I made the mistake last night of staying up late to watch a film on
USA titled "Marabunta," hoping it was an adaption of the classic
short story "Larigan Versus the Ants," which was first filmed with
Charlton Heston in the late fifties or early sixties as "The Naked
Jungle." Sadly, "Marabunta" had nothing to do with "Larigan Versus
the Ants" nor with "The Naked Jungle" beyond using a Brazilian word
for Army Ants, and was a particularly lame eco-disaster film. For
those of you not familiar with "The Naked Jungle," that film is
watchable and a decent, albeit padded, adaption of the short story. A
needless love story was wedged into "Naked Jungle" that has nothing
to do with the original premise, which is and was a brilliant one: a
South American planter refuses to evacuate his sprawling plantation
when it becomes clear that an enormous swath of Army Ants is directly
headed his way. The short story is a classic example of the "man
against nature" theme, and some of that came across in "Naked
Jungle," in that once the premise is established the film becomes
very interesting (and it takes some time to get to the actual menace
itself). Even Charlton Heston chewing up the scenery couldn't
diminish the idea of the short story, and the actual attempt to repel
the ants is fairly riviting, although the special effects of the film
seem quite antiquated by today's standards. Hopefully, someday
someone will do a straight adaption of "Larigan Versus the Ants" and
concentrate on the psychology of the expatriate Irishman who refuses
to move in the face of certain destruction and stubbornly embarks
upon a battle he cannot possibly win (well, he does win, sort of, but
if you have never read the short story, which used to included in
practically every horror anthology probably printed before 1970, I
don't want to give away the logical and well-executed ending). A
damned good film could be made with the original source material,
unfortunately "Marabunta" is not that film.

Disappointed,
Jon