Review #1,375: 'Phase IV' (1974)

Graphic designer Saul Bass was best known for his work with movie title sequences and posters, working with the likes of Otto Preminger, Alfred Hitchcock and Martin Scorsese over a career spanning more than four decades. When he was offered the chance to direct a film himself, he jumped at the opportunity. The poster for his directorial debut, Phase IV, boasted of "ravenous invaders controlled by a terror out in space... commanded to annihilate the world!" At first glance, it would seem this is your basic B-movie fare about killer ants taking over the world, but Bass set his ambitions much higher, with Walon Green and Ed Spiegel's Oscar-winning documentary The Hellstrom Chronicle a huge inspiration for the project. The result is a strange mixture of Hellstrom and 2001: A Space Odyssey, and is as engrossing as it is frustrating.

After an unexplained cosmic event, scientists have started noticing strange behaviour within the insect kingdom, with a rapid decline in ant predators such as spiders and birds, and huge monolithic towers popping up everywhere in desert regions. There has been heavy ant activity in Arizona, and their sheer numbers and aggression have resulted in the evacuation of whole towns. Scientists Ernest D. Hubbs (Nigel Davenport) and James Lesko (Michael Murphy) are sent to the area to study the insects' behaviour, erecting a huge dome in the desert to conduct their experiments. They have different plans to tackle the ants, with Hubbs seeking a way to eradicate them completely, and Lesko developing methods of communication to try and understand their motivation. A chemical spray takes many ant casualties, and it soon turns to war. However, the humans get more than they bargained for when the super-intelligent creatures come up with ways to fight back, including building structures capable of deflecting sunlight onto the dome to slowly cook their enemies alive. 

The premise is silly enough to warrant the film a place in the bargain bin, but Bass and writer Mayo Simon (Futureworld) take the subject matter seriously, hoping to capture the imagination of a 70's audience hungry for new ideas within science-fiction. A lot of time is spent with the ants in extreme close-up, and these scenes are some of the film's most hypnotic. We watch their strange behaviour in incredible detail, as they plan, evolve, and mourn. One moment sees a soldier line up the dead bodies of its comrades in what appears to be some kind of funeral procession. Things become more formulaic when the action returns to Hubbs and Lesko, with the introduction of an unnecessary romantic sub-plot involving Lesko and Kendra (Lynne Frederick) - the latter the only survivor of a family taken out by the scientists' chemical distribution - occasionally grinding the story to a halt. These niggles aside, Phase IV is a sprawling visual feast designed for the thinking man, leaving many unanswered questions which shroud the film in mystery. How have the ants evolved so quickly, and what's their beef with humanity? We don't get to know, but it's pretty scary to ponder. Studio tampering saw the film cut and the ending changed, which soured Bass to the extent that he would never make another feature. It's a damn shame, as there was real promise here. 

Directed by: Saul Bass

Starring: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford

Country: UK/USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie