Horrorfest 2011: Them!

Nuclear bomb tests in the deserts of New Mexico give spawn to mutated giant ants in THEM!, the first giant bug movie in a decade known for giant bugs movies, the 1950s. It even predates GODZILLA as one of the first of the nuclear age of monsters.

First, I was confused. The movie opened against a black and white desert back drop and I thought, "Oh, that's weird, I figured based on the poster that the movie would be in color." Then, the title appeared on the screen IN COLOR. So I thought, maybe the movie is in color. But, then the rest of the movie was in black and white. Okay. . .

After that little bit of confusion, I was pleasantly surprised. See, I thought I was in store for some magnified footage of real ants super imposed in phony process shots with the actors, but I was glad to find that most of the monster work was done with full size puppets. Of course the special effects aren't that special compared to what can be accomplished today, but they at least put the monsters and the people physically in the same locations and don't look any more fake than they have to.

The movie gets off to a compelling and suspenseful start as a dazed little girl (Sandy Descher) is found wandering the desert and a cop (James Whitmore) investigates some mysterious killings in the area. Soon the FBI gets involved, sending a square jawed agent (James Arness) out to partner up with the cop. A father and daughter team of entomologists (Edmund Gwenn and Joan Weldon, respectively) are also flown in to follow up on giant unidentified foot prints found in the desert sand.

Unfortunately, this team of giant ant slayers is pretty bland and they're all about as one dimensional as you can get. The mystery and wow factor of the giant ant story takes center stage here and the audience is left with little else to latch onto. Almost every character, aside from a couple scared locals, are officials just doing their job -- there isn't anything personal at stake here. Well, I mean, I guess there is, given the fact that the ants left unchecked will exterminate the human race, but there's nothing to make us care about our heroes. The only one with any personality is the scientist played by Gwenn, a character actor probably known best for playing Kris Kringle in MIRACLE ON 34th STREET, who is able to infuse some eccentricities and comic relief into an otherwise thankless role.

Still, at first, the ant plot was enough to keep me engaged until about halfway through the film when the action and momentum seemed to slow from a good clip to a crawl as the first anthill is vanquished and our characters spend several scenes attempting to track down a few escaped queen ants who might be building nests elsewhere in the area. Things pick up again just in time for a pretty good finale as the ants attempt to build a new home under Los Angeles, using the L.A. River as part of their new system of tunnels.

I couldn't help but think of James Cameron's ALIENS as our human heroes wandered the dark tunnels, blasting ants and their eggs with flame throwers. I also thought about my own battles with the ants who have dared enter my apartment over the years and how vinegar seems to be a surprisingly potent weapon against them. But, why bother with vinegar when you've got bazookas, flame throwers, machine guns and grenades?

Like I mentioned before, THEM! is the first of its kind, as horror moved from its gothic roots in the first half of the 20th century into the realm of science fiction, replacing the horrors of superstition and folk tales with the paranoia of rapidly developing modern technology. Since this is the forefront of this kind of movie, it was a major production with a healthy budget that became Warner's big hit for the year, so it's not as hokey or cheesy as other movies that came later in the same genre.

As far as giant bug movies go, THEM! is about as good as can be expected, and about as credible as can be expected, and is pretty fun, effortless entertainment for the first half. But then it loses a little bit of its magic, none of the characters step up to bring anything to the table, and the finale comes a little later than I'd like.

But, the movie gets extra points for having an exclamation point in the title. That's moxie, folks.