Phase IV, 1974.
Directed by Saul Bass.
Starring Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford, Robert Henderson, and Helen Horton.
SYNOPSIS:
After a cosmic event the ants of the Arizona desert begin to wage war on the life that inhabits the area.
Given the state of things at the moment, as humanity faces the biggest threat to its numbers since WWII, this Blu-ray release of 1970s dystopian sci-fi Phase IV could be seen as somewhat timely, especially given the questions that we must now ask ourselves about how we exist.
But coming as it did over 40 years ago it says something that the themes it raises are pretty much the same, and that the surviving humans ways of dealing with the problem at hand are no more rational or thought out than what we see on our TV screens every day. In this case, scientists Ernest Hubbs (Nigel Davenport – Chariots of Fire) and James Lesko (Michael Murphy – Shocker) are investigating the apparent evolution of ants in Arizona after a cosmic event that strangely left mankind untouched. The ants are gathering in masses and attacking any living creatures in the vicinity, and after a local farmer and his family are killed, the lone survivor hooks up with the scientists as they try to find a way to halt the rampage.
All of which sounds like the plot to a thrilling 1950s B-movie full of giant mutated bugs, square-jawed heroes and an angry military division blowing seven shades of you-know-what out of the landscape. That movie – or one like it – came along three years later in the shape of schlock classic Empire of the Ants, which may or may not be good depending on your tolerance for cheese. However, Phase IV approaches its subject in a very different way; in fact, one could say it is a much more mature film that treats its subject very seriously, as opposed to watching Joan Collins scream against a blown-up rear projected background.
This is down to a combination of stock footage and specially shot sequences of regular ants going about their business (and apparently doing a bit of acting), interspersed with the main narrative provided by doctors Hubbs and Lesko. For instance, Hubbs will state a fact about what the ants are doing and the film will switch to footage of ants – in extreme close-up with appropriate ‘70s sci-fi audio cues – to create the illusion of them actually doing what he says. It sounds naff – and occasionally it is – but in the main it works and creates, along with some stunning landscape photography, bizarre psychedelic optical effects and overly dramatic performances, a chilling portrait of nature evolving into something we can’t actually see happening but we know is going on.
While the suggested threat and eerie promise of an apocalypse work to create a chilling atmosphere, the film runs at a lean 83 minutes but feels a lot longer because there is very little actual action going on, and despite the movie fitting into the ‘nature gone wild’ genre along with other ‘70s animal-based thrillers like Day of the Animals, Grizzly, Kingdom of the Spiders and the aforementioned Empire of the Ants, Phase IV is a very different beast in that it is fairly joyless and a bit of a slog to sit through, especially more than once, and it is only the inclusion of director Saul Bass’s original ending in the special features that offers a hint of some B-movie spice to pep things up a bit.
And credit goes to the wizards at 101 Films for bumping up this package with a host of special features that do add a lot of context to a film that is, at best, a curious one-off watch. As well as the aforementioned original ending there is an audio commentary by film historians Allan Bryce and Richard Holliss and An Ant’s Life: Contextualising Phase IV, a short documentary featuring filmmakers putting together what the film means. But that is just disc one, as on disc two you get no less than six Saul Bass short films from the ‘60s through to the ‘80s – including the Oscar-winning Why Man Creates – that showcase his talent for production design and surreal storytelling through imagery that is there in Phase IV – his only feature-length directorial credit – but isn’t enough to drive the film fully into the more accessible and dynamic world of the creature feature, instead making the film an oddity that does what all good sci-fi should do by asking questions but unfortunately not quite managing to deliver on its initial promise.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Chris Ward
