Sometimes nature just needs to flex and when an old hotel is being renovated, unusually aggressive and poisonous ants make themselves known to some very unfortunate souls. The picture takes place at an old hotel that may or may not be for sale, the ants eventually find everyone who resides within including Myrna Loy who plays the owner, Ethel, as well as Robert Foxworth, Lynda Day George, Suzanne Somers and Brian Dennehy. While some do manage to escape the rampaging insects, not all of them can do so and there is but one fate that awaits them unless they can find a way to stay one step ahead.

Insects have been featured in motion pictures many times over, and more often than not as some sort of dangerous, mutated monster that has grown to epic proportions. In this particular film, sometimes called Ants and sometimes It Happened at Lakewood Manor, the insects do not find themselves rampaging all over the countryside, eating men and women while smashing buildings and such. Instead, they remain as they were born though looking to get rid of those that have disturbed them and while most think ants harmless insects, they can be ferocious indeed. Here, a hotel is renovating, and the ants and their nest are disturbed. They decide to take matters into their own hands and start hunting down the construction workers who dared to invade their privacy and later on, those who reside in the old mansion. It is slightly comical to see as they can only move so fast, but they are inevitable and nobody ever sees them coming until it is too late. Eventually, once enough people have lost their lives, those who are left start to pay attention and plans are made to get rid of the pests, if at all possible. Whether intentional or not, some of it elicits a bit of mirth in the viewer but the horror of what eventually happens does outweigh anything one might consider funny.

Director Robert Scheerer manages to pace the picture well enough to build some palpable tension until that final climactic, predictable moment that everybody knows is coming. There is no real blood to be had, no gore or even real fright unless one is truly afraid of ants yet Scheerer manages to inject a bit of fear into the proceedings as this is all something that could happen in the real world. It does seem a little fantastical, but nothing is ever out of the realm of possibility. Helping this all along are the performances of those who star in the film who would quite appropriately freak out when the little villains of the movie show up to exact their vengeance. Somers has one of the more memorable deaths, though to be fair, anyone who dies by ant will have a scene one remembers.

Made for television audiences in 1977, Ants would have had a little more impact during its premiere than in this modern age of desensitized people. That is not to say it does not remain a good movie, for it is and it entertains fully from beginning to end but some may not have the patience for a slow burn such as this one, especially with the lack of action or visceral horror. For a real fan of the genre, be it horror or science-fiction, the latter of which having shown up expecting something along the lines of THEM!, this film is a decent time-killer and worth at least one viewing.

3 out of 5