A made for TV addition to the "Nature Strikes Back" genre that was prevalent at the time, this shows its audience a pretty good time. Lakewood Manor is a lodge in Arizona (although the production actually filmed in Canada) that ends up under siege by a never-ending onslaught of ants that have become toxic and can kill people provided they bite their victims enough times. Robert Foxworth is the grim-faced, take-charge Mike Carr, a construction worker and the hero of the piece; Lynda Day George is his appealing leading lady, and screen legend Myrna Loy plays Lyndas' wheelchair-bound mom.
A number of familiar faces get trotted out, disaster-movie style, for this well-directed tale that delivers a reasonable amount of thrills. While ants may not be among the most off-putting members of the insect world, to see so many of them mobilized here, and to see human beings covered with scores of them will ensure nail-biting tension for the more squeamish people in the audience.
The characters are largely standard-issue, but fairly engaging just the same. We also get stock individuals like the stubborn dummy (Steve Franken) who doesn't believe Mike about the killer ants theory, and the worthless jerk (Gerald Gordon) who will be out to save his own skin when the going gets rough. That said, there is a very first-rate cast at work here, although Ms. Loy gets precious little to do after a while. Also turning up are Bernie Casey, Barry Van Dyke, Karen Lamm, Anita Gillette, Brian Dennehy, Suzanne Somers, Stacy Keach Sr., and Rene Enriquez.
In a way that hearkens back to sci-fi monster movies of the 1950s, the filmmakers (Robert Scheerer directs from a script by Guerdon Trueblood) take the time to educate us as well as entertain us, with some facts shared regarding the nature of ants.
Well done overall, with a particularly effective finale.
Seven out of 10.
A number of familiar faces get trotted out, disaster-movie style, for this well-directed tale that delivers a reasonable amount of thrills. While ants may not be among the most off-putting members of the insect world, to see so many of them mobilized here, and to see human beings covered with scores of them will ensure nail-biting tension for the more squeamish people in the audience.
The characters are largely standard-issue, but fairly engaging just the same. We also get stock individuals like the stubborn dummy (Steve Franken) who doesn't believe Mike about the killer ants theory, and the worthless jerk (Gerald Gordon) who will be out to save his own skin when the going gets rough. That said, there is a very first-rate cast at work here, although Ms. Loy gets precious little to do after a while. Also turning up are Bernie Casey, Barry Van Dyke, Karen Lamm, Anita Gillette, Brian Dennehy, Suzanne Somers, Stacy Keach Sr., and Rene Enriquez.
In a way that hearkens back to sci-fi monster movies of the 1950s, the filmmakers (Robert Scheerer directs from a script by Guerdon Trueblood) take the time to educate us as well as entertain us, with some facts shared regarding the nature of ants.
Well done overall, with a particularly effective finale.
Seven out of 10.