Undescribable Perfection

A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

By far the creepiest aspect of this film was the American scientist's attraction to what was supposed to be a child. Yes, I know the actress playing her was aged 19 - 20 at the time of filming but her character wasn't, as evidenced by the bit of trivia stating she had to wear a special corset to hide her maturity. The way she's presented to Lesko towards the end of the film, like Adam being presented with Eve, and indeed his own commentary, in which he states it was 'clear' what was expected of them, confirms how he views her and her role, at least in his mind. Still, I suppose 40+ years on, he could claim it wasn't him, the ants made him do it.

This is not a good movie. The sorry line is awful. It is not scary. 6.6 is just overrating it. It not scary at all. It has some good actors but it is not a good story line at all. This is one of the worst horror movie of all time. I need more lines and I am running out of things to say. Do not wast your time. Do not wast your money. Do not see this awful movie. If you want to get scared see Empire of Ants. Do not see this stinky stinky dodo. There is a reason why people like it. But I could not tell you. I do not knew why this got a 6.6. It is so pooh pooh. I do not knew why people like. Just see Empire of the Ants do not see this.

When one hears of a sci-fi film about the massing of hyper-intelligent ants one immediately constructs a mental imagine of something akin to Them! (1954) with its ridiculous, though iconic, monster ants barely functioning well enough to move. However, Phase IV is an entirely different movie…and ant for that matter. Phase IV is nothing short of a sci-fi film for the "thinking man". While being fully aware of the genre's motifs its cinematic approach is that of the art-house – a 70s psychedelic sci-fi trip shrouded in hordes of ants directed by the famous Academy Award winning graphic designer, Saul Bass. For all this, its status in film history is nothing but a tragedy. It's the only feature film directed by Bass and it's almost completely forgotten and certainly isn't readily available for viewing.The story is fairly simple: some undefined cosmic event occurs and augments ant evolution. This particular desert colony ascends to an intelligent collective consciousness making the ants capable of communication and great terror. The colony, per its aggressive expansion, drives out the local human population. A scientific lab is established with our main scientist protagonists. The proceedings eventually lead to a division between the two scientists and some inevitable chaos.The brilliance of this film is the visual component. The cinematography by Dick Bush (not kidding) is in line with the best of the 70s. Furthermore, there are also a lot of interestingly beautiful shots of the colony and ant behavior. Straight away at the start of the film we are presented some truly striking images of the ant intelligence movement for several minutes – no dialog, no humans, just cinematic language.In short one could say, If you're the type of person annoyed by a Space Odyssey or even Blade Runner, then you're the type of person that shouldn't watch Phase IV. However, if you're a total film buff and/or sci-fi nerd I highly recommend you seek out this hard to find, underrated, masterpiece – you will not regret it.Review from Beguiled: http://brianbeguiled.blogspot.com/

Phase IV is a movie with an interesting premise, with nice imagery and cinematography to boot. It feels somewhat aged, but in a charmingly retro kind of way. Both protagonists were good and played well together. Nigel Davenport especially, with a beard that really stole the scenes. The film became surreal almost, in mixing the shots filmed in studio and Kenya, with those that followed the ants in their colonies and those filmed through their eyes.My main problem with the movie however, and one that destroyed the essence of the premise, was that the ants never felt more than mere ants. This film really needed to establish the ants as highly intelligent and sinister, but unfortunately, accomplished neither. It tried, many times to do this, to no avail. Like an organized attack on a horse and house in the beginning, or the pillar-like colony structures, symbolizing their step out of the ground, their now elevated intelligence and superiority to the humans, the former top of the food chain.Many times it felt almost comical, such as when a woman discovers an ant in an old mans hair in a pickup truck in the beginning, which causes her to burst out in a choir of scream, leading to the truck colliding with an arbitrarily placed metal structure. Though I must admit, there were some scenes with the ants I found great. For example when one ant finds its way into the heart of the humans technological structure and starts to chew its way into the cable only to be eaten by a mantis, who then is attacked by another ant, causing it to slip and short circuit the electronics which ultimately fries it.