“This is the ant. Treat it with respect, for it may very well be the next dominant life form of our planet.”

ZombieDog’s rating: It’s the humans’ turn to get squished.

ZombieDog’s review: Nostalgia doesn’t really drive my love of movies, although remembering the experience of first watching it is a key motivator. It might sound like there isn’t a difference, but there is. I still have that same feeling of discovering new movies and being absorbed into another world as I did when I was young. Triple-A movies are amazing, however the movies that affected me both when I was a kid and now as an adult usually are, let’s say, less-than-budget-heavy.

One of the first B-movies that I watched and experienced as a B-movie was Empire of the Ants. I can actually still remember it to this day because nobody was home and I completely got pulled into the movie. Even then I recognized what it was and enjoyed it for all of its “B” goodness.

The movie is loosely based on 1905 H. G. Wells’ short story of the same name. I think they were looking to get H. G. Wells’ name in the title crawl. The movie version takes place in Florida and involves a group of caricatures going on a prospective real estate tour. We have the ambitious real estate woman (Joan Collins), the philandering man (Robert Pine, CHiPs), the bickering couple, the lonely divorcee, the seasoned yet ambivalent boat captain, and the retired couple.

Don’t even bother learning their names. It doesn’t add to the enjoyment of the movie and the ants start picking them off pretty quickly.

Before the people get to the island, the ants feast on a barrel of radioactive waste that has washed up on the beach. This must be fast-acting radioactive waste, too, because it seems like virtually no time passes before the ants become huge. They also know almost instantly that the humans are on the island, which we know because periodically we see everything from the ants’ point of view. It’s a cheesy effect, kind of like looking through a sheet of perforated metal, but it does let us know that the ants are sizing them up.

The ants themselves are a combination of rear projection and full-sized puppets which, while not great, are fun to watch. The truly wonderful thing about this movie is that it feels like a throwback to the 1950s monster movies. There’s a good reason for that, as the director is Bert I Gordon. If there were such a thing as a B-movie masters, he would certainly be among them.

It’s important to take note that this movie was released in 1977, the same year as Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, with Alien following two years later. My point is these movies boasted state-of-the-art F/X while Empire of the Ants shopped for its looks at a garage sale. To be fair, it works for the film and does feel like a homage to the original films that started the genre. What’s more, while looking back it’s clear that we were looking at the end of an era. The ’80s were right around the corner, and while monster movies would certainly never die, that ’70s look and feel soon would be abandoned.

This movie was filmed primarily on the east coast of Florida, with Bert putting his actors through hell. There was little if any attempt to guarantee their safety while filming in the Everglades and several of them suffered injuries that resulted in trips to the hospital.

“I gritted my teeth and made Ants,” Collins later wrote. “It certainly wasn’t art — but in how many other jobs can you make $35,000 for six weeks’ work? It was good money, which we badly needed.”

That’s really why I think this movie is worth your time: They were a bunch of people out in the swamp getting it done for our entertainment.

Our characters do eventually get out of the swamp and face off against these smarter-than-average ants. The movie is vague in regards to this, as it doesn’t really explain how becoming larger grants the ants intelligence. Even in those 1950s movies, the creatures basically just got bigger, not smarter. “Big” was the threat.

This was probably just a singular element that was taken from Wells’ work, the existential threat of an intelligence that’s equal to or greater than humans. Several of Wells’ works dealt with human hubris, we are not as smart as we think we are, we’re not as important as we think we are, and above all, the universe is a hostile place that couldn’t care less about us.

Last time I watched this movie was a little over a decade ago, and I wanted to rewatch it so it would be fresh in my mind for my review. The thing that really stuck with me is how well it holds up. It almost feels timeless to a certain degree. The movie isn’t dependent on technology, so we don’t really get a sense of when is taking place. Nothing really screams this movie is old. As I said earlier, this movie doesn’t trigger my nostalgia so much as reminding me of my love of B-movies.

So is Empire of the Ants a good movie? Absolutely! It’s giant ants running around tearing people apart. It’s a 1950s monster movie made in the 70s. It’s a director making actors slosh around in the swamp for our delight. Above all, it’s a fun movie to share with friends.