Dead Ant

I feel they knew what they had and they ran with it. Over the top and manic. The heavy metal band, Sonic Grave, with Tom Arnold as their manager, is on the way to a music festival, Nochella. He couldn't get them into the other bigger festival. On the way, they stop and get some peyote, and are warned by the Indians who sell it to them not to harm a single creature, or bad things will happen. Of course, they fail to take heed of the warning. One member dies, but as Tom Arnold said "we've been through worse. It's not the first band member we lost. He is only the bass player." Because every ant they kill results in even bigger ants coming for them, until they get really big. It's played for laughs. It is played for silliness, and played for humor and all of them seem in on the gag. There is a lot to like, even if it is very corny. The special effect are terrible, but then who cares.

DEAD ANT has certainly a bad reputation. It has 4,8 and mostly negative reviews and apart from Sean Astin, Tom Arnold and Jake Busey the other cast members are all unknowns. Why I saw it then if you could think I could have searched something better? Well, I am certainly an omniscient half-God capable of swallowing everything, so I am not certainly scared of a movie about ferocious ants. So is DEAD ANT that bad? Not really. Now I am not saying that it's a terrible movie, and I have certainly seen something worse. Read the following text.

The one-hit wonder band Sonic Grave wants to do a tour because they had success in 1989 and they are in hope of a comeback. They are on their truck but after a tire breaks, trouble begins because nearby someone threw steroids on an ant colony making them huger and stronger. Art (Astin) is chasen by some of these ants and attack him chopping off all his limbs, and Samantha is devoured by the ants when she tries to step on one of their holes. So Danny (Arnold) and the other band members have no other choice that stop the killer ants on their way to Coachella, and will succedd not without some injuries and disasters.

Giant mutant ants that become blood-thirsty of human flesh... a great concept that could be loved at least by folks with dark sense of humour like me, right? Well, I was hoping it was at least good but the too many gory scenes and especially the loudness and abrasiveness of nearly all the characters really turned me off. If the performances were at least a bit more subtle and the special effects not that gory, I probably would have given a higher score.

Overall, a bad movie that I would recommend only to folks who have nothing important to do at home (or nothing better to watch) or for fans of the leads like me. Could have been great, but thanks to a bad direction, it's what it is.

Dead And offers an interesting premise but unfortunately falls short of its potential. The movie centers around a group of survivors in a post-apocalyptic world facing the threat of the undead. While the setup promises tension and excitement, the execution feels uneven.

One of the film's main strengths is its atmosphere. The desolate landscapes and eerie quiet of the world the characters inhabit are effective in creating a sense of dread. The makeup and effects for the undead are also well done, adding some needed visual flair. The cast does their best with the material, and there are a few stand-out performances that manage to elevate some scenes.

However, the plot lacks cohesion, often drifting between disconnected set pieces without a strong narrative thread. The pacing drags at times, making it difficult to stay fully invested. The characters themselves feel underdeveloped, with motivations that remain unclear, making it hard to care deeply about their fates.

While Dead And isn't a total misfire, it feels like a missed opportunity. There are moments of genuine tension and creativity, but they're overshadowed by a disjointed story and lackluster character development. For fans of the genre, it may still be worth a watch, but it's unlikely to leave a lasting impression.

This horror comedy spoof has its moments with some laughs and chuckles along the way. But, to me, the positives were not consistent enough to rate any higher.

There's a good cast here, as the nearing has-been status metal band Sonic Grave and their manager (Tom Arnold) are traveling to Coachella---oops! make that the Nochella Festival (as they couldn't get booked into the big one). Stopping to buy some hallucinatory peyote from a local Native American with the hopes of creating some new songs, they're warned to not even slightly desecrate the land or living things in the area or there will be terrible consequences for them. Well, I don't have to tell you that soon they'll be battling and running from giant killer ants as the consequences.

All in all, this film, written and directed by Ron Carlson, offers some eroticism from young lithesome bodies, some gruesome horror scenes, and, as mentioned, some shock value laughs but I would say the 5.0 rating on this site is about right.

I can understand the reviewers that thought it was horrible. Those reviewers are looking for something of higher quality, a serious movie with a suspenseful plot and with great special effects. Those things are all absent in Dead Ant. It's all just a bit of fun and mockery for the horror genre. It's a cheap horror/comedy with some mildly gore moments. The special effects are lousy but it just adds the right ambiance to this movie, nothing taken too serious. But it was entertaining, or at least to me it was but that's maybe because of the wacky tabacky, something I would recommend to have some nice good laughs with stupid humor like in this movie. The acting wasn't bad, it was supposed to be funny and that's exactly what it was.