Marabunta - Killerameisen greifen an

A large number of killer fire ants have awaken and start to consume people and animals in a remote area of Alaska. So it's up to a small group of people to figure out how they can stop these dangerous predators before they reach a major town.

Yep, that pretty much sums up this dour TV feature. It's bad. Again, did I tell you that it was bad!? I recorded this thinking that it might be cheesy fun, but really, there's no fun to be had. Gee, I should have gone fishing instead. True, it's a nature vs. man story, which that genre flooded the 50's, but for recent times this one is utterly boring and hardly enjoyable. Even a bad film made back then on this topic, at least it was unintentionally humorous, though sadly it isn't the case with this one. The opening sequence proves it! Most of the time I was thinking how did that happen or you got to be kidding me. This is because there is SO many things that lacked consistency and how many coincidences can you get, plenty! These one- dimensional characters are plain senseless and seem to forget too often that there are killer ants around, after battling them just a second ago and they don't seem to know ants can climb! What are terrifying are the ants themselves, the CGI effects are awfully staged and rather shoddy. That really goes for the lame explosions and patchy flamethrower too. But these ants can supposedly strip the skin off a human body within 30 minutes, although with out an ounce of blood. There's really only one drop! Just how big are they supposed to be because the rubber ones used to stick on someone when they are being attack is about twice the size of the CGI designs! They even take the lazy option of by providing a lot of deja vu moments involving scenes of the ants being used over and over again.

The plot goes for some intellectual speeches that bore you to death with its scientific mumbo jumbo. No way is this predictable hokum entertaining with its galore of clichés and mind numbing dialogue. A lot of the things you hear just make you cringe in disbelief. Please stop the bad pun! The corny acting was rather standard for this type of production, but there are some recognisable faces. Like Eric Lutes and Mitch Pileggi from X-files fame. Julia Campbell was lovely too. Just expect the usual enthusiastic performances. The acting might have been better than expected but also the cinematography was rather breathtaking in bringing the Alaska's wilderness on the screen. The backdrop was elegant. Too bad the direction and pacing was shamelessly lethargic and handled in a flat manner and plenty of the sequences show it. The telegraphed score is terribly worked in, but not as bad as the use of the stunt doubles (, the white water raft sequence where they decide suddenly to wear hats for the occasion). But like everything does in these shamble TV features, all the things work out in the nick of time… yeah right!

"Marabunta" is nothing but sour grapes. At least a hinted sequel won't see daylight, well I hope so.

"…flush them back to South America…" You tell 'em!

Let's face it, in a made-for-TV movie like LEGION OF FIRE: KILLER ANTS! (aka: MARABUNTA), it's all about the ants. The humans are either those who seek to stop the onslaught, or the hapless victims of the tiny horde.

First off, the CGI ants are so poorly realized -even by late 1990's standards- that it's difficult to watch them, let alone take them seriously. Weren't there some real ones crawling around somewhere? Even a few live ants scattered here and there throughout the movie would have been better than these pitiful cartoons!

The humans aren't much better. Poor Mitch Peleggi. How did he wind up in this wretched nonsense?

SOME UNINTENTIONAL HUMOR TO HELP DULL THE PAIN: #1- The couple that decides it would be a nifty idea to get pictures of each other standing on an anthill the size of Devil's Tower! #2- The cartoon ants carrying away cartoon body parts! #3- The sheriff, standing atop his car, fending off the CGI bugs with a fire extinguisher! #4- While one of the heroes drives his truck over rough terrain, the two in the back of the vehicle bounce around in ways that would easily cause massive head trauma and grievous bodily injury! Miraculously, they're unscathed!

This is the sort of omni-schlock that makes ordinary schlock bow its head as it passes by...

If you read or have read many of my other reviews you will find I love bad films. A few days ago I was looking for a tape to record on. I pop a tape in and what do I find? A tape of Legion of Fire: Killer Ants! A lucky(?) find!

I just finished watching it. Man is it bad. The entomologist is an idiot. Anyone who knows insects should know that ants cannot swim. They need a twig/log/ground or some sort of bridge to cross a body of water. Our "hero" seems to forget this when they are on the bank of a river being attacked by ants. Hello? I'm overweight and even I could outrun these poor CGI ants.

Another problem I found was with the kid. Not him personally. Poor "Chad" has his name screwed up several times. He is called Scott, Jake, and maybe one or two other names in this film in addition to Chad. I found myself laughing my butt of at each of these goofs. Once it happens twice in one scene each time was a different name.

You do not want to see this. The acting is bad all around. The effects are incredibly bad.

0/10!!

Since it was nothing else on, and it stared Mitch Pileggi. I decided to watch this movie.

What a bummer! This movie had more cheesy dialogue and crap effects then some of the early B-Monster movies from the 50's. This turkey was made in1998!

If it was meant deliberately to be a parody I could accept these facts, but it was not! Why the hell did Mitch Pileggi take this role? He's a good actor and should be doing better things then this.

I'm usually fond of accidentally funny horror/monster movies, but this movie just annoyed me.

A swarm of ants from South America decide to over run Alaska.

Cheesy and silly from start to end. Poor animation on the ants, to begin with. Sometimes you see some actual footage of about three or four real ants: scary. Attacks are the most contrived sequences you'll ever witness. One dummy climbs into a giant ant hill. Another guy fires a pistol at the ant hill. Some other clod tries to attack them with a tractor. Still another dimwit fires a rifle at the swarm as they try to surround her. Nobody ever seems to think of running away; the ants move at about 1/1000th the speed of a human.

One guy is in a truck driving in circles while fire bombs go off on either side of the truck, no matter where he is at any given moment. But I love the "Let's blow up the dam" sequence best. There's no reasonable explanation for why this would help, or any assurance that it would work. They just decide to blow up the dam. A helicopter picks up a guy after an 2-second earthquake knocks him off his feet, and he rolls down a hill to land atop some dynamite he just lit. And on it goes.

Good for a laugh at how stupid it all is.