Based on the 1980 novel of the same name by Eli Cantor (published under the pseudonym Gregory A. Douglas), the film's screenplay was written by Robert King.

The film was produced by Julie Corman and stars Robert Lansing, Lisa Langlois, Franc Luz, and Terri Treas.

The local sheriff (Luz) joins forces with his former girlfriend (Langlois) and a pest control agent (Stephen Davies) to defeat the carnivorous insects.

Richard Tarbell, the sheriff of a small island town called North Port, wakes up one morning to find several cockroaches in his house.

Strange occurrences happen around the town—the bindings of every book in the local library have been damaged, and several dogs have been reduced to bloody carcasses.

Elizabeth ventures into a cave and discovers equipment belonging to INTEC, a corporation with whom Elias made a deal to develop the island.

Elias calls Mr. Hauser, a representative at INTEC, and demands that they take action against the cockroaches, or else he will reveal information to the national media.

Homer, in an attempt to kill cockroaches, accidentally sets a flammable insecticide aflame, causing his own house to explode.

[citation needed] Lead actress, Lisa Langlois afterwards expressed her disdain for the movie poster used for The Nest, which showed a woman in underwear being ravaged by a giant cockroach, and pointed out that her character appeared in no such scene.

"[5] The Los Angeles Times' Leonard Klady praised Winkless' direction and King's screenplay, noting that the film "hatches its clever plot extremely successfully.

"[6] Writing for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Michael H. Price gave the film a score of seven out of ten, commending its special effects and calling it an "unusually well-made cheapo shockeroo" that "pumps enough vigor into a tired subgenre [...] to make the old nature-gone-haywire premise seem fresh.

"[1] In 2013, Jon Abrams of Daily Grindhouse thought the film was enjoyable, though not inventive; he wrote, "The Nest is neither the first nor the best horror film about killer cockroaches, and it doesn't rank with the likes of the final segment of Creepshow or Jeannot Szwarc's Bug in terms of 'ew' factor, but it's still an enjoyable little flick even if it doesn't do much to forward the genre.