KING OF THE ANTS

Directed by Stuart Gordon
Written by Charles Higson
Produced by David Michael Latt & Duffy Hecht
Music by Bobby Johnston
Cinematography by Mac Ahlberg
Cast: Chris L. McKenna, Kari Wuhrer, George Wendt, Vernon Wells, Lionel Mark Smith, Tim Sharp, Ron Livingston & Daniel Baldwin

2003/103 mins/Color/2.0 Dolby Stereo
1.78:1 anamorphic/English/US/NTSC Region 1

Review from the Velocity DVD

Sean Crawley (newcomer Chris L. McKenna) is a young man who's life doesn't really go anywhere. One day he meets "The Dukes" (George Wendt of CHEERS fame) who introduce him to entrepreneur Ray Mathews (Daniel Baldwin). Unfortunately, he soon get mixed into dirty business and ends up killing an innocent man. This is only the beginning of the end for Sean.

Is this movie really from the guy who gave us the awesome RE-ANIMATOR? Well that's whats written on the package and its a shame. What happened to Stuart Gordon's career? Beside CASTLE FREAK and DAGON, the guy hasn't done anything worth seeing since 1985. ROBOT JOX? THE WONDERFUL ICE CREAM SUIT? SPACE TRUCKERS? No thanks!

KING OF THE ANTS could have been so much more. The movie suffers from terrible acting especially from Chris L. McKenna who seriously needs to find a new job orientation. I know this was "low" budget but the film looks terrible. There is way too many badly framed shots which really annoyed me. And story wise, why did they have to show us everything onced again so that we could understand... as a viewer I found it insulting. Sorry but this isn't the brutal movie I expected it to be. The scene where Crawley kills the character of Ron Livingston is so badly staged that I almost stopped the movie right there. Where did these guys learned to act?

Velocity released this movie on DVD. The movie is presented in its original 1.78:1 aspect ratio and it is anamorphic. The image looks good but nothing spectacular that you would expect from such a recent film. The colors are nicely saturated and there is no compression or artifacts of any sort. There is two audio tracks, the original English one in 2.0 Dolby Stereo and a dubbed Spanish one also in 2.0 Dolby Stereo. The English track is crisp and clear.

We get an interesting commentary track with Gordon, McKenna and Wendt who sure sound like they had a great time making this film. There's also a featurette with interviews with the cast and crew, lots of behind-the-scenes footage and one unintentionally funny part where Gordon actually compares the movie with Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO... yeah right Stuart! We also get the trailer for the movie and other Deg Productions flicks. The disc features static menus with music, 24 chapters stop and without a booklet or inlay card.

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Review by Kim Dubuisson. All Right Reserved. 2006. ©