The trailer for Dead Ant is here and it looks like a classic monster movie mixed with Spinal Tap. The movie is a comic reimagining of the sci-fi classic of Them!. The B-movie vibe is laid on extra thick in the new trailer that features Sean Astin tripping out on Peyote and Tom Arnold pulling out a gun to shoot a giant ant after explaining that he carries the gun because he's in the music business. If that doesn't make you want to watch the movie, who knows what will. The impressive cast looks like they had a blast making Dead Ant and the soundtrack is stuffed with fake 80s metal adding to the fun.
The story starts when the "one-hit-wonder" glam-metal band "Sonic Grave" embark on a trip to Coachella in hopes of a comeback, but end up in No-Chella since their manager couldn't book them for the official Coachella music festival out in the California desert. Their peyote trip pit stop in Joshua Tree incites an "unworldly" viscous attack, and they must "rock" themselves out of harm's way. Are the giant ants real in Dead Ant? Or could this all just be one giant hallucinogenic freak out? We'll have to wait until October to truly find out.
Dead Ant was written and directed by Ron Carlson (All American Christmas Carol) and stars Tom Arnold (Sons of Anarchy, True Lies), Sean Astin (Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Stranger Things), Jake Busey (The Predator, From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series), Rhys Coiro (Texas Rising, Entourage), Leisha Hailey (The L Word, Bosch), Cameron Richardson (Get a Job, Alvin and the Chipmunks), and Danny Woodbury (Bones, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). Astin is the band's roadie while Arnold is their manager. Busey and Coiro are part of the band.
Carlson, Stephanie Hodos and Mark Hodos are producing the creature feature, which is being executive produced by Matt Luber, Fleur Roberts and Ron Martino. This is the first of several planned movies by Luber, a partner at Luber Roklin Entertainment, that is being developed with Hodos and Carlson. Carlson previously directed the comedy All American Christmas Carol, which starred Taryn Manning and Wendi McLendon-Covey and produced the horror movie Unnatural about genetically modified polar bears.
The original Them! was one of the first big bug movies. It is an atomic war cautionary tale, like Godzilla, about a nest of ants in the New Mexico desert that grew because of the atomic tests of World War II. The ants of Them! make it all the way to Los Angeles. It starred James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, Joan Weldon and James Arness. It also featured the future Mr. Spock, Star Trek's Leonard Nimoy in a small part. So, what are you waiting for? Check out the awesome trailer for Dead Ant below and make sure you're in the right head space to see some giant ants terrorizing an 80s metal band on drugs out in the middle of nowhere.