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"The Nest (1987/Blu-ray&DVD Combo/Scream Factory)" Review

The quiet town of North Port is being overrun by cockroaches! Sheriff Tarbell (Franc Luz) believes that genetic experiments being conducted by the INTEC Corporation are the cause. Confronted with a potential disaster, Mayor Johnson (Robert Lansing) calls for help. When Dr. Hubbard (Terri Treas) from INTEC arrives, she realizes that an innocent experiment has gone terribly wrong. Ordinary cockroaches are turning into creatures with a taste for blood. Worse, the roaches are genetically mutating... literally becoming whatever they eat!

 Review: The Nest is another one of those films that always had the cover that stood out in the horror VHS section of my local video store when I was a kid, especially a woman in her underwear that looks like she being strangled by a cockroach and about to be raped by it. Of course a cover like that was made to catch attention because that never happens in this film. Instead you get a pretty skin crawling film about an advanced race of roaches that have a unquenchable thirst for blood and flesh. If your like me then you absolutely hate roaches and really for that it makes this film that much more frightening and creepy.
Like a decent amout of nature versus humans films out there you do get some B grade horror here, but that only goes so far because even with a silly plot of killer cockroaches you get some damn good scares as well as pretty good acting and dialogue. Since I had not seen this film since I was probably ten I thought The Nest was horror with a comedic twist to it, but what you actually get is a straight up horror flick that has a few good twists and some very grotesque gore effects. The main characters are a small bunch that have one thing or another in common with each other that helps to move the story along as well as setup a few twists to change the direction of the film. One thing I found that added to the feel of the film was that it takes place on a small island which adds to the feeling of doom because ever which way you turn there are the killer roaches.
I found my skin crawling many many times while watching which I liked because I want the film to creep me out and make me feel unsettled. Like I said before the gore effects are quite grotesque, there is a scene where one of the characters is attacked by a horde of roaches and is turned into a human and roach hybrid being that was very frightening actually. Some viewers may look at this film as just another B horror film with a silly plot and nothing more than a few gore scenes. Personally I think this is not like that as you probably already guessed. If you like films that are in this sub-genre of horror then I think you should give this film a serious chance and pick this release up.
Now when it comes to the presentation like the other releases from Scream Factory/Shout! Factory that I have reviewed before this one looks excellent. Both the Blu-ray and DVD look great. The film overall is quite cleaned up and clear. The audio consists of it's original Mono score that is in a DTS HD Master Audio Mono for the Blu-ray and a Dolby Digital Mono for the DVD. One thing I do want to mention that the only thing I really didn't like about The Nest was the horrible score of crappy synth sounds. The only special feature is an audio commentary by director Terence H. Winkles.

-Daniel "Damnation" Lee

Director: Terence H. Winkles
Genre: Horror
Blu-ray Release Year: 2013
Theatrical Release Year:1987
Time Length: 87 mins.
Company: Scream Factory (Shout! Factory)
 
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