Phase IV
Director: Saul Bass
Stars: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Fredrick, Alan Gifford, Robert Henderson, Helen Horton
Running Time: 84 Minutes
Tagline: "The Day the Earth was turned into a Cemetery".
How well can a film about deadly ants trying to take over human existence from 1974 possibly hold up today? The answer, surprisingly well! This film is well how of a freaky trip right from the opening shots! The army of ants are captured in close detail roaming the dirty undergrowth, accompanied by a eerie spaced out psychedelic soundtrack and a very posh narrator proclaiming, "Ants are doing what ants don't normally do." I was almost on the floor at some of this section! Anyway the scene works to humanise the cultures/bugs before the main human characters arrive.
Those humans are the oddball scientists Dr. Ernest D. Hubbs (Nigel Davenport) and James R. Lesko (Michael Murphy). Hubbs the experienced one, but with a strange obsession for the creatures. Lesko the more ritual, relaxed rookie of the pair. Oddly a young Michael Murphy looks scarily like a young Robert Redford... This partnership makes for quite a fun screen pairing with some great dialogue exchanged between the two throughout. One of the highlights for me was Lesko telling Hubbs, "Look I came down here for some science in the sun," More of these gems later! Another thing I love about their introductions is them driving in with the car shot as if its some alien shuttle intruding upon unknown land... The look of this sequence is so bleached out, dusty and grotesque. Even something as simple as tower hanging on a clothesline looks filthy. One of the crucial early shots is the dreamlike image of Kendra (Lynne Frederick) on her horse. Hubbs and Lesko warn Kendra's grandparents about the danger lurking from beneath the service. The crazy old fools pay no attention, and pay the ultimately price. As does Kendra's horse.... The chaos is quite insane!
"ANTS! DO SOMETHING"!!! "GET ME THE GUN"!! "THEIR ALL OVER THE PLACE"!
Actually my favourite line of the movie might be when Hubbs announces "I'm going to counter with 100% Yellow." He presses the yellow button (naturally!) releasing a yellow goo that wipes the ants away killing Kendra's grandparents in the process. Another corker from Hubbs is the line about about "Maybe they've learnt something." Murphy does well to play his part as straight as possible, both grounding his character in response to Hubbs, while also selling Lesko's naivety to the danger lying in wait. Despite his best efforts his interactions with Kendra still come off a bit creepy, but I guess he heart is in the right place so that's alright. A little more off is the sequence when the three of them TAKE A SHOWER TOGETHER!!! Nope not making that up folks! I get for hygiene and health purposes they need to wash the goo out, but come on guys could that have been anymore creepy?
From here on in there's some more crazy interactions, some creepiness such as the ants eating through the wires and eating each other. James actually reacting emotionally towards the ants as they attack Hubbs is a nice little scene. The twist at the end is really clever. It does run out of steam around about the 3rd Phase, but is good bonkers fun mostly.
Rating: 7/10
