King of the Ants tells the tale of a young guy named Sean Crawley (Chris McKenna) who does whatever he can to earn a living where he lives in California, he meets a guy named Duke Wayne (co-producer George Wendt) who introduces Sean to his crooked property developer boss Ray Mathews (Daniel Baldwin) who hires him to follow a TV news reporter named Eric Gatley (Ron Livingston). At first Sean is told to just follow him & see what he does, however Ray then offers Sean money to kill Eric which Sean agrees to. Sean does the dirty deed but then has trouble getting his money from Ray, very quickly things turn nasty as lots of pain is handed out & lots of blood spilt...
Co-produced & directed by Stuart Gordon who is well known amongst horror fans for various impressive gore filled splatter efforts including Re-Animator (1985), From Beyond (1986) & Dolls (1987) King of the Ants is a different kind of film from Gordon & one that I actually rather liked. The script by Charlie Higson based on his own novel takes itself extremely seriously & is a crime drama more than anything else & quite a brutal one at times. The thing which makes King of the Ants so effective are the character's & the sharp dialogue of the sort Quentin Tarantino made so popular in Pulp Fiction (1994), the little story Ray tells Sean just before he ask's him to kill Eric is one good example. All of the character's are well fleshed out & Sean is a suitably likable underdog to root for while Ray & his men are nasty enough villains. The film & narrative flows along at nice pace, the story unfolds in an engaging way that keeps you watching & just about enough is kept back for it not to be too predictable. I liked it, it's as simple & straight forward as that really.
Director Gordon goes for the hand-held approach, it's a little shaky to give it that gritty documentary style but he never overdoes it & the on screen action is always clear & concise. There are one or two violent moments including Sean being hit with golf clubs in a series of scenes which have a really unpleasant tone & atmosphere about them & Gordon does a great job during these scenes.
The budget probably wasn't that high but it looks good & is very well made for what it is. The acting is very good & George Wendt is just plain funny & fantastic to watch.
King of the Ants is actually a bizarre title that does have some relevance but not much & I don't think that the odd sounding title does it any favours but I liked it & I'm sure those who are looking for something a bit different will too, definitely worth a watch in my opinion.
Co-produced & directed by Stuart Gordon who is well known amongst horror fans for various impressive gore filled splatter efforts including Re-Animator (1985), From Beyond (1986) & Dolls (1987) King of the Ants is a different kind of film from Gordon & one that I actually rather liked. The script by Charlie Higson based on his own novel takes itself extremely seriously & is a crime drama more than anything else & quite a brutal one at times. The thing which makes King of the Ants so effective are the character's & the sharp dialogue of the sort Quentin Tarantino made so popular in Pulp Fiction (1994), the little story Ray tells Sean just before he ask's him to kill Eric is one good example. All of the character's are well fleshed out & Sean is a suitably likable underdog to root for while Ray & his men are nasty enough villains. The film & narrative flows along at nice pace, the story unfolds in an engaging way that keeps you watching & just about enough is kept back for it not to be too predictable. I liked it, it's as simple & straight forward as that really.
Director Gordon goes for the hand-held approach, it's a little shaky to give it that gritty documentary style but he never overdoes it & the on screen action is always clear & concise. There are one or two violent moments including Sean being hit with golf clubs in a series of scenes which have a really unpleasant tone & atmosphere about them & Gordon does a great job during these scenes.
The budget probably wasn't that high but it looks good & is very well made for what it is. The acting is very good & George Wendt is just plain funny & fantastic to watch.
King of the Ants is actually a bizarre title that does have some relevance but not much & I don't think that the odd sounding title does it any favours but I liked it & I'm sure those who are looking for something a bit different will too, definitely worth a watch in my opinion.