They Nest

Not a very original horror film, of course, but fairly entertaining and with a good tempo, this 'They Nest' easily belongs to the better efforts in the recent revival of the horror sub-genre of creature features. It is stuffed with clichés and stereotypes but try not to let this ruin the fun too much. All the ingredients that guarantee 90 minutes of unpretentious B-movie amusement are there: The over-stressed surgeon Dr. Cahill goes to a remote Maine island to find some peace and to decorate the old house he bought there. The hillbillies-inhabitants immediately hate him (except for the local beauty, naturally...) and, on top of all, a lethal cockroach-plague infests the island. These nasty little bugs turn out carnivores and use humans as hosts for their offspring! The cause and origin of the killer-roaches isn't really explained (no endless biological speeches or mutant-conspiracies this time) and the film obviously lacks a solid screenplay. On the other hand it features a fair amount of suspense and eeriness without going over the top with gore effects. I'm sure that people with a phobia for small, crawling insects will have trouble watching several atmospherically shot scenes....And that the best compliment you can get when delivering a horror film! The writers were even clever enough to insert some humor to put the whole killer-bug situation a bit into perspective. The abrupt ending is so silly it almost becomes brilliant! Ellory Elkayem once again turns out an above-average genre director. His atmospheric short film "Larger than Life" was very promising and with this film he proves being capable of directing bigger projects. Immediately after this, he moved on to the big-budget work with "Eight Legged Freaks". Melrose Place pretty-boy Thomas Calabro is rather decent in the lead role but the show is obviously stolen by Dean Stockwell and - especially - John Savage, who stars as local nutball n#1.

"They Nest" is a horror film worth watching and I'd even say it deserves a rating slightly higher than the one given on this site. If you really think it stinks, you should compare it with similar films made over the last few years. Compared to some of the junk found in video stores, this is quite a decent flick. If you're intrigued by the ugly creepiness of cockroaches, I also recommend checking out the 80's delight "The Nest".

This is actually a decent movie which I was rather surprised by. It's not anything groundbreaking, think of it as a SyFy channel movie done well. Everything thing about this is pretty middle of the road, but I didn't find anything to be terrible. It was a fairly easy watch, the type of flick I often find myself watching on a lazy Sunday or Saturday morning when I'm bored and just want something mind-numbing to watch. There were a few good laughs and a couple moments of decent gore

One area I will give this movie credit on is the Maine coastal accents. While not spot on they were some of the better ones I've heard. Also, some of the islander characters were pretty spot on. If you've ever been to Maine there are a few of those folks in every town. They're the locals who've never left or experienced the outside world, who are stuck in their ways, cautious of outsiders and a bit on the ignorant side. I suppose everywhere has those folks, but I thought it was well done.

Overall, a pretty harmless watch that turned out way better than I expected.

My Rating: 5/10

Not at all scarey. The acting in this bug flick wasn't that bad, but haven't we all about had it with the lone hero going to a small town battling creatures as well as the locals(almost always so called "rednecks")? Story wasn't all that believable, but hey, I knew that going in. Pretty entertaining for a late night watch. Helluva lot better than watching anything on broadcast tv (can I get an Amen?). Would I rent it again, or buy it, I think not. But I would say that it was worth the $2.99 I paid to rent it for a week.

The movie Creepy Crawlers (They Nest) is probably one of the best, if not the best, made-for-TV movies ever made. The acting, story, directing, cinematography, special effects and visual effects are all top notch. It looks as if this film would have come out in theaters. Also for being a made-for-TV movie, it is quite bloody/gory, and has some very intense scenes. A must see film for anyone who likes creature movies, or rather, movies in general.

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for creature violence and peril.

NOTE ABOUT THE MPAA RATING: I was surprised that this movie ended up with a PG-13 rating. It is a rather intense and gory movie with scenes that seem more suitable in an R-rated movie. Consider this a very hard PG-13 rated film that somehow miraculously passed with a PG-13.

Final Grade: 9/10

I am not a big fan of "critter flicks" as I find them to be stupidly acted and the insects unrealistic. Surprisingly, this movie kept me interested. I think one of the reasons was because of the great cast of male leads (Thomas Calabro - playing another doctor; John Savage - playing the embittered island electricman; and Dean Stockwell - playing the honest Sheriff). Even though it was your typical plot about a rare bug breeding in a corpse which washes up on a distant shore, the remainder of the story wasn't as predictable as usual. It's also humorous at times when watching city boy Dr. Cahill (Calabro) adjust to laid back island living while trying to gain acceptance from the townspeople who don't like him. Finally, I thought the bug scenes were realistic and I liked the different ways the bugs were used in various scare scenes. Admittedly, I only watched this movie once, but I would watch it again.