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Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: April 29th, 2025.
Director: Armand Weston
Cast: Robin Groves, Christopher Loomis, Michael David Lally, John Carradine, Gloria Grahame
Year: 1981
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The Nesting – Movie Review:
Although it did enjoy a brief theatrical run in 1981 and a onetime VHS release from Warner Brothers thereafter, since that tape was released acclaimed adult filmmaker Armand Weston's one attempt at 'mainstream' filmmaking, The Nesting, was been pretty tough to see until Blue Underground put it out on Blu-ray in 2011. Those of us who were around during the VHS rental boom years will likely remember the garish cover art, painted by the director himself, but the film hasn't been all that easy to come by in the last ten to fifteen years. Now the film lives again, this time on UHD!
The story follows a mystery writer named Lauren Cochran (Robin Groves) who lives in New York City but decides to get out of town for a while after suffering a rather unexpected panic attack outside her Manhattan apartment. Her psychiatrist, Dr. Webb (Patrick Farrelly) tells her she's got agoraphobia and she figures relocating to the country will probably help with that. She and her sort-of boyfriend, Mark Felton (Christopher Loomis) get her set up in a bizarre Victorian era octagonal house in the middle of nowhere, which bears an uncanny resemblance to the one on the cover of her novel, The Nesting. Mark then he splits back to the city so she can enjoy the peace and quiet of her new digs.
The man she rents it from, Daniel Griffith (Michael David Lally), doesn't know much about the house's history or his own past for that matter, but his grandfather, Colonel Lebrun (John Carradine), eventually tells him the truth about his past all while Lauren is trying to figure out if the house she's renting is haunted or if she's starting to crack. After all, the nightmares she's been having about old timey prostitutes, their madam (Gloria Grahame) and mass murder can't possibly be normal… especially when a few of the people near to Lauren wind up dead!
With an interesting cast and atmosphere by the bucket load, The Nesting may not be the fastest paced horror film you'll ever see but it is plenty stylish and considerably better made than its less than stellar reputation would have you believe. Those familiar with Weston's adult films know that he had a penchant for atmosphere and tension, films like Expose Me Lovely and The Defiance Of Good are proof positive of that, and he puts that talent to very good use in this film. Yes, there are substantial logic gaps and there are frequent moments of cringe inducing awful dialogue (almost all of which can be attributed to Christopher Loomis's wisecracking Mark character - after five minutes with him you'll completely understand why Lauren won't commit!) but most fans of early eighties horror are going to be able to look past those problems and enjoy the film for the underrated gem that it is.
Performance wise we're in reasonably good shape here. Robin Groves, probably best known for Silver Bullet and a supporting role in Sliver, is pretty good as the leading lady and handles the more intensely psychological aspects of her character quite well. As mentioned, Loomis' character is obnoxious and the less said about him the better, but Carradine is fun in his short performance and Hollywood legend Gloria Grahame is also very good in this one, her final film appearance. Bill Rowley and David Tabor as a pair of lecherous backwoods creeps named Frank Beasley and Abner Welles are both fun here as well.
A few gory kill scenes will keep slasher fans happy, and the film's infamous sickle murder is definitely a stand out moment in the film, but this is more of a slow burn than a slash'em up, reliant far more on the inherent spooks offered by a rundown old house in the middle of nowhere and a sense of increasing insanity than knife wielding psychopath jumping out of a closet. If it borrows from The Changeling here and there and turns out to be a bit on the predictable side by the time it wraps, it's still a film that's both interesting from a historical perspective and entertaining from a horror fan's point of view.
The Nesting – Blu-ray Review:
Vinegar Syndrome brings The Nesting to UHD in an HEVC encoded 2160p transfer framed at 1.85.1 with HDR10 scanned in 4K from the original negative and restored Vinegar Syndrome.
The only audio option for the feature is a 24-bit DTS-HD Mono track in the film’s original English language with closed captioning provided, also in English. Again, no problems to note here. The track is clean and nicely balanced, free of any hiss, distortion or sibilance and offering perfectly audible dialogue throughout the feature. For an older mono mix, there’s more depth here than you’d likely expect there to be, and the score sounds excellent here.
