Ants (TV 1977)
"It Happened at Lakewood Manor" (original title)

An old-fashioned, lakeside hotel targeted for purchase by an unsavory gambling casino promoter and situated next to a construction site, is attacked by an army of poisonous ants. Efforts to... See full summary »

Director:

Robert Scheerer

Writer:

Guerdon Trueblood

Stars:

Robert Foxworth, Lynda Day George, Gerald Gordon

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert Foxworth	...	Mike Carr
Lynda Day George	...	Valerie Adams
Gerald Gordon	...	Tony Fleming
Bernie Casey	...	Vince
Barry Van Dyke	...	Richard Cyril
Karen Lamm	...	Linda Howard
Myrna Loy	...	Ethel - Special Appearance
Anita Gillette	...	Peggy Kenter
Steve Franken	...	White
Brian Dennehy	...	Fire Chief
Suzanne Somers	...	Gloria
Bruce French	...	Tom
Barbara Brownell	...	Marjorie
Stacy Keach Sr.	...	Doc (as Stacey Keach Sr.)
René Enríquez	...	Luis (as Rene Enriquez)

Storyline

An old-fashioned, lakeside hotel targeted for purchase by an unsavory gambling casino promoter and situated next to a construction site, is attacked by an army of poisonous ants. Efforts to contain the ants and rescue those trapped in the hotel are hampered by the progress of the creepy crawlers upward from floor to floor.

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Plot Keywords:

ant | hotel | insect | vacation | investigation | 

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Taglines:

The Picnic Is Ruined.

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 December 1977 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ants

Filming Locations:

Qualicum Beach, British Columbia, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Alan Landsburg Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min 88 min (video)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in Ban the Sadist Videos! (2005)

User Reviews

Those Just Aren't Ants in Her Pants

Even for a tired movie model as the nature vs. man cycle that prevailed so predominantly in the 1970s, ants falls miserably short of being even somewhat effective(though entertaining for reasons it was not intending). It is sooooo preposterous. Apparently these ants that are bulldozed near an inn have been eating poisonous waste for decades and have now adapted by emitting poisonous bites - hundreds of these bites being fatal. Watching actors of some notoriety clumsily fall amidst tiny black specks is painfully funny in a not-so-good-but very-bad way. So many scenes just look ludicrous: a boy trying to fall in a dumpster whilst being attacked, Suzanne Sommers crying out in horror while lounging in bed, Robert Foxworth and Lynda George breathing through pieces of wallpaper, Bernie Casey faking a gam leg, and the list goes on and on. The peril shown ranges from ants crawling from a drain to black lines of ants all over the walls. The cast for the film is not bad on paper, but none of these actors seem to believe in the material. Poor Myrna Loy has to sit in a wheelchair through this horror. I hope she found a good use for the money, for it is obvious that was the ONLY reason a woman of her pedigree would be in this nonsense. Although it is quite a bad film, it is watchable - once for me, and does have many of those seventies bad film qualities - start-studded actors embarrassing themselves, that made-for-TV feel, and the dreaded creatures of nature reeking vengeance on man. This time man must push his hand into a pile of ants to be affected. Really quite dreadful.