Phase IV (1974) User Reviews

Harrowing, hallucinatory and altogether fascinating

[lemon_magic · 7/10 · 8 August 2013]

While it's true that "Phase IV" is rather slow moving in spots, and that the human characters are ciphers with no real depth to speak of, "Phase IV" is a nice sally at an experimental science fiction film that emphasizes mood and dread over action and character development.

I had the good fortune to watch this on a really large flat screen TV, and the amazing insect photography (major kudos to the editor who managed to integrate it so completely into the story!) and dissonant synthesizer laden sound track come through nicely with good viewing equipment - they add the proper utterly alien and inhuman feel to the movie and turn something pretty good into something really creep and spooky.

Although the characters are admittedly pretty flat, that's undoubtedly on purpose. "Phase IV" is all about the subjection of the human characters to the overwhelming power of a hive mind where "personality" is besides the point. Even so, Nigel Davenport brings the good stuff to his role as the biologist trying to contain the ants, and you both know everything you need to know and everything you'll ever know about in the first five minutes...without ever knowing him at all.

An ambiguous and otherworldly/mystical ending might not sit well with a lot of viewers who like their science fiction movies to wrap things up by the end. And, OK, the goofy little montage at the end with the mathematician and the gamin doesn't really match the quality of the hallucinatory insect footage that preceded it.

Still, Saul Bass knew how to present an otherworldly, truly alien experience, but he was probably just too far ahead of his time.

A classic of sorts.

Strikingly Weird Film.

[AaronCapenBanner · 7/10 · 23 September 2013]

Michael Murphy and Nigel Davenport play two scientists studying the recent peculiar behavior of ants after a strange outer space phenomenon has occurred. They rescue a young woman(played by Lynne Frederick) who has survived an ant attack that destroyed her family and farm. Seems the(normal) sized ants have evolved into a collective intelligence, and are studying them as well, in the next step of mutual evolution...

Weird(to say the least)film is nonetheless quite original and intelligent; seems to be partially inspired by "2001: A Space Odyssey", and though not a masterpiece, still contains some quite striking visual imagination and ambition(courtesy of director Saul Bass) and a mind-bending ending that gives much to ponder. A thought-provoking Sci-Fi film that deserves to be better known.

Not the most interesting story, but stunningly photographed.

[paulclaassen · 5/10 · 5 September 2021]

To set your mind at ease, you haven't missed any 'Phase' films. This is actually called 'Phase IV', and is not the fourth installment in a franchise.

Let's be honest, 'Phase IV' is not the most interesting of films. There's a lost of extreme close-up photography of ants - REAL ants and not CGI ants. Parts of the movie felt like a documentary. Although the photography is incredible and fascinating for its time, even this wears off after a while. And, although it was just ants, the close-up photography of ants dying and being crushed to death, was still discomforting to watch. Maybe because it was just too close and detailed.

So, the film is about ants suddenly behaving strangely, and two scientists, Hubbs (Davenport) and Lesko (Murphy) trying to investigate the phenomenon. They're even attempting to communicate with the ants by studying their patterns and sounds. When they rescue a young girl, Kendra (Frederick) from a poisonous gas, a bond develops between her and Lesko. Fortunately it was more about Lesko pitying the girl than a romantic interest, but I still found the girl got in the way of the story.

There's very little action - and horror here - but the film also wasn't boring. It did have a rather weird ending, though, which didn't make a lot of sense. I think I would have preferred a different ending.

'Phase IV' didn't do well at the box office, but then again, how many cinemagoers really find ants an interesting premise...?

Would I watch it again? I don't think so.

More of an essay than a story, but still recommended viewing

[Dr Wily · 27 August 2002]

Phase IV is not your average movie experience. Definitely not for everyone, so, see it if you get the chance (Last I saw it was a 1997 airing on The Sci-Fi Channel.) and decide if it's for you.

It's even hard to generalize WHAT the movie is about. On the surface, a colony of ants has gained a heightened level of intelligence and has apparently decided to drive out the local people. A group of surviving scientists, who were examining the ant phenomenon, rescue a wandering woman, and they become "trapped" in the "laboratory." The lead researcher then goes nutters over trying to determine what the ants are doing and getting nowhere because, well, ants and humans just aren't natural conversationalists. And the story ends... well, it just ends. What did the ants want? Did they take over the woman's body at the end? Did they the one surviving scientist, or, did he "join" them, just come to reason with them, what? Plus, what ARE the other three "Phases?"

