Review of Empire of the Ants (1977) by Nick B — 05 May 2012

Empire of the Ants is one of those films I just love even though it's not a great movie. Where the film excels is with the FX. Using some smarts, the filmmakers managed to bring about giant killer ants (and lots of them) without amasing a super huge budget and without the use of CG. These days computer generated ants would be used and the film would just feel stupid and almost as if it was made for a kids tv show.

Though the film has a pretty amazing cast (Joan Collins, Robert Lansing, Jacqueline Scott, etc) they are never used to their full potential as the dialogue doesn't quite live up to their abilities.

Of course, the whole story of giant kill ants terrorizing a bunch of lam-os attending a "purchase swampland in Florida" sales pitch is pretty weak already so when you add in the poor script and lack luster directing, Empire of the Ants isn't likely to win over much more than young kids... and those of us who are still kids at heart.