Rish Outfield's reviews
If I ever made a horror movie, I would love it if a review said it was "Even better than Night of the Lepus!"
In this cheap monster flick, an island community is terrorized by scientifically-mutated meat-eating cockroaches. And that's about it.
Cockroaches bother me. Cockroaches and children. Probably the bugs a little more than the children. But hey, this movie was sick. It had an Ick Factor of 9½. My notes are covered with words like "GROSS!" and "there are some pretty ladies in this." Okay, never mind.
Like all Corman films, it uses footage from other films, sometimes quite distractingly. It also looks like it was made in the '70s. I wonder if there was a certain film stock that was prevalent in the Seventies that is seldom used today. That might explain it.
It featured a pretty island location (is it California, do you think?), and had a nice intro to likable characters, which might be due to the fact that the script was based on a book, but might just be because the filmmakers cared enough to do it. The cast was all unknowns, but Terri Treas, the sexy bald chick from Alien Nation (anybody remember that show?) appears. But she just needed to DIE in this. You know, in a lot of alien or mutant critter movies, there's always that one scientist who wants to study the creatures, or goes as far as to worship them ("this is clearly an important species we're dealing with here, and I don't think you or I have the right to arbitrarily exterminate them."). In The Nest, the sickeningly overzealous scientist character lets the super-roaches bite her, oohing in an almost sexual adoration. On the other hand, this film bucked a trend in having the cool mayor actually care about townspeople for a change.
But hey, this wasn't a great movie. The babes were mostly wasted, and the movie took itself so seriously, it never tried to be fun. A combination cat/cockroach didn't exactly work. The Sheriff turns in his badge, but is back on duty the next morning. There was one illogical death of one character. You'll know who I mean when you see it. Why? It was strangely nudity-free for a Corman film. That better have just been a fluke.
Best Scare: The film attempts to shock us with bizarre combinations of cat, cockroach, and human, not realizing that the undiluted roach is far more repulsive and frightening than any monster puppet.
I'd Recommend It To: The Nest wasn't a classic, or even worth a second look, but it WAS, in the end, better than Night of the Lepus.

Total Skulls: 13

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood hits camera
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?