Now, I first saw this film on Beta in 1985 and on VHS many time since, the last being the aforementioned 1997 airing. I've read the reviews here, and, WHERE are people getting the alien intelligence taking over the ants from?! I've been watching this movie for 15 plus years, and, I can't recall any aliens mentioned. An alien influence on the ants WOULD make a bit more sensical motivation for the ants, but, I don't recall this stated even as a theory anywhere in the movie. I welcome anyone to e-mail me and let me know where it is in the film, because, I may have just failed to catch it.

So, why would I recommend it? This movie manages to effectively pull you into the story without any of the excess baggage one would expect from a nature gets its revenge picture. No drawn out "battle" sequences, like "Empire Of The Ants." The event has happened, so, there's no need to express it with cheap special effects. The story hinges instead on the aftermath, how people deal with it, the scientific community's response, all the time presenting a prevailing air of mystery as to why the ants did it. The casual viewer will be disappointed by its rather quizzical ending because it doesn't "resolve" the question of what the ants want or were doing in a clean cut package. In fact, it doesn't GIVE an answer. It opens up the floor to debate, so to speak, where your own questions about it allow you to formulate your own "message" from the ending. Can we live with the ants? Can the ants live with us? Do either sides want to?



Many would also find this film boring because of the lack of "action" sequences until the end, pretty much summed up when the nutter scientist is consumed in a pit of ants. Instead, the film builds up suspense with effective small shots of the ants themselves. Ants moving through technical equipment to "sabotage" it. Ants moving through their tunnels, reflecting a genuine "sinister" sense, a sort of "What are they planning, if anything?" atmosphere. Ants moving over furniture, people. Nothing over done with an army of ants crawling all over the place, people screaming as they drown in a flood of insects (Save the one scientist, I suppose.) It doesn't dumb itself down with exploitive action sequences.

In the end, the film doesn't insult a viewer's intelligence. IF someone doesn't get anything out of about it, the film just lets them be. For others, it opens up the floor with unresolved questions, but, does not hinge on them, like so many cop out endings. You're left to reach your own conclusions, but not as a crutch, to avoid having to write an ending or a low budget, etc.

An interesting film if you can ever find it. If you do, watch it and decide for yourself. It's one of the few movies made that lets you choose whether to like it or not, and goes along with that.

"We have only one chance".

[lost-in-limbo · 7/10 · 16 October 2010]

Insects can give you the creepy crawlies… now a nest of ants would make my skin crawl. "Phase IV" takes on a more low-key, but cerebral and experimental angle on it nature runs amok formula. Ants… not your ordinary ants either. Super intelligent ones. I wouldn't be surprised if you start thinking you are watching a documentary about ants --- due to the footage and dissected dialogues. While it might have a reliable turn by Nigel Davenport, it's really all about the ants. There's nothing gratuitous or particularly exciting about it, however its slow burn, searing psychological style plays out like a battle of wits between the humans and the ants in showing their overall dominance. Somewhat effective, rather brooding (namely the electronic score) and at times unpleasant, but the atypical ending just came across to be underwhelming with its resolution after the initial, if frightening set-up. Director Saul Brass is quite a stylist in his visionary details even with what would look like a low-budget. It's technically good and well poised. The musty desert landscapes are barren, but he invokes many eerie passages and taut developments from his earthy handling. The thrills are minor, where it's verbose script is all about adapting and challenging (by learning the facts and patterns of each other) in gaining some sort of upper-hand, but never does it become too silly. Michael Murphy (whose character wants to communicate) and Lynne Frederick might be sober, but established enough. "Phase IV" is a thoughtfully interesting and ambitious curio more than just brainless Sci-fi horror.

David Attenborough goes berserk!

[MCMCMLXX · 7/10 · 20 January 2024]

Comment not review-

More than anything, Phase IV is a masterpiece in cinematography. The small scaled shots of ants is amazing. The colours and and surroundings with different types of filming - from time lapse to micro - is fascinating. It is carefully manufactured to showcase the talents of the technical aspects of film making - and the characters are secondary but fun.

Fun because they just do what they are just plonked in the picture to do. No fuss. Someone gets bitten and goes crazy. The formulae is familiar but the photography wins the day.

Just watch the positioning of the camera from the car pulling up, the desert landscapes, the isolation, the horror of carcasses being destroyed by ants. ...