A commentary track with writer and critic Andy Marshall-Roberts gets the extra feature going, covering the different titles that the film has been known as over the years (and the significance of those titles), detail on the cast and crew that worked on the production, the ongoing popularity of the haunted house sub-genre and The Nesting's place in that sub-genre, how the movie compares to some of the better known entries in the genre, thoughts on the production values and costume work, the film's theatrical and home video release and rating in the UK, the different versions of the movie that exist and what sets them apart from one another, details on the cast that worked on the picture, the depiction of ghosts and the supernatural in the movie, how the movie compares to Jean Rollin's Zombie Lake (no, really!), who did what behind the camera (including the effects work), details on Weston's career and his connections (or lack thereof) to the horror genre, the use of Tarot Card imagery in the movie, thoughts on the cast and their work on the movie, what makes the movie hold up all these many years later and lots more.
Acting Is Bring Brave runs twenty minutes and lets actress Robin Graves discuss how she moved from being a psychology to working with some live theater types, moving to New York to become an actress, some of her earlier theater and film work and how that led to her being cast in a few key production, how the theater work led to film work, thoughts on her role in the movie, how the house spoke to her in a certain way, memories of working with John Carradine and the other cast members, some of the makeup effects she had to deal with and being both excited and feeling silly about her work on the movie at the same time.
The Outlaw Poet also runs twenty-one minutes and is an interview with actor Michael David Lally. He speaks here about how he came to appear in The Nesting, knowing he'd live a creative existence all his life and trying to find ways to finance that, his early work as a jazz musician and living in Manhattan, some of the people that he worked with in his early days and the impact that these connections had on his career, how he got into movie acting, his work as a poet and some of the themes that he explored there, memories of some of his co-stars in The Nesting, landing his role in the film, recollections of the film's premiere and how the audience responded to it, working with Gloria Grahame and how he feels about how the cast approached their respective roles in the movie.
The thirty minute Low Budget Miracle is an interview with associate producer / production manager Don Walters. Here he gives us some background info before then going on to talk about the trials and tribulations of working in the low budget film arena, getting along with Armond Weston and his background in the adult film industry, having to work with the crew to get the themes of the movie right and put specific ideas in the front and center of the film, what he was responsible for during the making of the movie, getting Carradine onboard and what he was like to work with, securing the house as the movie's primary location and where it stands now, memories of shooting specific scenes, how he got along with Weston on a personal level and how Weston tried to use the movie as a jumping off point to do other mainstream (non-adult) films.
Nightmare USA author Stephen Thrower speaks about the film for twenty-nine minutes in The Sating Of Desire. He goes over the different titles that the film has been known for under the years and the differences between the versions, the film's theatrical release history (it's complicated!), how the movie performed on home video, details on the cast and crew that worked on the production, details on Armond Weston's work in the adult film industry and the straight film industry (including some pretty sensible questions to ask in this regard), the quality of Fernandez's cinematography in this and other movies, the production artwork created for the movie, Weston's work outside of his directorial efforts and loads more.
The Nesting Outtakes: Preserving Armand Weston's Gothic Horror is a fourteen-minute featurette produced by the Vinegar Syndrome Film Archive. This amusing featurette goes into what is required to restoring the various elements involved in creating a definitive version of a movie like this. Interviewed here is Distribpix's Steven Morowitz, Oscar Becher from Vinegar Syndrome, the connection between the two companies, Morowitz's family ties to sexploitation and hardcore movies as well as some of the 'straight' films that his father's company was involved with, the elements that were available for The Nesting and what was done with them, restoring the feature and what that involved, how budgetary restraints came into play and how all of this came into play when restoring The Nesting.
Finishing up the extras are a U.S. theatrical trailer, a Spanish theatrical trailer, a few TV spots, a radio spot, an alternate 'jump scare' from The Nesting cut, The Nesting title sequence, a still gallery, a selection of nine minutes cuts and trims, a selection of elevent minutes of unused dailies, menus and chapter selection options.
This release also comes packaged with some reversible cover sleeve art and, if purchased from the Vinegar Syndrome website, a nice spot varnish slipcover designed by Suspiria Vilchez and limited to 6,000 copies.
The Nesting - The Final Word:
While it's very deliberately paced and definitely falls into the slow-burn category, Armand Weston's The Nesting actually holds up very well as an interesting and well-made ghost story with some fun eighties slasher undertones. The special edition UHD release from Vinegar Syndrome offers up this underappreciated picture in a fantastic presentation and loaded with extras. Recommended!
Click on the images below, or right click and open in a new window, for full sized The Nesting Blu-ray screen caps!
