Director: Zach Passero
Year: 2026
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Animated Horror
Plot:
Heading out into the desert, a kid and his friends, going along with his older brother and girlfriend, manage to stumble into a strange cult of locals worshipping a colony of gigantic, peaceful-looking ants under the mistaken belief that they’re violent and vicious, and must try to get away alive.
Review:
Overall, this was an incredibly likable and enjoyable animated genre effort. One of the better factors with this one is the immensely strong and enjoyable setup that manages to make the group an immensely likable and wholesome group with some stellar raunchy material thrown in. The fact that they’re a bit younger than their brother and are trying to win him over into thinking they’re as cool as he is so that they can hang out with him as much as they want makes everything start up quite nicely as a starting point for their trip into the desert. The bonding experience between everyone makes this a fun group to hang out with as they pull pranks, try to sneak a peek at his girlfriend, and go through the motions of bonding, which is what makes the gradual reveal of the ants living out there come off quite strangely. This leads into a frantic race to survive as the hive-mind behavior of the ants and the constant pressure they face to get out feel all the more impactful as we’ve come together to like them rather nicely.
The change in tone from the first half into the second, where the first half is a solid bonding experience compared to the cheesy action in the second half, where it’s full of creature action, the inclusion of the cult, and the race to stop what’s going on, makes for some fun moments while feeling like the storylines are quite heavily scattershot and all over the place. This part has a lot going on with the town being full of ant worshippers who are never given much info on what they’re looking to accomplish by worshipping the ants, what started it all, and how this operates, as it’s just a series of conversations that mean more if you know what’s going on. That kind of approach isn’t all that detrimental and is more about how much fun the rest of this is, as the series of reveals about how the ants’ saliva and tenderness help enhance the rest of the storyline here gives this the kind of action and cheesy gore that works well with its animation style, making this an immensely solid genre effort.
Overview: ****.5/5
A generally stellar and enjoyable genre effort, this one manages to make for a lot to like and not too many flaws that hold it down, making everything quite strong overall. Those with an appreciation for this style or approach, who are curious about it, or who are strong fans of animated horror will have a lot to like, as only those who aren’t fans of that will want to heed caution.
Comments
Post a Comment