Empire of the Ants (1977)

Director:

Bert I. Gordon

Writers:

Bert I. Gordon (screen story)
Jack Turley (writer)

Release Date:

July 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Horror

Tagline:

For they shall inherit the earth... sooner than you think!

Plot:

Sleazy scam artist Joan Collins tries to sell phony real estate deals down in the Florida everglades...

Plot Keywords:

Ant | Florida | Florida Everglades | Beautiful Woman | Ant Attack

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Joan Collins	...	Marilyn Fryser
Robert Lansing	...	Dan Stokely
John David Carson	...	Joe Morrison
Albert Salmi	...	Sheriff Art Kincade
Jacqueline Scott	...	Margaret Ellis
Pamela Susan Shoop	...	Coreen Bradford (as Pamela Shoop)
Robert Pine	...	Larry Graham
Edward Power	...	Charlie Pearson
Brooke Palance	...	Christine Graham
Tom Fadden	...	Sam Russell
Irene Tedrow	...	Velma Thompson
Harry Holcombe	...	Harry Thompson
Jack Kosslyn	...	Thomas Lawson
Ilse Earl	...	Mary Lawson
Janie Gavin	...	Ginny, the car rental agent

Also Known As:

H.G. Wells' Empire of the Ants (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Ryder Sound Services)

Certification:

Iceland:16 | USA:Not Rated (DVD) | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Norway:15 (video premiere) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:PG (Certificate #24828)

Filming Locations:

Belle Glade, Florida, USA

Company:

Cinema 77

Trivia:

Inspiration for the phrase, "I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords," where insect is usually replaced or substituted in an ironic sense. Though no character in "Empire of the Ants" says this line, "The Simpsons" (1989) character of newscaster Kent Brockman says it in the episode "Deep Space Homer" and is alluding to the theme of the film.

Goofs:

Continuity: Before the Captain jumps in the ocean to try and save the boat, he takes off his shoes. After he burns the boat, he jumps in the water and you can clearly see his shoes.

Movie Connections:

Featured in It's Tough to Be a Bug (1998)

This ant movie should be stepped on!

Whoe! I am a man who isn't quick to point out the bad in something, but this movie is horrid! Horrible, I mean downright horrible special effects and real putrid acting plus the many things that would not possibly ever happen in real life or even imaginary make this one of, if not, the worst movie I have ever seen in my entire life! I stayed up late one night, bored out of my mind, searching the channels and found this movie. Now I like older and even corny movies to a point, but this movie was so bad, that even after the point where the ants attack and figured it would start to get interesting, it was killing me - and I was not even in the movie! I FORCED myself to watch this movie to not only see how much I could stand since I was bored anyway, but to see it entirely so I can be totally correct when I say it is the worst movie to ever see. The part that really, really irked me was when this older couple, knowing darn well that there where killer ants everywhere eating everything in sight, decided while running away from the ants (while the other characters were trying to find a boat and go down the river to escape the ants) they were going to take a different route and go DEEPER in the woods - how idiotic was that! I even said to myself "I wonder how they would escape since the old couple could barely walk much less run even though they always kept within seeing distance of the others". I figured the director would kill them off because it was slowing down an already slow pace to the movie - but not like that! They did not even show the ants eat them! The actors probably died before that scene since they were so old! The sounds of the ants sounded like children screaming and when they showed a close up of the ants grabbing some of the people, it looked more fake than the guy who wore the rubber suit for "Godzilla"! Man, this one was bad! I would only recommend showing this movie to future directors to show what NOT to do in making a movie! Ridiculous!