Phase IV (1974)

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 ab

Fmovies: When one hears of a sci-fi film about the massing of hyper-intelligent ants one immediately constructs a mental imagine of something akin to Them! (1954) with its ridiculous, though iconic, monster ants barely functioning well enough to move. However, Phase IV is an entirely different movie…and ant for that matter. Phase IV is nothing short of a sci-fi film for the "thinking man". While being fully aware of the genre's motifs its cinematic approach is that of the art-house – a 70s psychedelic sci-fi trip shrouded in hordes of ants directed by the famous Academy Award winning graphic designer, Saul Bass. For all this, its status in film history is nothing but a tragedy. It's the only feature film directed by Bass and it's almost completely forgotten and certainly isn't readily available for viewing.

The story is fairly simple: some undefined cosmic event occurs and augments ant evolution. This particular desert colony ascends to an intelligent collective consciousness making the ants capable of communication and great terror. The colony, per its aggressive expansion, drives out the local human population. A scientific lab is established with our main scientist protagonists. The proceedings eventually lead to a division between the two scientists and some inevitable chaos.

The brilliance of this film is the visual component. The cinematography by Dick Bush (not kidding) is in line with the best of the 70s. Furthermore, there are also a lot of interestingly beautiful shots of the colony and ant behavior. Straight away at the start of the film we are presented some truly striking images of the ant intelligence movement for several minutes – no dialog, no humans, just cinematic language.

In short one could say, If you're the type of person annoyed by a Space Odyssey or even Blade Runner, then you're the type of person that shouldn't watch Phase IV. However, if you're a total film buff and/or sci-fi nerd I highly recommend you seek out this hard to find, underrated, masterpiece – you will not regret it.

Review from Beguiled: http://brianbeguiled.blogspot.com/

An overlooked gem of 70's Sci-fi. Uses its desert location to generate an atmosphere of isolation and paranoia. Fabulous photography of real ants add to the chilling atmosphere. Ending was a bit of a cop out but i'd still recommend this to any sci-fi fan

Phase IV fmovies. A fairly unknown SF film, but I would definitely recommend it. It's in typical seventies style: the world is doomed, the human race has messed up, and now we pay the price. Well, what else is new, right? The things a lot of these seventies movies predicted are now becoming reality (global warming in Soylent Green), earthquakes, disasters, diseases, you name it. Even the world is run by damn dirty apes now! That is why I always enjoy these movies, including "minor" classics such as the Andromeda Strain, Omega Man and Phase IV. Phase IV tells us what a lot of scientists know already: insects will survive us all, they are intelligent, inventive and indestructible. This movie tries to tackle the subject in a quite serious fashion (no giant rubber monsters here), and perhaps that's is why is has slowly vanished into movie limbo: it's not a spectacular and exciting movie, it tells us what could happen (and in a very grim and scary atmosphere). It's this reality that makes it exciting, not all the overload of effects and action people expect today. I liked the movie a lot, and sincerely hope it gets a DVD release. With all the crap they put out these days, isn't there some room for quality and intelligent stories? I actually saw the movie during its theatrical release, and believe me, this one belongs on DVD!

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

30 years ago I fell asleep on the couch and woke up half-way through a movie about ants forming a collective and attacking people in the desert. Unfortunately, I did not have a TV guide at the time and so never new the name of this movie.

It bothered me for years that I didn't know the name of the movie and every now and again I would try various Google searches (when Google was invented) but initially found no matching entries and later on there were too many entries about movies with ants - so I would give up.

I recently posted this question "What's the name of this movie with ants?" on a forum and miraculously someone provided the name and a link to this website - if they hadn't I could have lived a full life and died without knowing the name.

That's how striking this movie is.

My next mission is find a copy so I can watch the whole thing.