This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

When a ship containing radioactive barrels are dumped into the ocean, trouble begins. The barrels wash ashore, and start to leak. The next day a group of tourists arrive to take a tour to see a new land development. Little do they know that this tour is nothing but a rip-off. The land developer is Marilyn Fryser(Joan Collins). She is nothing more than a snake in the grass. She is nothing but a money grabbing sleaze. The land is nothing but empty promises, filled with fake construction work. Once the group arrives they take a tour of the Island. When couple starts to look around, they are attacked by these huge ants. The group wonder where they could have wondered off to, but nobody knows. So, everyone starts to look around for them. That's when people notice these huge ants, and in order to survive they have to get off the Island. Some soon become prey, while others are able to escape. They find the local sheriff and tell him what is going on. Unknown to the others, he is aware of the problem. When the survivors get to the sugar refinery, they realize what all the secrecy is about. I am surprised by the low rating this movie got. I thought it was kind of cool, but I'm a sucker for movies about radiated bugs. This movie also stars Robert Pine( Chips) and Pamela Shoop( Halloween 2).

Joan Collins shows true grit facing down giant radioactive ants in this muddy monster-fest directed, co-written and co-produced by Bert I. Gordon. An island hideaway turns into the ultimate hell for vacationers after ants have grown to enormous proportions, terrorizing the tourists and sending Collins and crew on the run. Despite good photographic effects by cinematographer Reginald Morris--not to mention a touch of class provided by Joan herself--the results are pretty ridiculous. Based on an H.G. Wells story, the film's third act laughably tries sneaking in sort of an "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"-type plot twist--and one is nearly inclined to give the picture some extra points for its moxie. It isn't art, but then it doesn't strive to be anything other than a dopey entertainment. As for Collins, she performs with conviction; hopefully she cashed a paycheck somewhat larger than the ants. * from ****

Campiness may be defined according to the Cambridge Online Dictionary as follows: "Of (​behavior, ​appearance, or an ​activity) ​amusing because it is ​obviously ​intended to be ​strange or ​shocking and ​seems to be ridiculing itself." This describes "Empire of the Ants" to a tee.The actors in this horrid offering out of many horrid offerings from producer and director, Bert I. Gordon aka "Mr. Big", are so serious in this thing. The special effects are so awfully-fake and ridiculous, you laugh even as the puppet ants are literally chewing up the cast and there's not even much blood! The women's screams will make you want to shout, "Shut up and die already!". Robert Pine's character is such a loathsome and cowardly lothario that you can't wait to see how he will meet his maker. You probably won't care one iota if ANY of them survive their ordeal, I assure you.Oh, the poor actors in this schlock-fest! Of course, in all of the scenes with the phony 'projected' ants, they could not see them until post-production when they were inserted, so to speak. I'm sure they were all sorry for being involved and probably fired a few agents, despite whatever they were paid. Another example of 'What was I thinking about when I agreed to star in this turkey?'. Another example was the even-more-awful "The Giant Claw" from 1957. The special effects have to be seen to be believed and the acting so deadly-serious. The combination is pure campy entertainment, just like this piece of cinematic dung. Check both of these out, and you'll see what I mean!

Bert I. Gordon, who specialized in Sci-Fi exploitation film in the '50's, returns to the genre to direct this adaptation of the H.G. Welles story about giant mutated ants who infest an island in the Florida Everglades that a scam real estate artist(played by a profoundly embarrassed looking Joan Collins) is trying to sell to an unfortunate group of buyers. Even after the survivors escape to a nearby town, they find that it too is part of their empire...You would think that 23 years after the classic film "Them!", improvements to ant F/X would have taken place, but not here, in this utterly inept, shoddily produced and directed farrago, that is, if anything, unintentionally funny, yet still violent. Robert Lansing in particular looks grumpy, and Joan Collins famously trashed this stupid film, which was a weekday afternoon favorite for years!