Hooray for the ants. Hooray for this film. Hooray it ain't on anyone's top ten but mine...

Thinking man's sci-fi

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 12 September 2023]

I know Saul Bass from his film posters and opening credits but I never realised he directed a film too. PHASE IV is an unsurprisingly arty little production in which a couple of research scientists in the Arizona desert find themselves battling a colony of super-intelligent ants created thanks to some aberrant cosmic rays. Yep, it's another spin on the old man-vs-nature format and there's even an early nod to THE NAKED JUNGLE along the way. However, the film is more intellectual than most of its genre and feels a little like THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN at times. The performances are assured and things build carefully to a classic abstract format which, unbelievably, was cut by distributors. Check out that "lost" ending on Youtube for the full effect.

An exercise in style over substance that takes a very silly premise and plays it with overbearing heaviness

[IonicBreezeMachine · 3/10 · 25 February 2021]

A cosmic anomaly causes Ants to behave erratically, decimating their natural predators and scaring off the human population. Two scientists, Lesko and Hubbs (Michael Murphy and Nigel Davenport respectively) travel to an area of significant Ant activity to investigate the aberration only to find themselves fighting for their lives.

Part of the wave of "serious" sci-fi films that were the standard after the release of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Phase IV is one of the lesser known examples. The only feature film to be directed by Saul Bass, Bass is a well known graphic designer behind some of the most iconic logos, movie posters, and opening credit sequences in pop culture history. Unfortunately in Bass's only foray into narrative feature direction, he creates a plodding, ponderous, preposterous movie that is more focused on producing nice looking shots than it is creating an engaging plot or characters.

The movie isessentially a mixture of 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Birds, and Them! with the ants in the movie becoming superpowered by some unexplained force, running amok on sparsely populated human settlements, all inter cut with trippy surreal imagery backed up by a grating synth score with bass undertones that tries to be eerie but comes off as annoying. The two scientists in the movie are barely emotive planks of wood who have barely any character and have about as much chemistry and humanity as the equipment they're using.

The movie has some nice imagery to it, but it's such a ponderous experience that the novelty of the well framed visuals very quickly loses its impact and you quickly realize how little has actually happened in the movie you're watching. The movie pendulums back and forth between beautiful shots and dry exposition and it's an uninvolved experience that fails to be engaging.

Phase IV is a joyless, overlong, meandering mess of a movie that tries to substitute story and character for visual polish. It's a surface level film with no lingering impact and doesn't have the profundity of serious sci-fi nor the joy of sci-fi camp of the 50s resulting in boredom and annoyance.

Trippy & Ambiguous Sci Fi

[raegan_butcher · 9/10 · 2 July 2006]

I have seen this film numerous times, starting when I was ten yrs old and it has always had a peculiar fascination for me. It moves a bit slower than most modern viewers are used to but it is pretty compelling stuff.The ant photography is amazing. When I was a small boy and I heard about this I was expecting something along the lines of THEM! and anyone who has seen this knows it is about as far from that as you can imagine. But even as a youngster wanting something more un-subtle and action-oriented, I was not turned off by PHASE IV's slow art-film qualities.It is a shame Saul Bass never directed again because this was a valiant effort to do something a little different. I say bravo! Seen in widescreen for the first time after years of TV viewings and the panned & scanned VHS the new DVD of Phase IV is a revelation. The compositions and use of color are masterful.

Trippy, moody, original.

[jacobmhoff · 7/10 · 15 December 2019]

This film was an interesting find. I love "Animal Attack" movies or giant creature films and find myself maybe more receptive to flawed films of this nature. I have to say though this film stands out in the genre. Its got an atmosphere to it, a sense of intelligence to the concept too that really elevates it.

ants everywhere!

[ksf-2 · 5/10 · 27 May 2021]

Ants! Nigel Davenport is Dr. Hubbs, who has been studying the ants. He notices that the people and predators are disappearing, while the ant population is increasing! The ants are acting together, with a unified purpose of survival. And there are strange, tall towers on the property. Dr. Hubbs has come up with a plan. While his assistant compares the noise they make to the directions they go... kind of. Some terrible science going on here, but we get it...the ants are taking over. And the only way to stop them seems to be with some chemical called "yellow". After being bitten by one of the ants, the lead scientist seems to be going nuts! Will they find a way to escape? Directed by Saul Bass. This was his only full length film directed, but he worked in different areas of film making. Story by Mayo Simon. This one is pretty lame, but like all those bug films and vincent price films, you just cant turn it off. And so much footage of ants. You've never seen so much.

