The handyman Sean Crawler (Chris L. McKenna) meets the electrician Duke Wayne (George Wendt) while painting a house and they drink a couple of beers together and have a small talk. A couple of days later, Duke offers a job to Sean, and they meet the corrupt constructor Ray Matthews (Daniel Baldwyn) in a golf club. Ray proposes Sean to stalk the accountant from the City Hall Eric Gatley (Ron Livingston),who is investigating him, and report every movement of Eric to Ray. While chasing Eric, Sean sees his wife Susan (Kari Wuhrer) and has a crush on her. When Ray offers US$ 13,000.00 to Sean to kill Eric, he accepts, but steals Ray's dossier before leaving the crime scene. However Sean is double-crossed by Ray and is brutally tortured by the real estate mobster and his men in a lonely ranch, but he does not tell where the file is. Sean succeeds in escaping, but severely wounded, he goes to the mission where Susan works and four weeks later he is healed. He tries to start a new life with Susan, but when she finds the documents and the truth about him, he plots a powerful revenge against Ray and his men.

"The King of the Ants" is a great bizarre thriller, with a good amoral story of manipulation, crime, humiliation and payback supported e by excellent screenplay, direction and performances. The nightmares and daydreams of Sean in the period he is tortured with a club of golf is disturbing, disgusting and nasty in some moments, but absolutely original. It is weird to see the gorgeous and sexy Kari Wuhrer having a penis, but the scene is absolutely inside the context of the mental state of Sean. I liked very much the performances of Kari Wuhrer, Chris L. McKenna, George Wendt and the cynical character of Daniel Baldwyn. Ron Livingston has a minor but effective participation. The horror of this movie is related to the torture and the deaths, and I felt quite disturbed with the stupid torture that Sean is submitted. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Tratamento de Choque" ("Shock Treatment")

A very strange little gangster film, even stranger when you consider that it's written by Charlie Higson, best known as a British author and comedian who once starred in THE FAST SHOW. It's a story of murder and revenge with plenty of surreal elements, which is unsurprising given the presence of horror director Stuart Gordon. It's also a very low budget movie, but one that's fairly entertaining despite its shortcomings.

Chris McKenna works hard as the everyday Joe who finds himself caught up in events spiralling out of his control when he's introduced to slimy gangster Ray (played by the well-cast Daniel Baldwin). Driven to murder, he then ends up at the mercy of some slightly bumbling gangsters; one of the most interesting things about the film is the cast, which includes George Wendt and Vernon Wells (COMMANDO) as the bad guys. There's also time for a little romance with the lovely Kari Wuhrer until things take a turn for the very dark.

We end up with a traditional revenge plot, but along the way there are fresh touches of inspiration and surprise, including a very gruelling torture sequence which shows you don't have to be graphic to be deeply unpleasant. Come the end credits, I was left feeling that the total is less than the sum of its parts, but fans of bizarre B-movie outings might find something to savour here.

Apart from some moments of shoddy photography, an ending that for me fell emotionally flat and Daniel Baldwin annoyingly chewing the scenery to pieces, I found myself quite liking King of the Ants. Not all the photography is bad, on the most part it does look good and the same goes with the rest of the production values. The dialogue at least engages thought, while the story is cleverly written with suspense, thrills and a truly shocking murder scene, not predictable and held my attention all the way through. The characters are the sorts that are extremely flawed but in the end you identify with them, the lead character especially. The direction is taut, while I was surprised at how good the acting was. Chris McKenna is likable in the lead role but it's George Wendt's funny and frightening performance that makes the strongest impression. Overall, while not perfect King of the Ants was really quite good. 7/10 Bethany Cox