The Nesting | 1981 | USA | Armand Weston

Director Armand Weston already had an established career as a pornographic director throughout the 1970s, before he tried his hand at a straight movie; in this case, it resulted in The Nesting, a traditional haunted house flick that focuses on Lauren Cochran, an independent author whose latest bout of writer’s block is exacerbated by a recently diagnosed case of agoraphobia. Deciding to relocate to a smaller countryside property to complete her novel, she instead encounters sinister spectres of high-class hookers at the new house, who cause the deaths of various parties around the frightened writer. As the delusions become more and more prominent, Lauren discovers that her past is linked intrinsically with the supernatural happening, which leads to a shocking revelation of the house’s sordid history. Stylish, moody and a decent effort from a non-traditional director, the film’s inclusion as a video nasty seems relegated to a particularly gruesome sequence involving a scythe.