Confessions of a Film Junkie: A 2-4-1 Special of Corin Nemec in
Horror Films
By: Brian Cotnoir
I found it a little
strange to see that in a span of one year Corin Nemec was featured in four
films where he either played a Serial Killer or psychopath. He played the leading roles in films based on
the crimes of two notorious American Serial Killers, Richard Speck and Ted Bundy. He was also featured in the horror film “Boston
Strangler: The Untold Story”, strangely enough acting alongside his good friend
David Faustino who played Albert DeSalvo/The Boston Strangler. Also Nemec was featured in another film in
2008 where played a psychopath. I just don’t understand why Nemec would be
“type-casted” into those types of roles.
Anyone who has seen an episode of “Parker Lewis Can’t Lose” or other
comedy works that Nemec has done, know that he is pretty funny guy. I don’t understand why he would be casted or
even want to be casted in a horror film; I mean he does so poorly in them. Horror Comedy’s he’s great in because he’s
usually the comedic relief, but in straight up horror films, he’s not just bad,
he’s is absolutley awful! So this week I
will be reviewing two Horror Films that Corin Nemec has starred in; “Chicago
Massacre: Richard Speck” (Non-fictional Horror) and “My Apocalypse” (Fictional
Horror).
Chicago Massacre: Richard Speck (2007)
One of the easiest
Sub-genre’s of Horror to get away with writing is the “Serial Killer Bio-pic”. The story is already written for you all you
have to do is pick a serial killer and condense their crimes and motives into
90 minutes. There are good serial killer films (ex. “Dear Mr. Gacy”) and there
are bad serial killer films (ex. “Ed Gein: the Butcher of Plainfield”). In regards to the film I’m reviewing this
week—“Chicago Massacre: Richard Speck” it has got to be the worst serial killer
biography/horror movie I have ever seen.
This is one of those times where I honestly don’t have at least one
positive thing to say about this film it’s so bad.
 |
| The Real Richard Speck |
The story—as you may have already guessed from the title—is the true story about a career criminal named Richard Speck and the events of his life that led him to commit a gruesome massacre on a group of nursing students in a Chicago college dormitory in 1966. The film is told from two perspectives; one being the perspective of the killer Richard Speck, played by actor Corin Nemec, and the other is told from the perspectives of one of the detectives trying to solve the murder.
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| Nemec, playing Serial Killer Richard Speck |
This is
just an awful film. Corin Nemec is so
over-the-top as the mass-murderer Richard Speck that he’s more laughable then
terrifying. He’s slow, he’s ugly, and he
says the most moronic things. Nemec
tried way too hard for this role and it shows.
His speech is so slurred in some parts of the film that even when I
turned the subtitles on they still read “Inaudible Dialogue”. The dialogue is all very cliché to. I found no original lines of dialogue that I
could recite from memory. I would
describe Nemec’s character as the twin brother of Aaron Stampler from “Primal
Fear” who didn’t get enough oxygen at birth and now he has the I.Q. of a sack
of potatoes. Nemec isn’t the only bad
actor in this film. As a matter of fact
every actor in the films is horrible. All the drama and intensity of the film
is sucked out by all these poor actors, and it makes you feel pissed off and
confused instead of scared. Not one person in this film gave a competent
performance.
The pacing of the film is terrible and just jumps all over
the place. I actually thought that there
were a number of scenes in the film that just felt random and out of order, but
after doing some research I found out that those scenes were actually supposed
to be flashbacks. There was no hint whatsoever that the film
was transitioning to a flashback at any point, and these random flashbacks in
the film only add to the confusion of the story, rather than help explain a
motive or reasons why. Also, I think
that the Detective in this film solved this crime way too easily, and I do
believe that it had everything to do with the pacing of the film. The Detective just appeared to get one hint
of a description and, bam, he knew who he was looking for and he just happened
to catch him in the most convenient way possible. For crying out loud Sherlock Holmes couldn’t
pull an answer to a crime that quickly out of his a$$.
