of a madman and it was in very poor taste to bring this to a poorly executed film!

The horrifying Speck murders that occurred the night of July 14, 1966 on the south side of Chicago is a case that has fascinated me since childhood and, being an afficianado of true crime books, magazines, and videos, purchased this DVD on a whim hoping for an accurate and insightful account of what actually took place before, during, and immediately following that terrible night. To say I'm disappointed is a gross understatement. Inaccuracies within this pathetic attempt to capture these events are too numerous to mention and, as one reviewer already pointed out, this film truly IS an insult regarding respect for the victims and their families. Richard Speck was an animal and this movie seems to want you to sympathize with him in some sick way. Avoid it at all costs and instead read the excellent "Crime Of The Century" that vividly captures all you wish to know about this horrific case and the people involved.

I hold out hope that one day a truly accurate and descriptive movie regarding this shocking crime will be released to the public so that the eight lovely nurses, their beloved families, and those that helped put this monster behind bars once and for all truly get the recognition and spotlight they most heartily deserve.

In the world of cheap, poorly-scripted potboilers, this is one of the worst. Instead of a riveting true-crime story, the viewer is subjected to a pointless, boring, innaccuracy-riddled mess. Perhaps worst of all (in a film full of "worsts") are the silly, contrived "thoughts" of Speck as he sits in a dingy toilet stall getting high. Everyone connected with this pile of sewage should be profoundly embarrassed.

I don't know if this acting was bad or if this guy was just a total freak! Seriously! I started to watch it one night and it was so strange and repetitive that I was overcome by boredom and shut it off. Not to mention that this guy was totally off the wall in that the things that he said and the things he believed in were psycho!! To hear him say it out loud were really "creepy" to say the least. DO NOT waste your money on this movie seriously!!

Sorry for the vulgarity but that is just what this film is. Bullsh*t. This film had two writers... and if you can believe this, about 80% of the dialogue in this pathetic excuse for a true story was taken from the ACTUAL Jeffery Dahmer... Yes, the serial killer. And I mean ACTUAL, REAL LIFE quotations SPOKEN by Jeffery Dahmer. I counted at least eleven. And they thought it was clever to add little, moronic one liners at the end of each quote, like it somehow made it authentic.

And I dont even blame the actors and actresses in this film, because they were not bad. Doug Cole is pretty good, though, he should've known to do his research. Same goes with the rest of the cast.

what also irked me was the mood, tone, lighting, and main color of this film... This could be the Jeffery Dahmer quotes, but it reminded me of the actually GOOD film, "Dahmer" by David Jacobson. This film might be good for people that have a lack of knowledge of serial killers but otherwise it is a complete joke and an embarrassment to the art of film and screenwriting.

This movie was almost factless, save for 8 nurses and Speck. Weak attempt at being "artsy", with the lowbudget cliche's and the boring tuffguy narratives in Speck's thoughts.

If this movie was 20 minutes, it would be too long. Unfortunately, it is over an hour. If you're looking for a documentary-type account, don't waste your time.