In Your Pants

 

 (imdb)

EMPIRE OF THE ANTS-1977-Con woman Joan Collins tries to interest a boat load of prospective suckers into buying Florida swamp land. 

Unfortunately for the party, giant ants (contaminated by radioactive waste) decided to invade and munch on the cast. The phony insects superimposed on the screen is a riot. They're too big. “Oh my God, they're herding us like cattle!” says one disgruntled character. Robert Lansing holds things together as the grizzled boat captain (with an earring). John David Carson (THE SAVAGE IS LOOSE) helps out. Brooke (daughter of Jack) Palance gets killed. When Albert Salmi (also in THE COMING for the same director) shows up as a sheriff it develops into a conspiracy story involving a sugar factory and slavery lead by the queen ant. 

Bert I. Gordon (who died in 2023 at the age of 100) made this giant bug movie which seems influenced by his earlier projects, FOOD OF THE GODS and VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS. Gordon from Wisconsin made TV commercials before making his first feature KING DINOSAUR in 1955.

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Buchanan

THE CURSE OF THE SWAMP CREATURE-1966-More Larry Buchanan madness with John Agar as a geologist looking for oil in the swamps with a trio of crooks. They run into the crazy experiments of Dr. Trent (Tony Houston; also the screenwriter) who is trying to make a fish monster out of a man! He feeds his failures to some stock footage crocodiles. Meanwhile the locals practice voodoo (called “snake worship”). Except for Agar the acting in this is quite comical. Especially Huston, an amateur ham who would make Shatner seem like Olivier! (“My beautiful indestructible fish man”). Francine York is Mrs. Trent and Bill McGhee (Ben in DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT) is a dim-witted servant. Buchanan regular Bill Thurman is one of the crooks and the swamp creature.

Buchanan throws in some interesting camera angles but otherwise it's pretty boring. Agar also starred (with Houston) in Buchanan's ZONTAR: THE THING FROM VENUS the same year!

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