They Nest

Despite the low rating, I found this TV-film actually not that bad at all. It's about a stressed doctor, who has to take an unvoluntary vacation, so he goes to an island in Maine, where the locals are not very friendly towards strangers. Soon he discovers that some dead people have strange marks on their bodies, and after that he finds out that some insects, looking like cockroaches, have caused these marks. The insects are very deadly, but how is DR. Ben Cahill going to convince the locals of the serious problems....

I almost thought that the story for "They Nest" was written by Stephen King, because of the location, on a small island off the coast of Maine. Also 'cause I saw two actors who played in SK-films before: Dean Stockwell (The Langoliers), and Jeffrey DeMunn (Storm of the century, Shawshank Redemption, Green Mile), who only has a small part, on the ferry to the island. The fact that the movie takes place in Maine, creates a certain feeling, like in a Stephen King movie. Therefore I thought that this film was not bad at all!

There is no mistaking the B-movie genre that this film neatly sits. The qualities of which will automatically make it loved by some, loathed by others, and for the majority, just exact a simple shrug of the shoulders.

I liked the film, the acting wasn't terrible, and in places could be classed as quite admirable. The characters themselves weren't original, but then I wasn't expecting any different, and the script didn't make me cringe, but it also remains forgettable.

The elements that did surprise, were the above par special effects and the score.

The bugs were honestly creepy and apart from anything else, a level of common sense was made about their appearance. They looked like bugs, they didn't have horns, they didn't have glowing eyes, they were perfectly normal bugs, uping the realism and therefore increasing the creeps.

The score by Vinny Golia is inventive, and although lacking a main theme, underscored the film to good effect, keeping the audience perfectly in sync with the director's intentions.

What the film did need.... humour. Yes they were jokes here and there, but none really hit the mark, and when you look at the B-movie horror monster genre, the films that become worthy of the term "Cult" usually contain copius amounts of laughs, for example, "Deep Rising" and "Lake Placid". That is by no means saying that if the script was more humourous it would elevate this film to "Cultdom", but it might have given it a helping hand.

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".

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.