Sean Astin, Tom Arnold, Jake Busey, Leisha Hailey, and Rhys Coiro in Dead Ant (2017)

Showtime movies on demand don’t come any cheesier than Dead Ant. Under the new title of Giant Killer Ants, the cast includes Tom Arnold and Jake Busey in retro ’80s wigs. Take some ’80s hair, terrible CGI, and some aging rockers and most people would say “No thanks”. These types of over-the-top silly storylines require enough care to make them work. Titles like Zoombies (The Asylum), Killer Kites, and Cocaine Shark produce special effects that would make any discerning cinephile cry. Dead Ant is all cheese (not as much as Mad Heidi.) However, Giant Killer Ants will not make it onto my “So Bad It’s Good” list.

The story isn’t complicated. Sonic Grave, a glam-metal rock band heads to Nochella to try and remain memorable. On the way, they pick up some groupies and stop for the night to drop some acid. They sing, and they make up silly lyrics in classic glam rock style. There is blatant sexualization of any female on screen. The cast of Dead Ant looks like they had an amazing time making this. It’s just a shame that sense of fun didn’t translate into audience fun too.

Dead Ant Movie Cherry Cola Lyrics

It was a hot summers night, she was sweatin’ all over,
She went to the fridge to get some ch, ch cherry Cola,

Hey hey, girl, I wanna get to know ya!
And maybe even see your areola,
From your side boob!
Sideboob!
Little obscene.
Come on lean over!

Song from Dead Ant movie

😂

Sean Astin, Tom Arnold, Jake Busey, Leisha Hailey, and Rhys Coiro in Dead Ant (2017)
Sean Astin, Tom Arnold, Jake Busey, Leisha Hailey, and Rhys Coiro

Prior to their adventures with illicit drugs, they meet an Indian in Joshua Tree and are told they mustn’t hurt anything while they are in the desert or they will be cursed. It’s from here their adventure begins.

Funny Showtime Movies on Demand

Dead Ant is strangely mesmerizing even though I nearly turned it off several times. There are enough familiar faces and semi-funny banter that I made it halfway through before I needed a little break. I don’t have a lot of tolerance for overtly horrible computer graphics overlays onto dodgy backdrops.

I also have a low threshold for screaming and there is a lot of that here. While watching I began to wonder what their inspiration was for performing in a film like this. Are they told to think of something scary, or is there someone in the foreground egging them on? Whatever the case, Cameron Richardson did the best at genuine-scared noises.

The Giant Killer Ant movie comes complete with two scantily clad young ladies being drooled over by the band members. Cortney Palm (Zombeavers) even manages to stay in her Nochella outfit of a bikini for the entire time she is on screen.

Dead Ant Movie

Tom Arnold is the effervescent Danny, the group’s manager who sways between looking like he’s into the movie and being completely fed up. Rhys Coiro (The Walking Dead) plays Pager, and he’s the only one who manages to look like he’s actually playing a role in the film. The group together is incohesive and all look like they have different ideas of what the movie should look like.

On the upside, there are some funny conversational pieces scattered within the skinny bones of Giant Killer Ants. I did laugh a little which is more than I can say for other low-brow movies of this ilk. This inherently means those that have a penchant for horror-comedy with giant ants will probably love this to death.

Dead Ants In House

Horror and comedy films aren’t meant to be taken seriously but they do need the right balance. I did spend some time wondering, though, if a filmmaker has enough cash to spare to drop a movie like this, then why not make it something special? It was so formulaic I wondered what the point was.

Dead Ant had moments where I thought they were onto something. Alas, I will remember that they decided to only introduce the music properly at the end. Less scatty dialogue and more in-house music would have made this worth watching.

Mother of Movies score

August Heart Entertainment produced Dead Ant

Tom Arnold, Jake Busey, Leisha Hailey, and Rhys Coiro
Tom Arnold, Jake Busey, Leisha Hailey, and Rhys Coiro. #theband #deadant