EMPIRE OF THE ANTS (1977)

We know that spilled sugar can often result in a small invasion of ants in one’s kitchen, which is easily repelled by a quick spray of Mortein. However, the dumping of toxic waste in the waters off a beachside development turns the local population of eusocial insects into giants, who then claim domain over nearby human inhabitants in Empire of the Ants – Available now on Blu-ray from Eureka Entertainment!

I’ve seen a good amount of “Jawsploitaion” flicks at this point, which have ranged from a possessed motor vehicle in The Car to a man-eating bear in Grizzly. While The Empire of the Ants is on the lower end of the quality spectrum, its source material penned by H.G. Wells adds a slight intellectual element to this Eco-Horror classic, which unfortunately takes a back seat to creature feature tropes. There’s a strong emphasis on the intelligent order of ants that comes from the film’s National Geographic-inspired opening, which doesn’t come into play until well into the film’s second half. Without going too much into spoiler territory, just imagine if the good people of Amity Island were working for Jaws.

What precedes the stark reality for our assorted characters is a desperate, chaotic escape through the wetlands, which would have worked better as the film’s tail end. Creature effects are simple in technique, but very low effort. Close-up attacks reminded me of that scene in Tim Burton’s Ed Wood, when Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi is instructed to frantically roll around in a puddle of water with a broken mechanical octopus to create the “illusion” that it’s attacking him. Ants are no doubt impressive creatures, but not particularly scary when scaled up to monstrous size for a visual medium such as film or TV, which is probably why the two biggest movies about them are Antz and A Bug’s Life.

Joan Collins stars as the unsympathetic lead, along with a mixed cast of familiar faces who you can’t quite name, except maybe for Robert Lansing as the film’s main hero, who I know from the cult classic Scalpel aka False Face.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Limited edition O-card slipcase featuring original poster artwork [2000 copies]
Limited edition booklet featuring new writing on Empire of the Ants and ecological horror by genre film expert Liam Hathaway [2000 copies]
New introduction to Empire of the Ants by Chris Cooke, filmmaker and co-director of Mayhem Film Festival
The B.I.G. Picture – interview with film historian Kim Newman focused on the life and career of cult filmmaker Bert I. Gordon
Audio commentary by writer, director and producer Bert I. Gordon
Audio commentary by film historian David Del Valle with film historian and filmmaker Michael Varrati
Radio spot
Original theatrical trailer

New video featurettes for this edition include an eight-minute introduction by filmmaker and Empire of the Ants enthusiast, Chris Cooke. Despite the film’s shortcomings, it’s great to hear such praise from an avid fan like Cooke, and he even gives star Joan Collins her due and shouts out some pretty interesting titles in her filmography. Eureka regular and cult film expert, Kim Newman, also provides a detailed retrospective on Bert I. Gordon’s career, specifically comparing it to his AIP contemporaries. – by Hannah Lynch

VIDEO AND AUDIO

While a little on the dark side, which will vary based on your television screen, this 1080p rendering is decent with a fair amount of digital noise from what looks to be a raw HD scan, but there’s solid texture and natural colour. Given the crude nature of some of the effects, especially on an audible level, the original and obviously limited Mono soundtrack does serve the film best. Optional English subtitles are also available.

H.G. Wells would probably be turning in his grave if he knew his prized work had become fodder for B-movies. Despite the hokey and exploitative nature, the core message that manages to poke through Empire of the Ants of respecting the natural world, in all its might, has been preserved.

EMPIRE OF THE ANTS
(1977, director: Bert I. Gordon)