"Marabunta" is a rather interesting killer creature film.
**SPOILERS**
Traveling to Alaska to do some fishing, Dr. Jim Conrad (Eric Lutes) and his friend begin finding all sorts of odd events. First, a private lake is drained of fish, then a moose is found stripped of skin, and then a human is found in the same condition. Sheriff Croy (Mitch Pileggi) is called over to investigate, and Jim and Bob stay to help out. While staying there, Jim strikes up a friendship with a local teacher, Laura, (Julia Campbell) and he also makes a startling discovery. He finds out that an army of ants is behind the local deaths. The ants attack first, causing Sheriff Croy to get the townspeople out of the area so they can together deal with the ants. With the town cleared, Jim and Laura go around the edges of town to find their home, and are attacked by the ants. Getting away in the nearby lake, Jim and Laura are able to report on the sheer size of the ants in the colony. Devising a last ditch plan, Croy and Jim are able to stop the ants from spreading to other towns.
The Good News: This isn't a normal killer creature flick in that the killer creature is a horde of regular ants. There isn't any radioactively changed monster running amok, there isn't any space monster ripping people apart, and no genetically altered prehistoric dinosaur hunting people down. What makes the film work is that the monster is one that can be seen in everyone's backyard and that paranoia is put to maximum effect. The ant horde is pretty monstrous, and what is said about their off-screen kills is about as impressive as what happens on screen. We hear about a moose that two hunters identified as being tagged and then found two hours later completely stripped of skin. We see and also hear about a man skinned alive by the ants, so this has a bit more violence than most films of the type. It was also nice to see that the film put them in danger far more often than normal in these films. That also allows for more action than normal, and more action allows for the slow parts in the film to not standout as much as they should. To their credit, the film isn't slow for long parts. Most of the scenes are either explanations of the attacks or hunting down the threat. The ants are also identified a lot earlier than most similar films, and that eliminates the needless scientific studies to find the killer when the audience knows what it is from the first frame. The plan to kill the ants is also a pretty clever one that hasn't been used to too many films to stop an enemy in one of these films and I thought it was pretty effective.
The Bad News: The film has many different scenes of the ants, but they are so obviously CGI that the distraction is so obvious, even three year-old will be able to tell the difference. They do behave like real ants, but their look isn't that real. What ever happened to the realistic CGI that is used in so many big movies that are made? CGI was supposed to make things look realistic that can't be captured in the real world, yet why are there so many different films where the CGI is so fake it becomes more distracting than the fake-ness of what is going on on-screen. This is a prime example of that.
The Final Verdict: Obviously the ants are very poorly realized, but this is a pretty action packed story with more gore than you would expect. It is quite hard to find, but if you can, this is a good rental or at least a viewing on the Sci-Fi Channel, where it does pop up occasionally.
Rated R: Graphic Violence, some Language, and a scene of children in danger.
**SPOILERS**
Traveling to Alaska to do some fishing, Dr. Jim Conrad (Eric Lutes) and his friend begin finding all sorts of odd events. First, a private lake is drained of fish, then a moose is found stripped of skin, and then a human is found in the same condition. Sheriff Croy (Mitch Pileggi) is called over to investigate, and Jim and Bob stay to help out. While staying there, Jim strikes up a friendship with a local teacher, Laura, (Julia Campbell) and he also makes a startling discovery. He finds out that an army of ants is behind the local deaths. The ants attack first, causing Sheriff Croy to get the townspeople out of the area so they can together deal with the ants. With the town cleared, Jim and Laura go around the edges of town to find their home, and are attacked by the ants. Getting away in the nearby lake, Jim and Laura are able to report on the sheer size of the ants in the colony. Devising a last ditch plan, Croy and Jim are able to stop the ants from spreading to other towns.
The Good News: This isn't a normal killer creature flick in that the killer creature is a horde of regular ants. There isn't any radioactively changed monster running amok, there isn't any space monster ripping people apart, and no genetically altered prehistoric dinosaur hunting people down. What makes the film work is that the monster is one that can be seen in everyone's backyard and that paranoia is put to maximum effect. The ant horde is pretty monstrous, and what is said about their off-screen kills is about as impressive as what happens on screen. We hear about a moose that two hunters identified as being tagged and then found two hours later completely stripped of skin. We see and also hear about a man skinned alive by the ants, so this has a bit more violence than most films of the type. It was also nice to see that the film put them in danger far more often than normal in these films. That also allows for more action than normal, and more action allows for the slow parts in the film to not standout as much as they should. To their credit, the film isn't slow for long parts. Most of the scenes are either explanations of the attacks or hunting down the threat. The ants are also identified a lot earlier than most similar films, and that eliminates the needless scientific studies to find the killer when the audience knows what it is from the first frame. The plan to kill the ants is also a pretty clever one that hasn't been used to too many films to stop an enemy in one of these films and I thought it was pretty effective.
The Bad News: The film has many different scenes of the ants, but they are so obviously CGI that the distraction is so obvious, even three year-old will be able to tell the difference. They do behave like real ants, but their look isn't that real. What ever happened to the realistic CGI that is used in so many big movies that are made? CGI was supposed to make things look realistic that can't be captured in the real world, yet why are there so many different films where the CGI is so fake it becomes more distracting than the fake-ness of what is going on on-screen. This is a prime example of that.
The Final Verdict: Obviously the ants are very poorly realized, but this is a pretty action packed story with more gore than you would expect. It is quite hard to find, but if you can, this is a good rental or at least a viewing on the Sci-Fi Channel, where it does pop up occasionally.
Rated R: Graphic Violence, some Language, and a scene of children in danger.