Truly Unique, a classic

[cynical-2 · 8/10 · 23 June 2005]

This is one of the strangest, suspenseful movies I've ever seen. It must have been at lest 15 years since I last saw it, and I'm still looking around for it to appear on DVD, so that must mean something! What this movie lacks in action, it makes up for in suspense, and suspense you get! I'm baffled by the fact that this movie appears to be so little-known. The beauty of these kinds of movies, is that they are not so much plot-driven as well 'atmosphere-driven' (by lack of a better word), so you can watch several times without getting bored. The Thing is another movie with the same quality. Basically: highly recommended!

Some remarkable footage makes this average sci-fi film a little special

[justahunch-70549 · 7/10 · 1 February 2023]

I hadn't seen this in many, many years, but I remember that I had seen it more than once. Not sure what my fascination was then with this slow mover, but while this is not a great film, it is a fascinating one especially technically. This is about some unnamed happenstance to the planet in which everyone wonders how it will be affected, but no one sees anything different due to its only affect being on ants, which is a terrifying concept as they outnumber humans by huge numbers. This is not some silly thing about giant ants or whatnot. It is about ants becoming smarter with interspecies connections that never occurred before. A scientist and a journalist camp out in a special domed habitat in a remote area in which everyone who had been there has been evacuated. The ants footage is real and I'm clueless how they got the shots they did, but there are many, they make up the bulk of the film, and they are truly fascinating, though for action seekers, this is not your film. The acting by the two leads, Nigel Davenport and Michael Murphy is bland, but not as bland as Lynne Frederick's is. This actress here can barely emote, but she sure had an interesting, though short, personal life. The film isn't believable in concept and some of the script is silly, but it is so very well made that I do recommend to serious sci-fi buffs.

Just not worth it

[I_Ailurophile · 3/10 · 24 May 2021]

I feel antsy watching this. It's more of a chore than I anticipated.

All you need to know about 'Phase IV' in a nutshell: There is so little narrative that the first 7.5 minutes are just footage of ants. The plot is laid bare with opening narration, and a subsequent voiceover by the chief protagonist that bleeds into the true beginning of the "story."

The seemingly haphazard way in which characters turn knobs and flip switches in the hastily built lab only demonstrates, to the viewer, how the whole affair is much sound and fury, signifying nothing, as a certain bard once penned. We've already watched for more than 20 minutes before a real sense of plot starts to show up.

Putting aside the sci-fi element that's immediately introduced, of an astronomical anomaly causing changes in ant populations - the basic premise is mildly interesting, to the credit of screenwriter Mayo Simon. The notion of cooperation between species, traditionally in conflict, in common alliance against greater threats - well, what animal lover hasn't dreamed in passing of other creatures on Earth revolting against human dominion?

Unfortunately, possible praise for 'Phase IV' essentially begins and ends there. Saul Bass clearly has many credits to his name in various capacities, but his first and only try at directing a feature-length film leaves much to be desired. Angling a camera toward a scene isn't the same thing as guiding cast or crew to a particular point, or more specifically eliciting a performance from an actor. Simon plays with some noteworthy concepts in his screenplay, but they don't seem fleshed out. Even as conflict rises in the narrative, the whole picture just feels hollow, devoid of heart. Characters are decidedly one-dimensional.

And even still, we get more footage of ants, or other wildlife, much of it with no apparent purpose except to fill time.

It's not entirely terrible - there are a few okay ideas here, and unlikely as it may be, a couple peculiarly well-considered shots. The ending, silly as it is - and, let's be honest, poorly written - is surprising. But overall, 'Phase IV' is just tiring. I began watching with expectations of a schlocky B-movie, and I'm still left disappointed.

Not a movie I'd recommend, to anyone.

Overlooked film from the Master of film credits

[UHF · 23 May 2003]

Phase IV is an incredible full length feature film by Saul Bass who is most acclaimed as a graphic designer who's work can be seen as the opening credits from The Seven Year Itch, Vertigo, West Side Story to Alien, Broadcast News and Casino. Phase IV is a much overlooked film that is very much in the style of The Andromeda Strain. What it perhaps lacks in story, it gains in the photography of the millions of ants - the film's additional cast.

The Greatest Ant Movie Ever Made!

