Based very loosely on the short story "Empire of the Ants" by H. G. Wells, the film involves a group of prospective land buyers led by a land developer, pitted against giant, mutated ants.This was one of Bert Gordon's final films, and from a technical standpoint it is among his best. The production value looks much higher than his earlier work, and the star power of the cast is evident. The ants, while still relying on a few cheap effects, are overall pretty effective -- though why must they be screeching the entire time? But really, what makes this only a "good" film rather than a "really good" film is the length. This is clearly a 60 or 70-minute film stretched out to 90 minutes, and that allows for the ultimate sin to creep in: boredom.

Twenty years after over-sized mutant killer ants went on the rampage in classic 1957 creature feature Them!, Bert I. Gordon, an old hand at giant monster movies, gave the enormous insects another chance at world domination with Empire of the Ants, a schlocky big bug eco-horror apparently based on a short story by H.G. Wells.Joan Collins stars as scam artist Marilyn Fryser, who convinces a bunch of potential investors to accompany her on a boat trip to view her latest project, a coastal real estate development in the Everglades. After a few drinks, a couple of sandwiches, and a tram ride around the site (Marilyn sure knows how to spoil her guests), the group find themselves under attack from giant ants that have been exposed to leaky barrels of radioactive waste dumped in the sea by unscrupulous industrialists.Empire of the Ants is supremely silly stuff, especially when it is revealed that the insects are controlling the humans (via hypnotic ant farts!) and intend to take over the planet. Sadly it is also a surprisingly leaden affair, with uninspired direction, dire performances, and any potential tension or excitement hindered by weak special effects: most of the giant ant action is created by superimposing photographically enlarged insects over footage of the actors or through the use soft edged mattes to combine imagery, none of which is very convincing. Full-sized models of giant ants are occasionally used during close-up attack scenes, but Gordon ensures that the camera is wobbling frenetically to prevent the viewer from getting a good look at his shonky creatures.

Oh my, where to begin. You'd think with the passing of almost two decades since 1959's "Them", special effects technology would have made a dramatic improvement in presenting giant insects on the big screen. After all, "Star Wars" came out in 1977 too. Alas, not to be.After all this time this is the first Joan Collins movie I've ever seen and it was a kick watching her try to peddle worthless swamp land to a group of unsuspecting potential buyers. Now I know where the Kardashian look originated, just get a good eyeful of Collins' makeup and hair and you can see how that whole style evolved into the present century. But this wasn't a glam picture, when Collins' character Marilyn Fryser states that the properties at Dreamland Shores are offered on a first come, first serve basis, you had to know that that's exactly what the giant mutant ants were thinking.The movie is a treasure trove of continuity gaffes and editing mistakes that make an already dumb picture even dumber. For example, right after the downpour, all the folks on the real estate tour caught in the rain are miraculously dry again. Then after the march through the swamp, alternating scenes have Marilyn's white skirt going from soiled to completely clean to dirty again. Even better than that though, during the battle with the ants at the sugar refinery, Joan Collins' character is shown outside with the others who have escaped and then she's back in the glass chamber with the queen ant again! After a while it begins to look like this was all done on purpose, and maybe it was - who knows? You know, I couldn't help thinking that this movie could have been a whole lot better, even if nothing else was changed but to make it in glorious black and white. Then it might have ranked right up there with some of the other great mutant flicks of the late Fifties - "Them", "The Killer Shrews", "The Giant Gila Monster" and the granddaddy of them all - "Godzilla".But then, on second thought - Nah!

Joan Collins is running a real estate scam in the Florida Everglades. She takes some potential investors to an island to look it over and they are all attacked by giant ants. Another laughable B movie from Bert I. Gordon. This is the third in AIP's H.G. Wells trilogy, after Food of the Gods and The Island of Dr. Moreau. Just like with most of Gordon's '50s B movies, the special effects here are very poor. The giant ants are represented by photographically enlarging the footage of real ants, as if that would fool anybody. One ridiculously ineffective scene has Robert Lansing and John David Carson on a boat swinging oars at some of the ants on a nearby shore. They are clearly swinging at nothing with the ants added later. For some scenes that require the actors to physically touch the ants, they use mock-ups of large ants that are so unrealistic the camera swings about wildly to keep the audience from focusing on them too long. It's all very cheap and no-budget but there is some quaint charm to it, I suppose.The cast takes it all seriously, as if this was going to be their Jaws. There's even some Jaws rip-off music. Joan Collins' theatrics are always worth watching. Robert Lansing does his best to rise above the material. Sexy Pamela Shoop goes braless through the whole movie. That may sound like a pretty weak contribution but one takes what one can get when watching a movie like this. The rest of the cast is made up of people you might recognize but likely won't remember their names. It's all very cheesy and tacky but also very watchable. I was never bored with it. But I am someone who can enjoy a good cheap B horror flick. Some of you might have less patience for those types of films. If nothing else, there is some nice Everglades scenery and all the footage of ants you could ever want to see. If either of those things appeals to you, this is your movie.