The Nest

Let's be clear: horror is a genre that in Italy has been forgotten for about 20-25 years. After ancient glories and masterpieces signed by worldwide-acclaimed masters such as Argento, Fulci, Avati and Bava, horror cinema seems to have totally disappeared from national screens.

Roberto De Feo's "The Nest" is the breath of rebirth and resurrection of a long forgotten genre. The Nest is a horror that does not point to fear or disgust with particular visual artifices, but adheres to a more suspended, obscure and implicit line like Robert Eggers' "The Witch". Except for two or three visually more decisive and explicit sequences (placed however in a timely manner and not inopportune) it is a film that is based on dark atmospheres, on a sense of anguish and on a feeling that something strange is about to occur. It is a horror that also presents very delicate sequences, not trivial and well cohesive with the rest of the work. A fairly predictable end, however, if one takes into account the clues given here and there in the film and the narrative evolution of the story. An ending that presents nothing innovative, but well cohesive with the premise built by the film.

On a technical level, it presents a really beautiful and extremely accurate photography, moreover being a horror, and an Italian horror. From the directorial style it would be very plausible to believe that it is an Anglo-Saxon or American production. De Feo's direction is obscure, punctual, precise, elegant, enveloping but also sufficiently detached. Actorial evidence is positive on the whole, except for some high and low of some actors.

The Nest could be the rebirth of a new wave of Italian horror, and I sincerely hope that it is not a beacon of darkness destined, inexorably, to go out to make a long-forgotten genre return to oblivion.

7.5/10

I gave this film 3 stars purely for the atmosphere of the film. Otherwise, it a long and tedious and seemingly endless all leading to a pretty lousy twist at the end that did not warrant the long and strange storyline to build up to it.

It is listed as a horror story, but except for the twist there is NOTHING horrific in it except for extremely creepy mother and extended family and their bizarre ways.

The characters are all pretty creepy, not in haunted or supernatural ways, but in reflecting people who make your skin crawl with their personalities.

Even the boy comes across as a sinister figure, although he is not. The story makes him a tragic figure and one deserving of the viewers sympathy, but the way he is played and his dialogue makes one feel unsettled by him.

It is not horrible, but you choose to watch it keep No-Doz and strong caffeinated coffee handy to keep you awake till the end!

Very very slow movie and somehow boring in its first part, it is surprisingly good once the end is revealed. De Feo direction is really classy and the cast is good.

"The Nest", a sophisticated combination of horror/psycho drama by Italian director Roberto De Feo (awards for short films "Child K" and "Ice Scream") was presented at the 72nd Locarno film festival. This film is by no means a simple jump-scare distraction; it is incisive and distressing and begs contemplation. De Feo and director of photography Emanuel Pasquet work with dark, merciless elegance to exhault a powerful cast (Francesca Cavallin, Ginevra Francesconi, Justin Korovkin, Maurizio Lombardi) and the desolate beauty of the location. Tension and anxiety are deftly accumulated to depict the tragedy of vulnerability deformed into paranoia that proliferates through annihilating forms of power. The struggle ensues when vital forces attempt to protect innocence and the need to love and give courage to live in the unimagined truth.

I do not understand the high ratings regarding this movie; I'm truly at a loss.

People want to call this movie an aesthetically, beautiful, dark and intelligent, slow burn, when in reality it's simply long, boring, and wasteful.

There is so much of nothing going on for an hour and a half, no explanation as to the motives of the psychotic mother, the brain numbing pace, the child who is so micromanaged you began to wonder if he's truly brainwashed, or just stupidly compliant.

The scenes are so long and drawn out without any cohesive understanding as to what prior scenes have to do with what is currently happening.

Just gloom, doom, an overly dominant mother, the other psychotic character, the doctor, and household staff who wander around, terrified, of who knows what.

And, that ending. Really? Surely the producers could have given better subtle cues within the movie, so when the end comes you're prepared for it all to make sense. No. You're just left scratching your head going, huh? With all that said, after the big reveal at the end, (you still hate the mother) you'd think the mother would've wanted that kid to walk... but, you have to watch it to understand what I'm saying; or just watch 30 minutes then fast forward to the end, and ask yourself it it was worth fast forwarding, or sitting through all the drivel.