The Nesting (1981)

When i was a little girl, my sister had rented this as a New Release. he and her friends had gotten so spooked, they decided to spend the night upstairs in my room rather than going downstairs to hers. For lack of something better to do, I had watched it with them. There are some truly surprising moments and o totally enjoyed it. Watched it a few times over the next few years. Haven't been able to find in anywhere, same with "Popcorn" but am going to keep looking.

This post-AMITYVILLE HORROR haunted house film directed by porn director Armand Weston occasionally delivers the goods, but is more-often-than-not lame, overpadded and a little cheesy.Writer Lauren Cochran goes out to the country to try and get past her agoraphobia, but when she moves into a frighteningly familiar octagonal house, she finds that there's things to be afraid of inside as well! First off, I'm rather disappointed that the film didn't make the main character's agoraphobia more of a main plot point. The idea of an agoraphobe renting a haunted house, unable to leave because of crippling panic attacks but unable to stay because of haunting specters, would make for a pretty claustrophobic watch. Instead, Weston's script takes the plot in many different directions, implementing slasher elements, prostitute ghosts and a CHANGELING-like mystery unraveling.Sometimes, it works; there are some actually pretty spooky scenes here and there, and the mystery moves deftly enough to keep you involved. There are also some really fun set-pieces involving sickles and high-rise rescues.Unfortunately, the over-the-top acting and dialogue from most of the supporting characters ruins any atmosphere the film could've created (the writer's quippy boyfriend had me about ready to turn off the film 20 minutes in). The unraveling of the mystery reaches a silly, melodramatic conclusion. And I often found the sound design to be distractingly amateurish, a gripe I do not have very often. Overall, you could do a lot worse with '80s haunted-house flicks (HOUSE WHERE EVIL DWELLS, any AMITYVILLE film), but you could also do better (CHANGELING, SILENT SCREAM).Fun fact: The octagonal house where the film was shot is still standing in New York state and may be the only domed octagonal residence still in existence in the United States!

Being agoraphobic can take a toll on you. For writer, Lauren Cochran(Robin Groves), life in the big city isn't a walk in the park. She's afraid to anywhere. So when she sees her shrink, she rents a mansion in the country. There, she can do her work. However, strange occurrences start to unwind while she's staying there. When she opened the window and stepped out, she is stuck and afraid to move. Her shrink comes by to help, but he's tragically killed trying to help her. More to wonder what has went on in the mansion. It turns out that the mansion has been used as a brothel. And the colonel(John Carradine), has seen his granddaughter living there which has given him a stroke. Two of the locals, a handyman, and the town drunk were responsible for the murders of the prostitutes and other soldiers in the brothel. This movie was a bit of a cross between "The Shining", "The Boogeyman", "The Sentinel", and "The Devonsville Terror". There's plenty of supernatural aura, acts of vengeance and redemption. I liked it very much. Plenty to say. 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Maybe I have seen too many haunted house movies, but I have to admit that "The Nesting" brought very little new to this creaky genre. It's not bad enough to be called terrible, but it is all the same disappointing. Writer/director Armand Weston does manage to build a little mood and atmosphere, and he does occasionally throw in some detail that you wouldn't expect from a low budget movie. But when it comes to jolts and genuine scares, there aren't any, unless you count the scene when a couple of birds suddenly fly into the frame. A big reason for the lack of horror has to be the screenplay, which unfolds one familiar scene after the other, often at a very slow speed. Though there are some parts of the story that are so murky that the movie often seems like a first draft instead of a story that has been looked over carefully several times. (It doesn't help that there are some jarring edits that add to the confusion.) And where are the POLICE during all the deaths that happen in the movie? Throw in some amateurish acting, and in the end you have a really lame enterprise.