Something
tells me that this is the one film that Corin Nemec purposely leaves off of his
resume. Just don’t even bother trying to
watch this film, because if you do you’re only going to be confused, bored, and
disappointed. “Chicago Massacre: Richard
Speck” is hands-down the Worst Serial Killer Horror movie I have ever seen, and
probably one of the worst horror movies ever made. It. Sucks.
My Apocalypse (2008)
All right before I
begin to talk about this film, here is some background: The film was originally titled “Quality
Time”, and it was filmed in 1997, but do to a lack of funding and a striving to
have his artistic vision realized, the film’s director, Chris LaMont, did not
release the film until 2008. I can
understand why the film’s director would want to hold off on releasing his own
film, but still, eleven years is an ridiculously long time for a film to be
released after it was finished filming.  |
| God, this was Awkward |
The film is set in the future
where the world has been destroyed by the melting of the polar ice caps, and
it’s about a young sociopath killer named, Stewart Savage. Stewart’s parents are well aware that their
son has mental problems and is prone to acts of extreme violence, but they
still let him live with them and make excuses for his sociopathic tendencies. Stewart lives in a tiny apartment with his
mother and father, but due to a lack of inhabitable surface on the planet and a
lack of funds, Stewart’s family is forced to alternate sharing the apartment
throughout the day with another family, the Eastman’s. On the day of his father’s birthday, Stewart
decides to hold his parents and the Eastman’s hostage in his apartment so they
can play party games. Now Stewart’s parents and the Eastman’s are
all just Pons to the ever delusional Stewart’s plans for happiness and grandeur.
Well first of all, a comment for
the film’s director: Mr. LaMont, waiting those years to receive the funding so
you can have your CGI in your film, was not worth it. The CGI in this film is just bad. I’ve seen better CGI on the History Channel’s
Modern Marvels. The camera shots are so blurry and grainy,
like it was filmed on a very poor quality of film. There are scenes in the film where Stewart
retreats into his mind and we get to see the world, from his delusional
fantasies and the picture quality becomes fuzzier and it looks so bad. Also, there are points in the film where the
other character’s faces randomly become distorted. I’m sure if the film was better made it would
represent something like Stewart’s perception of his situation becoming
distorted, but in reality it looks like a crappy effect and it looks really
stupid.
 |
| The Film is so grainy and distorted! |
I
believe I heard that this film originally was a stage play that got adapted
into a screen play, and I’d buy that.
The dialogue and the characters all look and sound like they belong on
stage and not on camera. One thing that
confuses me though is the film is 80 minutes long and it was written by three
people: That’s roughly 27 pages per writer!
I think making a film is a lot more difficult when you’re trying to
combine the ideas of three writers as opposed to just one. Hell, even two writers probably could have
written a better script than this!
Lastly
the acting. It’s bad, it’s all bad, and
I’m not sure if it has to do with the dialogue, or the character development,
but yeah it’s all pretty awful. One
character, Victor Eastman, doesn’t say much and he spends most of the film just
sitting against the wall and touching it.
I’m not sure if his character was supposed to be a mute or have “special
needs”? I don’t know what was his deal
was. To be perfectly honest the film
could have gotten rid of him and I don’t think it would have affected the plot
in any way.
As for Corin Nemec in
this film, I can’t really blame him for being bad. This was filmed 10 years before he took the
role in “Chicago Massacre”, and I think he probably never saw this film. I think if it was released a year or two
after it was filmed, that some studios would have reconsidered casting him in a
horror film, but I can’t blame him entirely for being bad in this film. He’s okay, in the scenes where he has his delusions
and acts like he’s back on a TV sitcom, but as a sociopath and murderer, I’m
still not buying him.
The
best way I can describe this film is cheap.
Cheaply made, cheap sets, and character’s who aren’t really likeable or
enjoyable. My advice is to also avoid
this film, not because just because it’s bad, but it’s really, really
boring. Corin Nemec, please stay away
from horror films, and go back to making us laugh in quirky comedies. You’re really good at that at least.
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