User Reviews

Long considered lost in the annals of cinematic history, a 35mm print of this Southern Gothic tale was discovered recently in a New York theatre. The film has since been restored and finally shown to audiences with the help of Mubi and film director Nicolas Winding Refn. This film is a classic case of a myth being built up so much that it doesn't quite live up to the reputation. The film is a passion project from star, writer, director, and editor Bert Williams. Williams plays an undercover cop called Johnson whose cover gets blown whilst trying to infiltrate a gang of violent moonshiners.

As he evades the gang through the murky swamps of the deep South, he finds himself washed on a small island. On this small island there's a dilapidated hotel with three somewhat off-kilter inhabitants. Johnson decides to stay at the hotel whilst the heat dies down, except strange occurrences keep happening to make him believe that he's not quite as safe as he thinks he is.

The film clearly draws a-lot of influence from past genre classics, most notably Psycho and Night of the Hunter. The film has an incredibly creepy atmosphere, alongside a couple of scenes with genuinely disturbing imagery. Unfortunately there's not much more to the film then that. The characters in this film aren't well defined or given much characterisation. The biggest issue I had was that the overall story felt dull, and it's not until the final twenty minutes when the plot starts moving that film becomes intriguing.

The film had a lack of urgency in the script and started to meander midway through. Due to the bland, uninteresting characters (and at times pretty bad acting), this film felt like a missed opportunity as the filler in between the interesting plot developments was poorly developed. The film would've made for a fantastic thirty minute short, but instead it's stretched out even with a short run-time of eighty one minutes. It's a shame because the film has some really great moments but not enough to sustain a feature film. In the end it's a film worth seeking out if you have Mubi for the rarity alone. However what you'll get is a B-movie mash up of Psycho and Night of the Hunter intersected with strikingly original moments that'll make you think this could've been a really great film.

I saw this film at the Drive-In, I believe it was The Arrow, when I was 11. The producers invited everyone who showed up free pizza at the end of the film. Both of my parents were in the film. I remember my Dad telling me that they lost a reel of the film when they were shooting in the Everglades which is why the story may not seem to flow very well. They didn't have the budget to re-shoot what they lost.

If you tell me that a film is extremely rare &/or was lost for decades and miraculously resurfaced or got resurrected, chances are that this will equate to some immediate interest. This one turned out to not ultimately work as a mystery thriller, but still proved to be worth a look. Just have to add that if the character Harold's beard was fake, it has to have been one of the worst in the history of makeup, but if it was real that would be even more disturbing.

The Nest of the Cuckoo Birds (1965)

** (out of 4)

Bert Williams plays an undercover cop who tries to bring down some moonshiners working in the Everglades. His cover is blown and he takes off in the alligator swamps trying to survive. He winds up at a hotel in the woods where he thinks he's safe but soon he realizes the horrors that are there.

THE NEST OF THE CUCKOO BIRDS is a film that I first heard about around the time I first got online. It was a lost movie and people debates whether or not it was ever actually completed. A few bits and pieces of promotional material showed up but a print also turned up and was finally shown in 2017. As is the case with a lot of lost films that are found, there's no masterpiece here but the film is certainly an interesting one that manages to hold your attention throughout.

Not only did Williams play the lead role but he also wrote, directed, shot and produced the picture so clearly this is his baby. The film was obviously shot on a very low-budget but I found there to be quite a few things here that were actually good. For starters, Williams perfectly uses the Everglades location and he actually creates a rather good atmosphere. I also thought there were some very effective shots including early on when he has a strange vision of a naked blonde woman. There's also a bizarre murder sequence where editing plays a key role and one can't help but this was the director trying to pull off something like the shower scene in PSYCHO.

I honestly thought the performances were okay as well. Williams certainly wasn't the next Marlon Brando but he had a normal, average look and the cast all seemed like real people, which helped add a certain rawness to the film. Of course, there's not too much happen and a lot of the 82-minute running time is devoted to people sitting around talking. These scenes here are rather boring and there's no doubt that there's not too much of a story but fans of the bizarre will still want to check this out.

The premise for this film was really interesting. The result is a sort of hazy, but not really satisfying dream-like blurb of overly theatrical acting, tv-banal camera work, and at times an obvious lack of budget.

This being said, the film still gets you going. You want to know what's going to happen, nothing is really predictable, which I liked. The heat. Sweat, nigh time, and thunderstorm filled ambiance was real fun. Ambiance is a thing too often neglected in films nowadays, where more attention is placed on cheap tension.

There are a lot of unexplored themes, or themes that are barely present, which got me wondering, are some parts of the film missing? Then again, it might be voluntary, to add more suspense. The plot goes into some kind of texas chainsaw massacre meets jesus camp thing. Overall, this movie would deserve a good remake. The one thing a remake should really imitate though is the music. I found the slow surf guitar, drums, and occasional choir chanting to be really awesome. Even the half-cheap sound quality of some of the music present just added to the mix really well. Sometimes switching in music wasn't well timed, but eh, oh well. In general, the music really added to the film.

Definitely a precursor to Texas Chainsaw Massacre and more as well as outside of film with a song: Title, music and Lyrics that influenced The Cramps... How could you go wrong?

Available through Nicolas Winding Refn's site (for free!) "bynwr"

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