Phase IV (1974)

4 / 5 Jan '11
Tagline: Adapt or die.
Directed by: Saul Bass
Written by: Mayo Simon, John Barry
Actors include: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick
Genre: Sci-Fi, Horror
Length: 84 minutes/93 for the lost version
Banned: Nope

Review:
I give this credit for managing to be a relatively intelligent film about ants overtaking the world...I mean that is not an easy task. All this and it's quite fascinatingly filmed with ant's eye view and some techniques and visuals that one would just not expect. The plot is very similar to Them!, but this one seems less campy and more serious. We follow two researchers in the middle of nowhere (who work out of a building that looks like Epcot center) who are studying the mutations in the ant population. We watch as they slowly become immune to the poisons we use and how they evolve to communicate and that whole idea is a little frightening. We also meet a family who mainly die during a poison spread, only the teenage daughter survives and she ends up stuck with the researchers. It's definitely a creative take on an idea that would normally be laughable and it is very entertaining and well made. It's maybe a bit slow at the start but the plot is so compelling that it's quite gripping as it goes on. One of the better "scare humanity" sci-fi pictures of the '70s, also this was remade in the '2000s but I didn't see that version. Oh and there are 6 minutes missing from the end that are supposedly psychedelic and involve what the ants have intended for us which I am dying to see. Currently these minutes are completely lost, I'm crossing my fingers that someone will find them and release them, I'm so curious.

Availability:  On DVD

Them! (1954)

4.5 / 5 Dec '09
Tagline: The Amazing New Warner Bros. Sensation!
Directed by: Gordon Douglas
Written by: Ted Sherdeman, Russell S. Hughes
Actors include: James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, Joan Weldon
Genre: Sci-Fi, Horror
Length: 94 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Y'know, this has just about everything and it's one of the most thrilling sci-fi films I've seen yet. It's also frightening as far as the concept goes, although it seems ridiculous at first the more you think about it the more it seems surprisingly possible (kind of). At first we meet a little girl who can't speak (from terror!) and we watch as the Police are trying to investigate a series of break-ins and sugar thefts (hmmm). Of course as one can tell by merely looking at the cover it's a giant ant picture but considering the time the effects are reasonable, the destruction is great and it's a nice little warning about atomic bombs too! There are other factors at play too as they learn of who "Them" are are they willing to admit it to the public before it's too late? Do they stand a chance...does earth? See ants have a habit of killing some and enslaving others...what will be our fate? Maybe I enjoyed this so much because I had no expectations going in but then again maybe this is just a classic that is still exciting today!

Availability:  On DVD as part of a 2fer with "The Beast With 20,000 Fathoms"