dsgraham212002 Campiness may be defined according to the Cambridge Online Dictionary as follows: "Of (​behavior, ​appearance, or an ​activity) ​amusing because it is ​obviously ​intended to be ​strange or ​shocking and ​seems to be ridiculing itself." This describes "Empire of the Ants" to a tee.The actors in this horrid offering out of many horrid offerings from producer and director, Bert I. Gordon aka "Mr. Big", are so serious in this thing. The special effects are so awfully-fake and ridiculous, you laugh even as the puppet ants are literally chewing up the cast and there's not even much blood! The women's screams will make you want to shout, "Shut up and die already!". Robert Pine's character is such a loathsome and cowardly lothario that you can't wait to see how he will meet his maker. You probably won't care one iota if ANY of them survive their ordeal, I assure you.Oh, the poor actors in this schlock-fest! Of course, in all of the scenes with the phony 'projected' ants, they could not see them until post-production when they were inserted, so to speak. I'm sure they were all sorry for being involved and probably fired a few agents, despite whatever they were paid. Another example of 'What was I thinking about when I agreed to star in this turkey?'. Another example was the even-more-awful "The Giant Claw" from 1957. The special effects have to be seen to be believed and the acting so deadly-serious. The combination is pure campy entertainment, just like this piece of cinematic dung. Check both of these out, and you'll see what I mean!

punishmentpark Many a monster flick, like oldies 'Tarantula' (1955) and 'Creature from the black lagoon' (1954) by Jack Arnold or the more recent 'Gwoemul' (2006, aka 'The host') by Joon-Ho Bong, can be overly charming when considering its special effects and creatures, but 'Empire of the ants' is an absolute low point in the genre.I was prepared to take Joan Collins into the bargain, but in this case it is mere insult to injury. And the rest of the cast are just as bad. When I think of a film like 'Blood feast' (one that quickly comes to mind when thinking of poor acting), that movie still achieves a certain amount of low budget, amateur charm, but here boredom strikes without mercy.Then there's a lot of shaking about with the camera, which is very likely intended to disguise the fake and failed look of the big ant monsters. And there's lots more of that nincompoopery here, degrading the film to the utter low regions of, ahem, 'cinema'.The plot twist half way through the film is pretty interesting still, but it also diminishes the first part of the story; why would the ants kill so many humans if their goal to get the humans to work for them?1 out of 10, of course.

classicsoncall 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!

Michael_Elliott Empire of the Ants (1977)** (out of 4) Mr. Big delivers another "big bug movie" with this one dealing with ants. Joan Collins plays a real estate con woman who takes a group of people to the future sight of a "great" beach front property. What they don't know is that a company has been pouring toxic waste in the ocean and unfortunately for them one barrel has found its way on shore and cute little ants have gotten into it. Soon these little creatures are now huge and eating humans. EMPIRE OF THE ANTS got the green light, I'm sure, because Gordon's previous film THE FOOD OF THE GODS turned out to be a decent hit. You really could have called this thing THE FOOD OF THE GODS PART II because they're quite similar but then again both are quite similar to the type of "big" movies Gordon was making in the previous two decades. There's certainly nothing new or original here but if you enjoy Gordon's films then I really see no reason why you won't enjoy this one. As you'd expect, the special effects are quite laughable with Gordon using the same technique in 1977 that he was much earlier in his career. Often times it seems as if the ants are walking in thin air and at other times you can obviously see the rear projection. Most films would be dead in the water with such bad effects but I think it adds some charm because of how serious Gordon treats them. Most directors would know these effects are bad and try to downplay them or hide them but not Gordon. He shows these bad effects with his head held high and it at least gives the viewer some entertainment. Collins and the rest of the cast do what they can with the material they're given but the humans certainly aren't the high point of the film. I think the film would have benefited from being at least ten-minutes shorter as things really start to drag during the final act.