[Chance2000esl · 7/10 · 4 April 2009]

This is a true work of science fiction, as two researchers try to stop the 'biological imbalance' caused by ant species unifying and eliminating their predators, an apparent result of 'Phase I' (an eclipse caused by the alignment of three planets). It obviously draws on several elements, including the main theme, from '2001: A Space Odyssey,'(1969) (as did many other science fiction films influenced by Kubrick's and Clarke's genius).

This is a suspenseful, claustrophobic well made film with an outstanding musical score, and amazing, amazing photography of ants. It's unbelievable the way the director and cinematographer have the ants tell their own story! Using micro photography of the ants in their own habitat, the director shows us how they have increased their ability to communicate with each other and work together as cells following 'a single thought.' They are the Borg. Particularly amazing is the sequence in which the soldier ants die willingly to carry the yellow poison to the queen ant, so that she can create a new species of ant immune to it! The ant colony photography is beautiful, majestic, and scary.

Most of the film is 'Phase II': the attempts of the scientists to communicate with the ants and contain them, and of the ants' attacks on humans and the research dome. Nigel Davenport as the 'pure scientist' Dr. Hubbs only gets excited in the objective wonder of his science. We know that a character like this will surely meet his doom. Michael Murphy, as James Lesko, the cryptographer, is the one who displays human warmth for others, as represented by Kendra, the shocked farm girl (Lynne Frederick). As he is the narrator of the film, we expect him to survive.

'Phase III' is the last part of the film. I don't have to spoil it more than by stating that it ends with another lifted element from '2001.' Then the film leaves us to guess what 'Phase IV' will be! In fact, the original film had a psychedelic ending like the 'Stargate' sequence in '2001', but that was dropped when the film was released, for the betterment of 'Phase IV.'

Some of the greatest science fiction films take place in closed environments. This is one. We get an ecological message in addition to mind boggling ant photography. The greatest ant film ever made!

I'll give it a 7.

Art house creature feature

[Chase_Witherspoon · 7/10 · 1 May 2011]

An eccentric scientist enlists the aid of a talented young communication analyst to decipher the strange goings on of a colony of ants in the Arizona desert. But when a young female survivor enters the remote compound, tensions run hot as the study begins to out-maneuver its researchers, leading to a dramatic climax which could threaten mankind. Set designer Saul Bass has employed countless photographic tricks and a sophisticated design to an intelligent production that is bountiful with metaphors and suggestion, but ultimately limited in content and action. The result will more than likely be too esoteric (even avant garde) for a typical audience, but equally thought-provoking and rewarding for those with a more creative persuasion.

The nubile Lynne Frederick is a largely reticent muse to the intellectual bi-play, her naivety to the perils they encounter ultimately her sad un-doing, but also witness to a metamorphosis beyond any of their limited (relative to the ants) cognisance. Davenport is relatively quick to deteriorate mentally (and physically due to a poisonous bite that's inflamed his right arm and rendered it useless), Murphy remains focused on finding a common line of communication. The ants transcend the boundaries of human intellect, and toy mercilessly with the researchers, herding them to a frightening prospect, but it has to be said, one that unfolds much too rapidly in the film's closing sequences.

Sharp photography accentuates bleeding colour tones that saturate the dust-bowl landscape and Bass does an impressive job with experimental angles and visual effects. Add to the melting pot detailed, microscopic cinematography tracking the frenetic behaviour of the army of ants, and the overall effect is sensitively rich. The scene in which the frantic Davenport vainly attempts to capture a tiny exponent darting from the pincer grip of his comparatively clumsy fingers, is an absolute cracker – the proportions in close-up are positioned with precision detail and perfectly convey the futility of their contest with the significantly higher order.

Overall, it's refined, intellectual, vaguely allegorical and generally compelling viewing – with more substance to the storyline and attention to the all-too-brief climax, "Phase IV" could of (should of) been a minor classic in its own right. But for now, it remains an obscurity, perhaps the only art-house rendition given to a creature feature to date.

Brilliant insect photography is the highlight of this strange, intriguing insect invasion film

[OldAle1 · 7/10 · 29 January 2009]

The insect-terror movie has a long and rich history in the science fiction/horror genres, reaching back as far as "Them!" and stretching forward pretty much to the present day -- the aliens in "Starship Troopers" certainly qualify in appearance if nothing else. But it's rarely been done so effectively and fascinatingly as in this 1974 effort directed by famed production/title sequence designer Saul Bass in which the insect threat isn't predicated on ridiculous atomic-irradiated mutated giants, but on a strange rapidly developing intelligence in the hive-mind of an ant population in the American desert southwest.

