Rating: 2/5
Cult Movie Challenge 2017 | 24/52 | SyFy Studio
The sky lights up as two glowing entities crash into the foggy Thai highlands. A woman’s baby gives an unusual cry. She comes over to its crib to see it covered in ants. She looks up to see the ceiling covered with thousands of ants. They drop to the floor in swarms, chasing the woman as she runs outside with her baby. The swarm reaches her ankle, bringing her down and sending her baby sliding across the floor. Ants swim up her legs and cover her body, eating her down to the bone. They migrate to the baby, give it a once-over, and eat it.
The ant swarm takes over Thailand, killing as it goes. Dr. Claire Dubois, a world-leading hymenopterist, comes on the breaking news segment to explain why ants attack people. She describes their intelligence and self-sacrificing tendencies. Thorax Industries CEO Horace Lennart, AKA Len, comes on to counter Dr. Dubois, saying that ants are just big balls of instinct. The reporter hints that the two have a past. Sure enough, Horace calls Dr. Dubois to invite her out for her expertise after the interview.
Okay, folks, let's liquify some, uh, indoskeletons.
The Thorax team packs their gear and prepares to take on the invading ants. But the ant swarm is much larger than they could have imagined. So, Thorax pulls out their sci-fi weapons and vaporize these fuckers. Things seem to be going well, but the comms between them and the base are in and out. Len and Bill turn around and see a floating, snake-like entity made entirely of ants. Rather than kill it, they follow it, losing total connection with comms. Oops! It was a trap set by ants! So, an ant trap? Thankfully, the sci-fi guns only hurt ants, not humans, so Len can blow them away when millions pour on them. But he misses one that climbs into Bill’s ear and brain. It seems as though the ant has taken control of Bill.
What are these unusual ants? How are they flying around? Why?
The film moves quickly, letting ideas develop quickly. The filmmakers made this movie for Sci-Fi, so they knew that the audience was going to be impatient with creature feature troupes. But it’s also made for TV, so they know people are only going to pay attention half-heartedly. So, things also get explained out loud to the folks looking at their phones at the time.
I do not understand why the filmmakers are trying to obscure that they filmed this in Thailand. They say it’s a Southeast Asian country but call it an “island.” I don’t know why it annoys me so much, but color me annoyed!
The result isn’t necessarily bad. The CGI is goofy, the acting is whatever, and the set pieces are pretty interesting. Tom Wopat compellingly depicts a guy getting his brain eaten by an ant. Elizabeth Healey is having a rough time with her American accent—she could be Cara Seymour’s doppelganger. The movie never pretends to aim for anything higher than middle-of-the-road. I also have to give the film some props for killing a baby, even if they do it offscreen.