It
is a case of double retro nostalgia. At this point, the 1989 Commodore Amiga
video game inspired by Them! and any
number of Roger Corman sci-fi monster quickies seems like an unusual candidate
for a feature adaptation, but at least it had a story. As it happens, most of
the characters and plot points did not survive the property’s revival, but the
ants are still in here. They will be big and mean in Marko Mäkilaakso’s It Came from the Desert (trailer here), which releases today
on VOD.
Lukas
Deakins has just notched another dirt bike victory, thanks in part to his
brainy younger brother Brian’s legal modifications. What better way to
celebrate than a sloppy kegger out in the middle of the desert? To thank his
bro, he will also invite along Brian’s longtime crush, Lisa, but it will take a
crisis to get him to make a move.
Fortunately,
a government contractor has fused alien DNA with common ants, because obviously
that is what the scientific method dictates. Of course, they are adaptive
little buggers, who managed to overrun the underground facility. The smarty
pants scientists thought they were being clever by genetically engineering the
need for an outside catalyst for their reproduction. That would be alcohol. Well,
so much for that.
ICFTD is an amiable film
with two likable central characters, but it clearly assumes that plus its
nostalgic premise is more than enough to carry it over the finish line.
Unfortunately, it lacks the real inspiration of a film like Graham Kelly Greene’s
criminally under-distributed Attack of the Bat Monsters. Instead, we are just watching the cast, with their loopy
grins, gamely going through the motions.
Vanessa
Grasse portrays Lisa as a relatively forceful and proactive character, even
though she will eventually require some rescuing. Harry Lister Smith is
unflaggingly earnest as Brian, but Alex Mills approaches accidental self-parody
as the nauseatingly cocky Lukas. However, the film deserves credit for the ant
effects. The CGI is light-years more convincing than anything that would have
been possible in the 1950s, 1960s, or even 1980s, but there is still an
eccentricity to the attacking ants that is in keeping with the campy spirit of
the films that inspired it.
Frankly,
it is rather surprising how straight Mäkilaakso and his cast play it, which is
a point in their favor. Unfortunately, Mäkilaakso and his co-screenwriters
Trent Haaga and Henry Woon, Jr. never figure out where to take it. For genre
fans, the results are nostalgic, but not particularly memorable. For seriously
sentimental fans of the game (clips of which appear during the closing credits),
It Came from the Desert releases today
(5/29) on VOD platforms, including iTunes.
