Review of Empire Of The Ants

Introduction

When the disc arrived I thought this was going to be a tacky horror movie. After watching it, I can safely say it is a tacky horror movie. But with a twist...

The plot is your basic horror trash: toxic waste has caused some ants to grow into not just beasts but the predators of a group of American tourists on an island. Cue lots of running, screaming and general disruption to the tour group led by the money-making Joan Collins.

From the word go there is real acting, real character development, and a fairly good script considering the subject material. The movie is directed intelligently, and the action set-pieces are OK, considering this was made back in `77.

Video

The movie arrives (surprisingly) in a Widescreen Letterbox 1.85:1 transfer, with a good palette and no compression signs. The print has the odd flaw, but on the whole it is a good transfer.

The visual effects are poor, with the ants` animation not creating fear but instead laughs, as is the norm with this kind of flick.

The locations are quite good however, but when the movie`s `horror` sequences kick in, high-pitch screaming (from human and insect parties) and dodgy visuals join in. Fear inducing filmaking indeed...

Audio

A DD 2.0 track is on offer. The dialogue is crisp and clear, and the action scenes don`t exactly need surround sound, as they are chaotic and well, untidy.

Since this is a 70s movie, a DD 2.0 track does the job well, and since it is a high quality track at that, it passes the test nicely.

Features

None. Oh, apart from the truly amazing, drumroll please...chapter listings. Wahey. And of course lovely static menus. Things just get better and better...

Conclusion

85 minutes of sheer escapism. It offers some good entertainment, and it actually has more substance than you might think.

Disc wise, fairly shallow although when you don`t count the total absence of extras it is a well-rounded package.

Worth renting, but only true fans of the movie will go the whole hog and purchase it (unless you scavenge bargan bins...).