An agoraphobic writer (Robin Groves) moves to the country to
soothe her condition. Turns out the
house she’s rented is a former bordello that’s haunted by the spirit of the
madam (Gloria Grahame from Blood and Lace, making her final film appearance). Before long she’s having waking nightmares of
being a hooker and slowly starts losing her grip on her sanity.
Director Armand Weston is most famous for the legendary porn
classic The Defiance of Good. His skill
set didn’t seem to carry over into the horror genre. The Nesting works in fits and starts and
occasionally threatens to genuinely gather momentum. The problem is that the scare sequences don’t
have much in the way of rhythm. The
stalking scenes go on and on, almost comically at times. At least they have memorable punchlines. (One scene climaxes with a drunkard handyman
being pulled into a lake by zombie arms and another ends with a scuzzy chicken
farmer getting a sickle planted in his forehead.)
All of this is occasionally amusing, but you’ve got to put
up with a lot of dull, predictable crap in between the good stuff. It’s also undone by a lousy ending. Groves’ wisecracking boyfriend grates on the
nerves too.
John Carradine is around long enough to say a couple of
lines before having a stroke and disappearing for a good chunk of the
movie. Then he turns up later in the
picture, but promptly has a heart attack and is sidelined yet again. He’s still well enough to manage reciting the huge
exposition dump in the final reel though.
AKA: Phobia. AKA:
Massacre Mansion.
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