For a B-movie, The Nest contains fairly decent performances from all involved even if the dialogue goes for easy jokes more often than effective scares.
Roaches are inherently creepy. They’re big, they’re filthy, and they’re typically associated with poor sanitation. They also breed like crazy and can adapt to almost any type of conditions. That’s why they’ve survived for 300 million years and will outlive humanity. If you were going to make a horror movie with insect antagonists, roaches are an excellent choice. The Nest, a 1988 horror/sci-fi mash-up from Roger Corman’s Concorde Pictures, attempts to capitalize on the deep-seeded dread that roaches inspire in humans. Unfortunately, the final result isn’t as satisfying as I’d have hoped.
As the film opens, we’re introduced to the inhabitants of North Port, an island town not unlike Amity in Jaws. Sheriff Tarbell (Frank Luz) wakes up to what he thinks will be a normal day. His former girlfriend, Beth Johnson (Lisa Langlois), has returned to town after a four-year absence. Her father, Elias (Robert Lansing,) — who happens to be the mayor of North Port — is brokering some sort of deal with a corporation known as Intec.
Beth begins to explore the island to see what’s changed in the four years since she’s been gone. She comes across the freshly mutilated corpse of a dog. Sheriff Tarbell calls in a wildlife expert to determine what kind of predator could have done such a thing. Mayor Johnson, however, calls in an expert of his own from Intec: Dr. Morgan Hubbard (Terri Treas.) It appears that Dr. Hubbard knows quite a bit about the dog’s attackers. In fact, she created them: mutant roaches that have acquired a taste for flesh.
For a B-movie, The Nest contains fairly decent performances from all involved even if the dialogue goes for easy jokes more often than effective scares. Robert Lansing, veteran of TV movies galore, makes for an effectively slimy politician. Frank Luz, also a veteran TV actor, has enough on-screen charisma to carry the leading role as the sheriff. Lisa Langlois, who’s character seems to only wear pink outfits, has sufficient chemistry with Luz to pull off a believable rekindled romance.
Terri Treas, who is the movie’s actual villain, is the only actor who turns in a mediocre performance and that’s the result of bad writing. Delivering lines like “I so admire their ability to reproduce without the contribution of their male counterpart” does little to help Ms. Treas’ cause.
The Nest is rated R and its poster depicts a woman in lingerie being assaulted by a human-sized roach. The movie, however, has no such scene and I’m not sure why the film garnered an R rating as it’s quite tame. There are some gory moments but nothing that couldn’t be shown on prime-time network television and there is absolutely no sex or nudity. In fact, the movie has more in common with 1950s horror films than it does any of its 1980s counterparts.
The film’s biggest failure, though, is its lazy reliance on the roaches to deliver all of the truly creepy moments. A roach shown swimming in a coffee mug is scarier than anything the writers were able to dream up on their own. As a result, The Nest meanders from one scene of swarming roaches to another without really engaging the audience. It’s not terrible but it’s not very imaginative.
2.5 out of 5.0 stars
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