Movie Info
Movie Name: The Nest
Studio: Concorde Pictures
Genre(s): Horror/B-Movie
Release Date(s): May 13, 1988
MPAA Rating: R
The board of health is going to have a problem with this restaurant
North Port is a dying island. The population is going down, but now it could have a bigger problem in the form of killer cockroaches. As the roaches slowly infiltrate the town, Sheriff Richard Tarbell (Franc Luz) must get to the truth before things are too late. His former girlfriend Elizabeth (Lisa Langlois) has returned to town and her father Elias (Robert Lansing) could know more than he’s saying. When a doctor named Morgan Hubbard (Terri Treas) from INTEC arrives on the island, the truth behind death may be revealed.
Directed by Terence H. Winkless, The Nest is a horror B-Movie. The film is based on the 1980 Eli Cantor novel and received mixed reviews upon its release.
I actually am a fan of “animal attack” movies there is a goofiness to them but there is also a sense of danger since animals’ actions can’t always be predicted or planned against. The Nest feels derivative of other similar horror films. It isn’t very good, but it does have its moments.
The dreaded Cat-Roach!
You can’t really go into The Nest expecting high art. The movie is about killer cockroaches and you get what you get. The roaches are rather underplayed and the fun doesn’t start happening until the roaches mutate. You get cat-roaches, man-roaches, and an “I don’t know what the hell it is” queen roach. The story drags and crawls as it moves along, and it goes pretty much as one might expect.
The cast also is lacking. Franc Luz is bland as the sheriff and doesn’t come off as particularly likable since he’s stringing the waitress along while seeing Lisa Langlois. Like most female “villains” in the ’80s Terri Treas plays a rather masculine doctor with no emotions and big shoulder pads (the character originally was intended to be a man). The movie also adds a goofy exterminator played by Stephen Davies which feels out of context with the feel of the movie.
She’s a Queen Killer!
The visuals for the movie are both better and worse than you’d expect. Since the movie goes into “monster roaches”, the movie has creatures that you wouldn’t expect from a simple animal movie. The creatures are rather inspiring, but the actual design is pretty weak. Plus, if you want a cockroach movie, the final sequence of Creepshow does it much better.
Despite its flaws, The Nest is one of those quick horror movies that you can watch and laugh at. It has the island aspect of Jaws combined with a monster movie. Some of the themes of The Nest feel like they were co-opted by Guillermo del Toro for Mimic (which was better) and John Goodman’s exterminator in Arachnophobia feels a bit like Homer from this film. The Nest (of course) ends on an ominous note, but fortunately, The Nest was exterminated with this film.
