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.
Phase IV
1974
Action / Horror / Sci-Fi / Thriller
Phase IV
1974
Action / Horror / Sci-Fi / Thriller
Plot summary
Arizona ants mock the food chain on their way to a desert lab to get two scientists and a woman.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
June 17, 2019 at 03:12 AM
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Strikingly Weird Film.
Not the most interesting story, but stunningly photographed.
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.
Harrowing, hallucinatory and altogether fascinating
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.