Search - King of the Ants on DVD

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Jeffrey Leach | Omaha, NE USA | 07/11/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I came into Stuart Gordon's "King of the Ants" expecting some weird blend of science fiction and horror. Just look at the title. Doesn't that scream sci-fi/horror? Considering Gordon's other features almost always reside deep in the well of blood soaked cinema, one could safely assume this picture would cover familiar ground. Here's a guy who has made films like "Re-Animator," "Castle Freak," a remake of "The Pit and the Pendulum," the H.P. Lovecraft adaptations "Dagon" and "From Beyond," and the Christopher Lambert sci-fi vehicle "Fortress." I think it's safe to assume "King of the Ants" should fall within these parameters, right? Boy, was I wrong! The title "King of the Ants" couldn't be more misleading in describing the themes this movie actually covers. There is no king, as far as I can tell. There are no ants, although they would be quite difficult to see unless they were mutant ants that stood fifty feet tall. Instead, Gordon gives us a film adapted from a book by Charlie Higson, a film that deals with a bad deal gone wrong and the subsequent bloody revenge wreaked upon the principals by an unassuming housepainter who was literally in the wrong place at the wrong time. Well, at least Gordon's penchant for blood soaked cinema remains firm with this project.



Sean Crawley (Chris McKenna) is your average young guy just trying to get by as a housepainter when opportunity comes knocking one day in the form of the portly Duke (George Wendt). The two men strike up a friendly rapport while working on a house, and Duke promptly invites his new friend to meet a most important individual. This person is a powerful construction contractor named Ray Mathews (Daniel Baldwin), a beefy thug with a love of golf and a hatred for a certain accountant down at city hall called Eric Gatley (Ron Livingstone). Mathews offers our boy Sean a specific sum of money if he'll simply follow Gatley around town and report back on his movements. It seems that Ray's involved in several shady schemes, schemes meaning kickbacks on projects, and Eric is nosing around in the hope of saving the city some money by sending Mathews to the slammer. Crawley, always on the lookout for a few extra bucks, sees no harm in tailing a suburbanite. He heads over to Gatley's home to start his mission, and can't help but notice that the accountant has an incredibly gorgeous wife. Sean spends some time doing the job and reports back to Mathews.



Then something ominous happens. Ray and Sean have a heart to heart while Mathews liberally gulps firewater. The contractor seems to indicate that something "bad" should happen to Eric Gatley, and that if something "bad" happens, a big payoff might be in the cards for whoever carries out the dirty deed. At least this is how Crawley interprets the conversation. The next day he follows Gatley home and murders the guy in a particularly brutal, bloody manner. Then he turns up seeking payment from Mathews, but Ray expresses anger at what happened. He claims that the authorities are all over him because they think he had Gatley bumped off. Not only does he refuse to hand over the cash, he tells Crawley to get lost. Sean's not the sort of chap to take no for an answer, and his persistent efforts to get what's owed him results in a kidnapping and a series of extraordinarily brutal tortures inflicted upon him by Mathews, Duke, and a few other stooges. Much to their everlasting detriment, Ray and company fail to kill their former flunky. Sean escapes and, with the help of the most unlikeliest of allies, returns to full health with the goal of seeking revenge on his tormentors. The end.



I left a bunch of particulars out in order not to spoil the film, but "King of the Ants" is really as simple as the above summary. Wronged man seeks revenge. That's it in a nutshell. In the hands of the capable Stuart Gordon, however, the movie manages to entertain thanks to a number of exploitative factors. First is the presence of Kari Wuhrer, the brunette B movie actress who plays Eric Gatley's wife Susan here. Through the most unusual of circumstances, she ends up offering help to her husband's murderer. Her role also requires her to do some acrobatics in her birthday suit that this viewer greatly appreciated. Second, Gordon doesn't shy away from violence. We've got a golf club repeatedly hitting a head, pools of blood, a refrigerator used as a murder weapon, and a gory showdown that results in all sorts of ghastly indecencies. "King of the Ants" contains more than enough bloodshed to satiate the avid gorehound. Third, and finally, Gordon isn't above throwing in a few scenes of weirdness just to keep the audience off balance. Check out that hallucination Crawley experiences during his kidnapping. What the heck was that thing all about? Who knows, but it was entertaining and appropriately kooky.



"King of the Ants" is sort of in a category all by itself. It doesn't really fit into the field of horror, and it's not entirely at home in the standard revenge flick genre, either. If you like horror and you like revenge shoot 'em ups, however, you'll probably enjoy Gordon's movie. I know I did; I would definitely watch this one again. As for the DVD version of the film, extras abound. We get a trailer, a commentary track with Gordon, Wendt, and McKenna, and a lengthy behind the scenes feature containing interviews with many of the principal players. This short documentary is interesting in a number of ways, such as learning that it was George Wendt who played a big role in bringing this movie to fruition. Give "King of the Ants" a go if you get a chance. It's worth watching.

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