Gordon Douglas's 1954 giant creature feature is without doubt a legend of the drive-in and sparked the interest of Cold War era movie goers in atomic super nasties. Eight Legged Freaks, James Cameron's Aliens and everything in between owe a debt to this black & white classic.
Plot: Two New Mexico cops on the beat become suspicious when a trailer and a general store are destroyed by the mandibles of a mysterious sugar thief (that's a "914" in police lingo folks). When the daddy/daughter bug experts of Edmund Gwenn (Miracle of 34th Street) and Joan Weldon discover the threat comes from huge radioactive ants that sound like rusty bicycles, it falls on James Whitmore (Planet of the Apes) to clear the underground network of nests with little more than a rocket launcher, flame thrower and a mighty set of eyebrows.
We do however feel the option to create an army of atomic ant-eaters and letting the two sides duke it out was an opportunity sorely missed!
Line of the film: "We may be witnesses to a Biblical prophecy come true..."
Fun Fact: Not only will hawk eyed viewers recognise James "Brooks was here" Whitmore (Shawshank Redemption), but 10 geek points go to whoever spocks, I mean-spots the appearance of a very young Leonard Nimoy.
review by Callum Stockdale.
Plot: Two New Mexico cops on the beat become suspicious when a trailer and a general store are destroyed by the mandibles of a mysterious sugar thief (that's a "914" in police lingo folks). When the daddy/daughter bug experts of Edmund Gwenn (Miracle of 34th Street) and Joan Weldon discover the threat comes from huge radioactive ants that sound like rusty bicycles, it falls on James Whitmore (Planet of the Apes) to clear the underground network of nests with little more than a rocket launcher, flame thrower and a mighty set of eyebrows.
We do however feel the option to create an army of atomic ant-eaters and letting the two sides duke it out was an opportunity sorely missed!
Line of the film: "We may be witnesses to a Biblical prophecy come true..."
Fun Fact: Not only will hawk eyed viewers recognise James "Brooks was here" Whitmore (Shawshank Redemption), but 10 geek points go to whoever spocks, I mean-spots the appearance of a very young Leonard Nimoy.
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