King of the Ants

While working as a painter, Sean Crawley (Chris McKenna) is approached by mobster Duke Wayne (George Wendt), who puts Sean in touch with his boss, Ray Mathews (Daniel Baldwin). Ray offers Sean a lot of money to first follow, and then murder, accountant Eric Gatley (Ron Livingston), and while following Eric, Sean spies upon and dreams about Eric's wife, Susan (Kari Wuhrer).

After murdering Eric, Sean demands payment from the mobsters, hiding a secret file he had stolen from Sean, that would implicate the mobsters in several crimes. Instead of killing Sean, the mobsters hold him prisoner in a shack in the desert, savagely beating him in an attempt to turn him into a vegetable, reasoning that Sean would be better off brain dead and living, than actually dead. But sometime during the perpetual beatings, Sean slowly becomes a brutal killing machine, plotting his escape and ultimate revenge.

Disturbing and brutal are two good words to describe this movie. And while the action is never fast-paced, there is an eerie tension lurking beneath the surface of the film. There is a subdued savageness behind both Chris McKenna and George Wendt's performance, and Kari Wuhrer is superb as wife/widow/mission worker with a big heart. I would recommend this film as a good watch, but would forewarn the squeamish to be wary of the scenes of torture, which, while savage, do not glorify the blood and guts, but rather the brutality of the beatings.