The Nest (1988)
Studio: New Concorde
Theatrical Release: May 13, 1988
DVD Release: August 28, 2001
Director: Terence H. Winkless
R
Review by James Klein
Roger Corman's wife Julie stepped into her husband's shoes and helped produce this low budget snoozefest of a monster movie. While I am a fan of bug movies such as Bug, Empire of the Ants, and Kingdom of the Spiders, The Nest may have a few decent special effects going for it but the movie is bogged down by a predictable plot, dull characters and very little action.
If this synopsis sounds like Jaws and its numerous rip-offs, I apologize (I didn't write the movie, mind you). A small island town is over taken by thousands of deadly cockroaches that was produced by the government whose original intention was to breed a killer cockroach that would kill other cockroaches. The town's mayor kept this hidden from everyone until it is too late. Now the sheriff of the town and the mayor's daughter must somehow stop these killer cockroaches from overtaking the entire town.
Now I have no problem with low budget rip-off films. I find them usually fun and entertaining. However The Nest is neither. Lets start with the plot. There is absolutely nothing new here. While we have seen this story played out numerous times, it doesn't provide the viewer with anything original. Second, those characters... ugh! The main hero Richard who plays the town's sheriff is incredibly dull. He is the equivalent of eating cold dry toast. The supporting cast is just as bad. Robert Lansing plays the mayor who is usually good in most of his films but looks like he's sleepwalking through this movie. The woman who plays his daughter Lisa just has to cry and run on cue. The rest of the cast is predictable as we have the crazy exterminator, the funny town bum, and the jealous girlfriend. The only character that provided any interest for me was Terri Treas as the evil Dr. Hubbard, whose love for these cockroaches seems almost bizarre and at times, sexual. She gets off on seeing these creatures kill dogs and cats and even when she gets bitten, she can't help but allow them to feed off her, a small grin covering her face. If only this movie provided us with strange and different characters such as Dr. Hubbard.
While I did enjoy some of the more gruesome special effects, the movie was shot mostly at night so much of the film is rather dark and hard to see. It also doesn't help that the monster and its nasty effects don't show up until near the end of the film. There just isn't enough action to keep the viewer entertained. Huge subplots about what happened to the mayor's wife, or the sheriff's girlfriends homeless father is just not interesting. Julie Corman needed to look at her husband's other films from the 70's and 80's to know that blood and boobs always makes a better exploitation. At under 90 minutes, The Nest drags.
Rumor has it that Shout Factory is going to be releasing the blu ray of The Nest soon and fans of this film (are there any?) will want to get their hands on it as this DVD is rather dark to look at and contains no special features on the disc, not even a trailer.
[rating: 1.5]
Theatrical Release: May 13, 1988
DVD Release: August 28, 2001
Director: Terence H. Winkless
R
Review by James Klein
Roger Corman's wife Julie stepped into her husband's shoes and helped produce this low budget snoozefest of a monster movie. While I am a fan of bug movies such as Bug, Empire of the Ants, and Kingdom of the Spiders, The Nest may have a few decent special effects going for it but the movie is bogged down by a predictable plot, dull characters and very little action.
If this synopsis sounds like Jaws and its numerous rip-offs, I apologize (I didn't write the movie, mind you). A small island town is over taken by thousands of deadly cockroaches that was produced by the government whose original intention was to breed a killer cockroach that would kill other cockroaches. The town's mayor kept this hidden from everyone until it is too late. Now the sheriff of the town and the mayor's daughter must somehow stop these killer cockroaches from overtaking the entire town.
Now I have no problem with low budget rip-off films. I find them usually fun and entertaining. However The Nest is neither. Lets start with the plot. There is absolutely nothing new here. While we have seen this story played out numerous times, it doesn't provide the viewer with anything original. Second, those characters... ugh! The main hero Richard who plays the town's sheriff is incredibly dull. He is the equivalent of eating cold dry toast. The supporting cast is just as bad. Robert Lansing plays the mayor who is usually good in most of his films but looks like he's sleepwalking through this movie. The woman who plays his daughter Lisa just has to cry and run on cue. The rest of the cast is predictable as we have the crazy exterminator, the funny town bum, and the jealous girlfriend. The only character that provided any interest for me was Terri Treas as the evil Dr. Hubbard, whose love for these cockroaches seems almost bizarre and at times, sexual. She gets off on seeing these creatures kill dogs and cats and even when she gets bitten, she can't help but allow them to feed off her, a small grin covering her face. If only this movie provided us with strange and different characters such as Dr. Hubbard.
While I did enjoy some of the more gruesome special effects, the movie was shot mostly at night so much of the film is rather dark and hard to see. It also doesn't help that the monster and its nasty effects don't show up until near the end of the film. There just isn't enough action to keep the viewer entertained. Huge subplots about what happened to the mayor's wife, or the sheriff's girlfriends homeless father is just not interesting. Julie Corman needed to look at her husband's other films from the 70's and 80's to know that blood and boobs always makes a better exploitation. At under 90 minutes, The Nest drags.
Rumor has it that Shout Factory is going to be releasing the blu ray of The Nest soon and fans of this film (are there any?) will want to get their hands on it as this DVD is rather dark to look at and contains no special features on the disc, not even a trailer.
[rating: 1.5]
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