The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah...
A desert keg party turns out to be a huge bust by the sudden arrival of some unwelcome guests: giant ants the size of large horses who have their own party in mind, and no humans allowed, unless they are hor dourves. At first, the vapid youngsters don't warrant much sympathy for the idiotic things they say, but after getting to know them a bit, I couldn't help bit begin to root for them slightly. Actors they are not, but they have a way of making the already dumb lines sound even more moronic, and it takes talent to make that work. The desert set is cool, with caves that house these giant picnic spoilers, and even though the young leading characters are stupid enough to venture into the caves (finding baby larvae), the scene gets laughs rather than groans.
The only actor I recognized is 80's soap hunk Mark Arnold as the scientist who realizes too late that the experiment didn't work. He's the only one outside of the nuclear increased insects with the ability to use his brain sensibly, so it's a good thing a few of the partiers run into him, even though it's sadly a brief encounter. The script allows the ants to have sardonic senses of humor, and when subtitles for them pop up out of the blue, the film completely changes gears. Some of the comedy works, but moreso, a good deal of it doesn't, rather juvenile. But like any sudden disaster, it's hard to take your eyes off of it, and that makes it silly but watchable fun, a throwback to 50's drive ins where teens and monsters collide.
A desert keg party turns out to be a huge bust by the sudden arrival of some unwelcome guests: giant ants the size of large horses who have their own party in mind, and no humans allowed, unless they are hor dourves. At first, the vapid youngsters don't warrant much sympathy for the idiotic things they say, but after getting to know them a bit, I couldn't help bit begin to root for them slightly. Actors they are not, but they have a way of making the already dumb lines sound even more moronic, and it takes talent to make that work. The desert set is cool, with caves that house these giant picnic spoilers, and even though the young leading characters are stupid enough to venture into the caves (finding baby larvae), the scene gets laughs rather than groans.
The only actor I recognized is 80's soap hunk Mark Arnold as the scientist who realizes too late that the experiment didn't work. He's the only one outside of the nuclear increased insects with the ability to use his brain sensibly, so it's a good thing a few of the partiers run into him, even though it's sadly a brief encounter. The script allows the ants to have sardonic senses of humor, and when subtitles for them pop up out of the blue, the film completely changes gears. Some of the comedy works, but moreso, a good deal of it doesn't, rather juvenile. But like any sudden disaster, it's hard to take your eyes off of it, and that makes it silly but watchable fun, a throwback to 50's drive ins where teens and monsters collide.