The film begins with narration by British scientist Hubbs (Nigel Davenport) sent to an area that has experienced odd troubles with ant colonies; he is accompanied by American statistical theoretician Lesko (the seriously under-appreciated Michael Murphy) and the two start their studies of the odd insect populations inside a self-contained geodesic dome. It's clear the ants in the area have mutated, developed some kind of superanimal intelligence and the two ill-matched (of course) scientists spend most of the film studying and trying to communicate with, or defeat the potential threat of the insects. Their work is disrupted by the appearance of a young woman, played by the stunningly gorgeous (also of course) Lynne Frederick who doesn't really get what they're doing and whose early crazy fit results in Hubbs getting bitten by an ant and various odd things starting to occur.

From this point (a little before halfway through) it's a race against time as the scientists struggle to figure out what the ants are doing, how they communicate, and how to defeat them. Much of the middle part of the film is quite exciting, and most of this is provided by the exquisite insect photography (cinematography is by Dick Bush, don't know who else to credit for special close-up microscopic photography) and the eerie music (Brian Gascoigne) which goes from typical 70s electronic stuff to British neoromanticism and areas in between - you really feel that these ants are intelligent and purposeful, and in fact they're more worth rooting for than the humans, which brings up the major problem. The human storyline just isn't terribly interesting - Frederick is there just as a pretty face but doesn't really have a role until the very end, Davenport is a rather clichéd stuck-up and self-important intellectual type, Murphy plays mostly at being his opposite. And the ending, clearly meant to have some deep spiritual or cosmological meaning, just doesn't work as the events leading up to it are rushed and poorly developed.

Still, all in all, one of the more interesting American sf films of its era - certainly light-years beyond "Damnation Alley" which I had watched just a few days before. Pan-and-scan VHS but it didn't seem to lose too much.

Ant music

[Prismark10 · 2/10 · 19 April 2016]

Saul Bass is better known as a title designer rather than a film director on his own right. This film provides the answer why. If you are afraid of ants then stay away.

The film with its set design wants to reflect the symbolism of 2001: A Space Odyssey with its giant towers and action inside a dome like laboratory somewhere in the Arizona desert.

A colony of ants have somehow gained heightened intelligence and are manipulating events so local people leave the area. Two scientists remain examining and conducting experiments on the ants and rescue a young woman wandering around. However the ants are using their collective intelligence to torment and play mind games on the people.

I can see that this film has a cultish following. Not a giant ant or a man in a rubber costume in sight. It wants to be enigmatic and perplexing, it suddenly ends leaving you puzzled.

I found the whole thing dull, poorly acted with Nigel Davenport and Michael Murphy desperately trying to rescue this mess of a film.

Amazing mood.

[bman08 · 10/10 · 3 January 2007]

Despite the dated quality of some elements, particularly the costumes this picture is, in my book, the best killer bug movie of all time. Through the use of an almost nature documentary style of photographing the ants, we really get a new perspective on the film's six-legged antagonists. There's something totally raw about the way these ants act and are shot alongside the inexorable, almost plodding pace of the piece that makes Phase IV seem amazingly, terrifyingly real.

The performances by the human actors are very much in the wooden, gee-whiz style of older sci-fi but here it works. The ants are a silent, almost invisible, killer. Their creeping terror, when cut against the classic characterization of the chisel-chinned hero and the bearded professor, illustrates that the best that humanity has to offer against the threat might not be enough.

A hard-to-find favorite.

Visually interesting film from one of the great graphic designers

[andrew-huggett · 7/10 · 13 August 2013]

There's a rather slow start to this film with a lengthy and unsettling montage of different ant species working together, a little later there is a narration which explains the establishment of a science research facility to study the unusual activity and the decline in the natural predators of the ant population. There are a couple of interesting scenes of the protagonists from the viewpoint of the ants compound eyes which adds interest and creates an unsettling atmosphere. The music is also effective and unsettling. This is the only film to be directed by the graphic designer Saul Bass and there are one or two moments where the film seems a little disjointed – I suspect the film has been cut or re-edited in some way against the original intention. There is a horrible scene where after a chemical spray procedure against the first ant attack some ants crawl from the hand of a dead man ... a cleverly staged sequence shows the ants gradually become resistant to the first spray of yellow poison by absorbing it ... there is then a suggestion that after a queen ant samples it new ants are born which are fully resistant. The ants are very clever – aside from language they build structures overnight around the research centre which reflect sunlight … the premise of this film sounds absurd but somehow it kind of works … flawed but interesting ... The macro photography is excellent. An enigmatic and irritating ending though.

