The Nest

This mediocre sci-fi horror flick concerns hungry roaches chowing down on the residents of an island-based town. The story is absolutely standard to these types of things, and this one offers nothing new to horror fans, as the gore piles up. Not especially gory, although it definitely has its moments, and there is an eyeball scene that Lucio Fulci would be proud of. Despite this, this is not an especially good, or thrilling flick. Really for genre fans only.

Mutant-insects…isolated little town…gory make-up effects…Yup, `The Nest' looks like a prototype of cheap and redundant 80's horror. But I'm sure that, if you decide to give it a chance after all, you won't regret it. ! The obvious aspect to-love about it is the gore, naturally, but the screenplay actually contains some sub-plots and ingenious elements that you wouldn't immediately expect in a low-budget production like this. Northport is small, peaceful island outside L.A suddenly infested by a deadly plague of cockroaches. A mysterious female scientist arrives on the island and the mayor acts very ignorant about the on-growing bug problem. Events escalate into a true disaster when the cockroaches attack and devour inhabitants of the island and, if this isn't worse enough, mutate into what they eat. Looks like a genetic experiment gone horribly wrong? `The Nest' has tension and atmosphere, accompanied by a bit of good black humor and decent acting performances. Horror insiders might recognize Robert Lansing in the role of ignorant mayor, as he previously appeared in `Empire of the Ants'. The show is stolen, however, by Terri Treas as the morbid Dr. Hubbard. The creators of `The Nest' obviously learned a lot from watching horror highlights as `The Fly' and `Them!' but the film offers enough amusement to stand by itself. I certainly enjoyed it better than the similar `Mimic', which was made almost ten years later. If you're a sucker for gore-goodies, check out `the Nest'

This flick is the Ultimate in Mutant Cockroach Terror! I love this one! Easily one of the best Roger Corman productions from the 80's! Sure it has a cheesy 80's synthesizer-score and displays ditto wardrobe and hairdos. But it also has a decent plot, well-drawn-out characters and... great gross gore effects! It follows the rules of a creature feature by the book, and the film benefits a lot from it. The puppetry and 'animatronics' might be rather static (not very lively), but the creature design is rather great and the 'mayor-roach' transformation scene is major fun to watch! There's also a 'cat-roach' in it, and just wait until you (briefly) see the final 'Über-mutant-roach' (which for some reason always reminds me of the final creature we get to see in John Carpenters "The Thing")! If you like all the afore-mentioned ingredients, then seek this baby out and have fun with it.

Who doesn't hate cockroaches? If you have a phobia for bugs, I suggest you steer clear of 'The Nest'!

The movie poster sends out a very different message to what the movie is actually all about. Cockroaches are NOT mating with women! The film revolves around an experiment gone wrong, causing cockroaches to feed on everything in its path. The film used over 2000 cockroaches... imagine being on set with so many cockroaches! Nowadays they'd use CGI, but back in the day they used REAL bugs, and practical effects - and the practical effects were amazing, especially during the final act.

I enjoyed Franc Luz as sheriff Richard Tarbell - he is so sexy! The acting from the entire cast was good. I thought Robert Lansing in particular was good as major Elias Johnson. I've literally seen hundreds of 80s horror movies, and 'The Nest' is one of the better 80s horror movies. This is a memorable film with interesting characters and a good script. The camerawork is effective in displaying bug movement. Cleverly done.

In general, 'The Nest' is a thoroughly enjoyable insect horror movie. There are so many out there, but only a few really stands out. 'The Nest' is one of them.

Would I watch it again? Yes.

I am the first to say that we need more good horror flicks. But, in my opinion, a horror movie has to have a balance between gross things and alluring things in order to keep the emotions of the viewer from swinging quickly into a state of disgust, which makes the movie worthless. The Nest has the first part down right: you got your mutant cockroaches that eat everybody in sight, two rather nasty animal killing scenes, and the cockroach queen that I think is a masterpiece of grossness. Unfortunately, there is no counterbalance: there is almost no comic relief, absolutely no naked babes, and no smart dialogues. The outcome is a pure terror movie that scares you, disgusts you, but doesn't leave a good after-taste.