Fase IV: distruzione Terra

Phase IV is an incredible full length feature film by Saul Bass who is most acclaimed as a graphic designer who's work can be seen as the opening credits from The Seven Year Itch, Vertigo, West Side Story to Alien, Broadcast News and Casino. Phase IV is a much overlooked film that is very much in the style of The Andromeda Strain. What it perhaps lacks in story, it gains in the photography of the millions of ants - the film's additional cast.

Though there are plenty of movies with ants as the antagonist I'll have to be honest with the exception of Them (1954) I've never really been able to take them seriously as a viable threat. I mean seriously, ants?

Phase IV managed to change my mind on that and made ants a legitimately terrifying credible enemy.

It tells the story of a pair of scientists who set up a lab in the middle of the desert where ants seem to have taken over. Right beside a failed desert development they underestimate the intelligence of their diminutive foes.

The first thing that struck me was how good it all looked, the movie is years ahead of its time in both cinematography and practical effects. The ant sequences are truly remarkable and not rushed as you tend to expect them to be for the mid 70's. They take their time, intricately crafting the ants world, telling their silent story and solidifying their credibility as threats to mankind.

I went in expecting some hammy mess, what I got was an elusive diamond in the rough and I'm very very impressed.

Well acted, visually stunning and paced perfectly Phase IV is a great sci-fi piece that didn't deserve to go under the radar the way it did.

Fantastic stuff.

The Good:

Well ahead of its time

Looks great

Ant footage is very impressive

Strong cast

The Bad:

The nagging concern of possible animal cruelty

Silly ant noises

I have seen this film numerous times, starting when I was ten yrs old and it has always had a peculiar fascination for me. It moves a bit slower than most modern viewers are used to but it is pretty compelling stuff.The ant photography is amazing. When I was a small boy and I heard about this I was expecting something along the lines of THEM! and anyone who has seen this knows it is about as far from that as you can imagine. But even as a youngster wanting something more un-subtle and action-oriented, I was not turned off by PHASE IV's slow art-film qualities.It is a shame Saul Bass never directed again because this was a valiant effort to do something a little different. I say bravo! Seen in widescreen for the first time after years of TV viewings and the panned & scanned VHS the new DVD of Phase IV is a revelation. The compositions and use of color are masterful.

A fairly unknown SF film, but I would definitely recommend it. It's in typical seventies style: the world is doomed, the human race has messed up, and now we pay the price. Well, what else is new, right? The things a lot of these seventies movies predicted are now becoming reality (global warming in Soylent Green), earthquakes, disasters, diseases, you name it. Even the world is run by damn dirty apes now! That is why I always enjoy these movies, including "minor" classics such as the Andromeda Strain, Omega Man and Phase IV. Phase IV tells us what a lot of scientists know already: insects will survive us all, they are intelligent, inventive and indestructible. This movie tries to tackle the subject in a quite serious fashion (no giant rubber monsters here), and perhaps that's is why is has slowly vanished into movie limbo: it's not a spectacular and exciting movie, it tells us what could happen (and in a very grim and scary atmosphere). It's this reality that makes it exciting, not all the overload of effects and action people expect today. I liked the movie a lot, and sincerely hope it gets a DVD release. With all the crap they put out these days, isn't there some room for quality and intelligent stories? I actually saw the movie during its theatrical release, and believe me, this one belongs on DVD!

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.