Empire of the Ants (1977)

Good concept, poorly executed.

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

An absolute waste of money

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Based very loosely on the short story "Empire of the Ants" by H. G. Wells, the film involves a group of prospective land buyers led by a land developer, pitted against giant, mutated ants.This was one of Bert Gordon's final films, and from a technical standpoint it is among his best. The production value looks much higher than his earlier work, and the star power of the cast is evident. The ants, while still relying on a few cheap effects, are overall pretty effective -- though why must they be screeching the entire time? But really, what makes this only a "good" film rather than a "really good" film is the length. This is clearly a 60 or 70-minute film stretched out to 90 minutes, and that allows for the ultimate sin to creep in: boredom.

Bert I. Gordon is one of the leading purveyors of quality "bad" entertainment and - other than his dodgy and unpredictable '80s offerings, which ranged from time travel stories to softcore pornography - you can always guarantee that you're going to get some laughable back-projected menace fighting mankind somewhere in all of his movies. EMPIRE OF THE ANTS is no exception, a middling '70s-style "nature revolts" shocker in which ants grow huge and menace mankind, not by radiation as the '50s would have it, but instead by toxic pollution. Quite why what looks like a barrel of mercury would cause ants to mutate is beyond me but hey, who's watching for the storyline anyway? The predictable, action-orientated narrative is merely an excuse to get a B-movie bunch of expendables trapped in an isolated location and picked off one by one by the menacing insects.The cast is an amusing one, presided over by daytime TV queen Joan Collins in one of her last no-budget exploitation quickies before going on to better (or worse, in the trash fan's opinion) things. Collins is playing a greedy and ruthless developer with a cold heart, and her fate is always sealed. The rest of the party consist of a creepy would-be rapist who runs away after watching a friend die in need (no prizes for guessing what's in store for HIM), an elderly couple who take refuge in an outhouse (!) only to emerge and find the place literally swarming with mutant bug life - a hilarious moment here - a young couple with good looks and the grizzled, earring-sporting salty sea dog whose own boat explodes in a sudden and surprising display of pyrotechnical ineptitude.The ants themselves are rather disappointing, especially considering that the same piece of stock footage is used over and over again for the poorly-done back projected scenes, which look even worse in colour than Bert's cheapie black-and-white movies of the '50s. The moments in close-up with the model heads are also cringe-worthy and a few splashes of blood here and there don't provide much of a gore content. The film quickly becomes predictable and inane, with our characters running from one situation to the next and doing so many stupid, clichéd things, like running off on their own to provide the next human snack, that the whole affair is best treated as a comedy rather than a would-be serious horror film. But perhaps Bert had his tongue in cheek all along? It's difficult to say, but as a so-bad-it's-good film viewing experience this takes some beating.The film claims to be based on an original story by H. G. Wells. Having not read the original tale in question I can't say how closely it sticks to the story, but my obvious guess is that it doesn't, not by a long shot. In fact the only time it looks to break from the man-vs-nature fight/flight is during the silly climax, in which it transpires that the queen ant is attempting to control mankind with a laughable conspiracy-style angle to the proceedings. The low budget is always evident throughout, no matter how much Gordon will go to try and disguise it, yet the director's enthusiasm for his movie makes it enjoyable, if tacky, viewing - much like the rest of his offerings.

Joan Collins is running a real estate scam in the Florida Everglades. She takes some potential investors to an island to look it over and they are all attacked by giant ants. Another laughable B movie from Bert I. Gordon. This is the third in AIP's H.G. Wells trilogy, after Food of the Gods and The Island of Dr. Moreau. Just like with most of Gordon's '50s B movies, the special effects here are very poor. The giant ants are represented by photographically enlarging the footage of real ants, as if that would fool anybody. One ridiculously ineffective scene has Robert Lansing and John David Carson on a boat swinging oars at some of the ants on a nearby shore. They are clearly swinging at nothing with the ants added later. For some scenes that require the actors to physically touch the ants, they use mock-ups of large ants that are so unrealistic the camera swings about wildly to keep the audience from focusing on them too long. It's all very cheap and no-budget but there is some quaint charm to it, I suppose.The cast takes it all seriously, as if this was going to be their Jaws. There's even some Jaws rip-off music. Joan Collins' theatrics are always worth watching. Robert Lansing does his best to rise above the material. Sexy Pamela Shoop goes braless through the whole movie. That may sound like a pretty weak contribution but one takes what one can get when watching a movie like this. The rest of the cast is made up of people you might recognize but likely won't remember their names. It's all very cheesy and tacky but also very watchable. I was never bored with it. But I am someone who can enjoy a good cheap B horror flick. Some of you might have less patience for those types of films. If nothing else, there is some nice Everglades scenery and all the footage of ants you could ever want to see. If either of those things appeals to you, this is your movie.

Empire of the Ants (1977)** (out of 4) Mr. Big delivers another "big bug movie" with this one dealing with ants. Joan Collins plays a real estate con woman who takes a group of people to the future sight of a "great" beach front property. What they don't know is that a company has been pouring toxic waste in the ocean and unfortunately for them one barrel has found its way on shore and cute little ants have gotten into it. Soon these little creatures are now huge and eating humans. EMPIRE OF THE ANTS got the green light, I'm sure, because Gordon's previous film THE FOOD OF THE GODS turned out to be a decent hit. You really could have called this thing THE FOOD OF THE GODS PART II because they're quite similar but then again both are quite similar to the type of "big" movies Gordon was making in the previous two decades. There's certainly nothing new or original here but if you enjoy Gordon's films then I really see no reason why you won't enjoy this one. As you'd expect, the special effects are quite laughable with Gordon using the same technique in 1977 that he was much earlier in his career. Often times it seems as if the ants are walking in thin air and at other times you can obviously see the rear projection. Most films would be dead in the water with such bad effects but I think it adds some charm because of how serious Gordon treats them. Most directors would know these effects are bad and try to downplay them or hide them but not Gordon. He shows these bad effects with his head held high and it at least gives the viewer some entertainment. Collins and the rest of the cast do what they can with the material they're given but the humans certainly aren't the high point of the film. I think the film would have benefited from being at least ten-minutes shorter as things really start to drag during the final act.