‘Chicago Massacre’ is a film that could have been very chilling. Instead, I ponder what could of been made out of this film that at times showed brilliance, and at other times left me wondering what the director was thinking and how come people cannot act anymore.

‘Chicago Massacre’ is based on the real life 1966 mass murder at the hands of madman Richard Speck. Speck went on a killing spree of 8 nurses at a Chicago college. Playing Speck is Corin Nemec. Frankly, I think he tried to hard in this film. Chemistry with Cherish Lee, who played his estranged wife in the film, also addled Speck. Speck did show flashes of brilliance as he could of passed for Matthew Mcconaughey in one particular scene in which he was playing pool (this would be thought of a backhanded compliment by me at times but it really worked for some reason in this film).

Playing in the Chicago Police roles were veteran actors Andrew Divoff and Tony Todd. They started off slowly but soon built a very fine rapport in the film and that is what saved the movie. The dialoge between was done in a manner that you could see how comfortable the two were as screen partners. That was the highlight of the movie for the film viewer.

Michael Feffer wrote and directed. Some of the writing was lazy and made you really scratch your head while you viewed it. The direction of the film, while coherent in the middle, wandered in both the beginning and end leaving this viewer confused at the angle he was trying to present.

Overall, the movie does do one thing well. It makes you want to know more about the madman that was Richard Speck and if he is anywhere near the monster he was on film. The answer, apparently is yes. And that, folks, is scary.

*Chicago Massacre was released on DVD on Tuesday June 5th*