Go to the Ants, thou scientist dolts

[Bogmeister · 5/10 · 7 September 2005]

My impression is that this film had aspirations to be the "2001" of killer bug movies. It begins in outer space somewhere and apparently some effect out there increases the intelligence of ants on Earth. At least, ants in Arizona, where the rest of the film takes place. In an isolated spot, two scientists in a geodesic lab conduct experiments and later a war with these ants. Micro-photography is employed to show the ants - none of those make-believe Hollywood creations in giant ant movies. The older man (Davenport) is all analysis, all science to the exclusion of human feeling; the younger one (Murphy) feels protective of a local girl (Frederick) whose family was accidentally killed. Of course, the tables are turned as the ants are underestimated. It's an eerie study of people in seclusion, of a menace that no one is clear on or where it's all going.

That's both the strength and weakness of the picture. Some sequences are quite hypnotic but others, after a while, become monotonous. Most of the shots of ants recall "The Hellstrom Chronicle" from several years earlier and have the same compelling impact. There's one scene involving a mantis and a couple of ants which is startling. But the humans are a bit of a bore and the last half-hour winds down way too slowly. It's a waiting game as the scientists wait for the ants to make their next move and then conjecture about a message sent in by the new masters. While the building suspense is, at first, interesting, the viewer expects it to conclude in a way which provides the answers we've been patiently waiting for. Prepare to be let down. I suppose it was intended for each viewer to come up with their own theories. Well, that places the burden on the audience to do all the work in the last 5 minutes. See also "The Naked Jungle"(54) and for a lighter touch, "Antz"(98).

Phase IV: Incredible piece of cinema

[Platypuschow · 8/10 · 16 March 2019]

Though there are plenty of movies with ants as the antagonist I'll have to be honest with the exception of Them (1954) I've never really been able to take them seriously as a viable threat. I mean seriously, ants?

Phase IV managed to change my mind on that and made ants a legitimately terrifying credible enemy.

It tells the story of a pair of scientists who set up a lab in the middle of the desert where ants seem to have taken over. Right beside a failed desert development they underestimate the intelligence of their diminutive foes.

The first thing that struck me was how good it all looked, the movie is years ahead of its time in both cinematography and practical effects. The ant sequences are truly remarkable and not rushed as you tend to expect them to be for the mid 70's. They take their time, intricately crafting the ants world, telling their silent story and solidifying their credibility as threats to mankind.

I went in expecting some hammy mess, what I got was an elusive diamond in the rough and I'm very very impressed.

Well acted, visually stunning and paced perfectly Phase IV is a great sci-fi piece that didn't deserve to go under the radar the way it did.

Fantastic stuff.

The Good:

Well ahead of its time

Looks great

Ant footage is very impressive

Strong cast

The Bad:

The nagging concern of possible animal cruelty

Silly ant noises

Intelligent Ants Wage War

[view_and_review · 7/10 · 23 December 2021]

This is about as up close and personal to ants I ever want to be. "Phase IV" could just as easily had been an Animal Planet special on ants had they removed the drama.

Two scientists went to a desert area to study an ant phenomenon in which they were more aggressive and deadly than ever. They'd killed all of their natural predators and were going after even more targets. The scientists found themselves stuck in a research facility waging a relatively long range war against an ultra-smart colony of ants.

This movie is eerie. They needed to do nothing more than show close ups of the ants to instill fear and there were plenty of close ups. Disney has a lot of work to do to reverse the fearful images of ants induced by "Phase IV."

Movies that creep you out

[nliautaud · 5/10 · 26 January 2006]

A few films from the 70's have had the unfortunate distinction in my mind of creeping me up and giving me childhood nightmares. Jaws frightened me from the sea for a very long time, and i lived on an island... this one, well, let's just say that the fantastic micro photography of the ants became a true nightmare for me.

Interesting idea, especially after seeing many Learning Channel and Discovery channel documentaries on ants. That smallish creatures can band together and attempt to take over the reigning kings of the food chain (humans) is a very unnerving concept; what happens if they succeed brings even more reflection.

very 70's.