New Jersey Stage Issue 75 | Page 39

family with the most sense , Shotwell and Roche are equally consummate . Far from The Shining , the film The Nest is most reminiscent of is Sidney Gilliat ’ s excellent yet underseen 1972 Hitchcockian thriller Endless Night , in which an American woman similarly suffers at the hands of an English husband desperate to escape his working class roots by constructing a rural home he can ’ t really pay for .
The term ‘ elevated horror ’ is often bandied about by snobs who feel the need to justify their enjoyment of a horror movie , but the truth is horror is the most elevated , most cinematic genre of them all . Durkin gets this . He ’ s taken a rather simple family drama and used the tools of horror storytelling to elevate it to something greater , an unsettling critique of capitalism that burrows its way into your consciousness like an unpaid bill .

family with the most sense , Shotwell and Roche are equally consummate . Far from The Shining , the film The Nest is most reminiscent of is Sidney Gilliat ’ s excellent yet underseen 1972 Hitchcockian thriller Endless Night , in which an American woman similarly suffers at the hands of an English husband desperate to escape his working class roots by constructing a rural home he can ’ t really pay for .

The term ‘ elevated horror ’ is often bandied about by snobs who feel the need to justify their enjoyment of a horror movie , but the truth is horror is the most elevated , most cinematic genre of them all . Durkin gets this . He ’ s taken a rather simple family drama and used the tools of horror storytelling to elevate it to something greater , an unsettling critique of capitalism that burrows its way into your consciousness like an unpaid bill .

The Nest

4 ½ stars out of 5

Directed by : Sean Durkin

Starring : Jude Law , Carrie Coon , Charlie Shotwell , Oona Roche , Adeel Akhtar

NJ STAGE - ISSUE 75

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