Under the control of the giant ants
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Under the control of the giant ants |
| Original title | Empire of the Ants |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1977 |
| length | 89 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Bert I. Gordon |
| script | Bert I. Gordon Jack Turley |
| production | Bert I. Gordon |
| music | Dana Kaproff |
| camera | Reginald H. Morris |
| cut | Michael Luciano |
| occupation | |
| |
In the violence of the giant ants is an American animal horror film directed by Bert I. Gordon from 1977. It is loosely based on the short story The Empire of the Ants by HG Wells .
action
A ship throws tons of radioactively contaminated liquid into the sea. The tons land on the beach of an island in the Florida marshland , where they run out. Ants ingest the liquid. Real estate agent Marilyn Fryser is waiting for customers to take them to that beach by ship. She wants to sell building land to the so-called Dreamland Shores , where the Dreamland Coast holiday center is to be built. In reality, it is worthless swampy terrain. Marilyn is assisted by assistant Charlie.
The old couple Velma and Harry Thompson, the young couple Christine and Larry Graham, the young single woman Coreen Bradford, Joe Morrison, who is also traveling alone, Margaret Ellis, who after many years as secretary, and the couple Mary and Thomas Lawson go on board. The ship is steered by Dan Stokely. Once on the beach, Margaret draws Dan into conversation. He indirectly advises her against buying land. Shortly afterwards, a tour of the holiday center begins, on which Marilyn presents the various properties for sale. During a break, Thomas separates himself from the group, with his wife following him shortly afterwards. He recognizes that cables laid in the construction area are just a facade. Before he can return to the group, he is attacked by giant ants and killed. His wife dies too. The group only notices their absence after they have already left. Marilyn tells Charlie not to turn around. Shortly afterwards they see a crew member lying dead by the roadside. Joe and Christine set out to find Thomas and Mary. They see the giant ants and flee back to the group. Ants have also appeared on the beach and attacked the group's small ship. Joe lights the ship; some animals die from the fire.
The group spends the night around the campfire, which goes out the next morning in a thunderstorm. With a rowboat moored on a river bank only two miles away, the group breaks up. On the way through the forest area, Larry's wife, Charlie, Harry and Velma are killed one after the other. Marilyn, Dan, Joe, Larry, Coreen, and Margaret get to the rowboat, but cannot escape undetected. Again and again they are attacked by ants. Eventually the boat capsizes and Larry dies. The others flee until they get to a house. The residents call the sheriff, who takes the group to the next town, which is not far from a sugar refinery. The sheriff promises to take care of the giant ants with his men.
In town, Joe fails to establish a telephone connection. Dan, in turn, fails to get a rental car. Coreen is confused because the woman at the house in the forest told her not to go to the sugar refinery. The group becomes suspicious and steals a car. On her drive out of the city, she is stopped and captured by the police. Coreen and Joe initially manage to escape before the police take them too. Everyone is taken to the sugar refinery where the queen ant is staying. She regularly wraps every inhabitant of the island in pheromone dust , after which people become slaves to the ants. Marilyn, too, becomes foggy and falls prey to the ants. Dan, however, manages to keep the queen ant in check with a high-light hand torch and thus also unsettles other ants who have come to the refinery and are rolling in sugar. Dan, Margaret and Coreen flee the refinery to the water, where they board a motorboat. Meanwhile, Joe empties a tanker truck at the refinery and lights it up. He can flee from the huge explosion and leave the area with the others by motorboat.
production
The film was shot in Belle Glade and Jensen Beach , Florida under the control of the giant ants . The production design is by Charles Rosen , while Anthony C. Montenaro created the sets.
Giant Ant Violence was first shown in New York City on June 29, 1977 and was released in US theaters in July. The film was shown in cinemas in Germany from November 24, 1977. It later appeared on video under the titles Attack of the Nuclear Monsters and Killer Termites .
synchronization
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Marilyn Fryser | Joan Collins | Bettina Schön |
| Dan Stokely | Robert Lansing | Edgar Ott |
| Sheriff Art Kincade | Albert Salmi | Wolfgang Völz |
| Larry Graham | Robert Pine | Thomas Danneberg |
| Harry Thompson | Harry Holcombe | Friedrich W. Building School |
| Mary Lawson | Use Earl | Inge Wolffberg |
reception
Reviews
On the Rotten Tomatoes website , the film was able to convince around 0 percent of the critics and around 25 percent of the audience, which is considered very bad.
“A horror film that is equally boring in terms of book, staging and presentation”, stated the film service . For Cinema , the film was "[e] in a clear case for the anteater ".
Awards
The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films nominated Joan Collins for a Saturn Award for Best Actress in 1978 . On the Fantasporto 1982 the film was nominated for an International Fantasy Film Award for Best Film.
Web links
- In the hands of the giant ants in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Under the control of the giant ants. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing file , accessed on March 2, 2017 .
- ^ Empire of the Ants (1977). Accessed July 31, 2020 (English).
- ↑ Under the control of the giant ants. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ See cinema.de