PHASE IV Review
It’s hard to make the miniscule terrifying, especially when it comes to creature features, but give credit to Saul Bass and co. for making a massive army of normal sized but intelligent ants absolutely petrifying. A film that appears just as barren and plain as the desert it is set in, PHASE IV is anything but that as its unassuming setup gives way to a taut and surreal tale of two scientists facing off against a threat that lies right beneath our feet.
That threat of course being a bunch of ants. Ants that were somehow changed by some kind of cosmic event in the stars to gain terrifying intelligence and craft, but ants nonetheless. However, as the film demonstrates in a masterclass of (practically) dialogue free world building, PHASE IV stands out amongst its “bugs gone wild” peers by creating an atmosphere of genuine dread. You see, the ants in the film’s opening moments are already beginning their war on humanity, already driving out an isolated community out in the Arizona desert prompting the government to send in two scientists to get to the bottom of things. Those two scientists, Dr. Ernest Hubbs (Nigel Davenport) and James Lesko (Michael Murphy), arrive into the now deserted community to set up a research station to see what exactly the ants are up to. Initially underestimating their tiny opponent, the two scientists, in addition to a teenage girl they later take on played by Lynne Frederick, realize that they are dealing with something much more serious and world-threatening.
Soon, the scientists, who differ in opinions regarding the intelligent ants (Hubbs wants to destroy them, Lesko wants to open up communications with them), find themselves in a fight for their lives as the ants begin to close in around them. An increasingly suffocating chamber piece at its core, PHASE IV is a testament to the deviantly surreal direction and ominous script by Saul Bass and Mayo Simon, respectively. Being his first (and only) feature film, it’s impressive to see Bass have such a steady handle of the pacing and story, filling each scene with a creeping horror that edges toward THE THING territory as growing paranoia and malice begins to close in on the two scientists. The film’s beautifully grim visual look is certainly the show-stealer, as Bass (who is more known for creating those legendary title sequences for various Alfred Hitchcock movies) and his cinematographer Dick Bush startlingly frame the vast, oppressive desert just as stunningly as the vacuous and otherworldly ant colonies below. Assuredly, Bass and his production crew complete the hard task of making small ants terrifying through unsettling sequences of the ants planning and “talking” with one another or building imposing obelisks and structures overnight. While on paper the idea of ants infiltrating a research facility and cutting off its A/C unit sounds silly, Bass and Simon turn these silly ideas into unsettling realities thanks to a serious commitment to the material.
Occupying this doomed world of fiendish ants are a duo of central performances that authentically capture the feelings of scientific interest and human fear. That clash of feelings is effectively put to use through Davenport and Murphy’s pair up as Davenport’s headstrong and antagonistic views towards the ants makes for an interesting dynamic with Murphy’s more laid-back and benevolent approach. While Davenport gets to later ham it up a bit as events go from bad to worse, Murphy himself does an effective job portraying the film’s centered hero. Where the film struggles a bit is in Ms. Frederick’s quickly orphaned Kendra, whose coincidental attachment to the two scientists feels overall unnecessary as the character really doesn’t add any interesting conflicts to the two scientists outside of being another person to keep away from the ants. As a result, her character doesn’t really do much besides look frightened or ask questions regarding the scientific work taking place which, to Ms. Frederick’s credit, she is ably capable of doing. On a more surprising note, one must commend the ants’ performances as well as the thousands upon thousands of ants, ranging from red ones to yellow ones to even some Queen ants, really work it on the camera, which again is a testament to the skill behind the camera.
With so much praise to be thrown around, it’s a shame that the final act of the film (more specifically, its ending), can’t quite keep up with the rest of the movie as Simon’s story more or less decides to wrap things up rather quickly. While the writer displays a very impressive sense of pace throughout most of the film, ably building on the growing power of the ants and the scientists futile attempts to control them, it’s a bit of a shame that the ending comes as abrupt as it does as the final reveal hardly feel as well tuned as the rest of the story. Allegedly, however, there is a version of the film out there that displays a much more surreal ending that Saul Bass originally wanted for the film so maybe that version fully brings things thematically together.
Even so, it’s really nice to come randomly across a film like PHASE IV, a picture that on poster and logline alone may have one creating assumptions about it that probably couldn’t be further from the truth. Indeed, if one decides to plop this bad boy on their screen, one should prepare for a genuinely unnerving trip into an Arizona desert concealing a million or so little terrors.
4.5/5
