- Directed by Bert I. Gordon
- Written by H.G. Wells, Jack Turley, Bert I. Gordon
- Stars Joan Collins, Robert Lansing, John David Carson, Albert Salmi
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 29 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFW64QdLvFU
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
It’s a monster movie with ants the size of people, which is decent and at least unsettling, if not downright scary. Then, about 2/3 of the way through, there’s a major plot shift that we thought brings down the whole thing to just about silly.
Synopsis
We get narration telling us that ants may be the next dominant life form on our planet. We’re told about ant civilization and intelligence. He talks about a mind-bending substance that forces obedience called “pheromones.” Credits roll.
“Danger Radioactive Waste” is marked all over the steel drums that the ship dumps into the ocean. Naturally, some of the leaky barrels wash up on the beach in Florida.
Charlie, a man in the most 1970s suit ever, carries a box to a boat in the marina. He works for Marilyn, who sells beachfront real estate. Dan Stokely is the boat’s pilot, and he takes the group around for a boat tour of the properties. He’s surly, and she’s bitchy. We watch as various potential clients get out of their cars and board the boat. It looks like most of the “clients” are just here for the free boat ride with the promise of being wooed with food and drink.
Meanwhile, at the Dreamland Shores housing development project, two workers complain about how remote these new houses are. We see that barrel on the beach, and there are ants crawling around in the stuff. The passengers talk, scheme, and gossip; it’s like a bad episode of the “Love Boat.”
Larry is here to pick up girls, and he nearly assaults one of them. We see that something is watching from the bushes and making a high-pitched noise. Margaret talks to Dan about her future plans and wants the inside scoop on his opinion of his shady boss’s deals. He’s grumpy and doesn’t want to talk. He eventually says he’d never have anything to do with the land around here, and she volunteers to sew his shirts.
They all get onto a little bus and go on a tour of the bare lots. Something with many eyes is watching them from afar. There are signs “Future Tennis Courts,” “Future Pool Area,” and “Future Golf Course.” There’s nothing really here but little flags.
Thomas Lawson is a skeptic, and he pulls up the fake water pipes that aren’t attached to anything. This whole project is a fraud! Suddenly, he and his wife are surrounded by ants. GIANT ants! Mary runs through the woods as her husband is eaten. She’s soon caught and devoured as well.
The people on the tour hear the noise that the ants make, but they keep on going, even knowing that they left two people behind. Then they find one of the workers we saw earlier, and he’s been eaten. They all see it.
Joe and Coreen decide to walk back to find the Lawsons, but the rest drive on in the bus. The two soon spot some giant ants and run away screaming. Back on the docks, Dan, Marilyn, and everyone else sees the ants attacking their boat. Dan hacks at one on the boat with his ax, but his helper dies, setting the boat on fire in the process. Dan gets away, but the boat is destroyed.
Night falls, and everyone sits around a campfire in shock and denial. The old couple, the Thompsons, admits that they just came for the boat ride. Charlie tries to be friendly with Christine, but she’s in shock.
Dan and Marilyn argue about who’s in charge, and most people follow Dan. Marilyn orders Charlie to stay in the beach house with her, but everyone else leaves. There’s an ant inside, so they can’t stay there. Soon, everyone is fleeing through the woods, and most of them split up into pairs.
Larry’s wife falls down, and he’s too cowardly to help her up, so she’s killed as he runs away. Marilyn watches as Charlie is killed. The old couple hides in a shed and gets left behind. The six survivors eventually make it to a big rowboat, and Dan takes over.
They row down a river and hear ants all around them. They all whine about the situation as Dan rows. This goes on for a long time, and the ants are everywhere; it’s just a matter of time until they attack. The boat soon encounters a blockage in the river, and the ants attack there. Dan and Joe row furiously, and they all get away.
There’s a tree hanging overhead, and one of the ants jumps on Larry. Something happens to the boat, and everyone soon ends up in the water for some reason. Now, the five remaining people have to walk through the jungle.
Dan comes to the conclusion that the ants are herding them somewhere, like cattle. They all eventually come to a farmhouse, and the old farmer inside has his wife call the sheriff, who soon arrives. The farmer’s wife warns Coreen, “Whatever you do, don’t let them take you to the sugar refinery.”
The sheriff picks up the five people in his car and drives them toward town. They drive right past the sugar refinery. We see that the ants are watching.
Mr. Parker is the town mayor and owner of the motel and sugar refinery. He already knows where they’ve been. The sheriff leaves to go look for ants, and the survivors take rooms at the motel. Dan and Joe take a walk, and they hear a familiar sound– No, it’s a kid on a Big Wheel. The woman at the car rental place won’t let anyone rent one because they’ve all lost their IDs on the boat. The pay phones are all out for some sketchy reason. Dan sees the sheriff in town, not out looking for the ants. Something is very wrong in this town, and they all know it.
Dan hot-wires a car, and everyone goes with him. They soon come to a police roadblock, and the police shoot at them. The cops knock out Dan. Joe and Coreen run into a cornfield. Marilyn and Margaret can’t get away from the police and are taken to the sugar refinery.
At the refinery, we see people being delivered in cages. A whistle sounds, and the ants arrive, going inside to eat the sugar. The workers at the plant back off, and the ants don’t bother them. The sheriff insists that “There’s nothing to fear. We must obey. She makes us do it. At first, people don’t understand.” Then, the queen ant sprays the townspeople, one at a time, with pheromones, which lets the ants control them. The sheriff says that the townspeople have to be sprayed once a week.
Joe and Coreen run into ants in the cornfield. They’re captured and taken to the refinery with the others. They force Marilyn into the booth with the queen, and she gets the ant-gas. She then calms down and is on the ants’ side of things. “Don’t you see? We mustn’t disobey them, and we must help them.”
Dan goes in next, but he pulls out a road flare and injures the queen ant. The ants in the refinery get upset and turn on the human workers. Dan breaks out of the booth, and there’s a mass stampede.
Joe notices a big gas truck marked “flammable” and runs to it. He opens the valves and releases the fuel everywhere. The sheriff’s mind control starts to crack, and he shoots the queen, who falls on top of Marilyn. Joe drives the gas truck into the building and jumps out just before it explodes.
Dan, Margaret, Coreen make it to a boat on the river, and Joe runs up behind them, barely catching up. They boat off down the river with a seemingly unending jungle ahead of them…
Commentary
The first half hour is the usual getting-to-know-the-character
stuff, but it’s really melodramatic and cliched. The acting is fine, but all the characters are all “types” and are less than compelling. Still, the ants are always out there, and you can always hear them, and it leads to a good bit of suspense as the group rows toward an uncertain future.
Many of the ant shots are real ants crawling on miniatures; they look pretty good. When the ants attack someone close up, it’s not so realistic.
Films like this used to be shown on network TV all the time, and it’s fun to revisit them without all the bloody bits cut out. That said, there’s not much gore here, just people covered in blood as the ants bite them.
It was doing well until the group got to town. The mind-controlled townspeople are silly and stretch the imagination a little too far. You had me at giant ants; the mind-slave thing killed the goodwill that the first two-thirds built up.
It’s half of a good film with an atrocious ending.