PHASE IV
MOVIE REVIEW

		Review by Kelly Parks
PHASE IV - 1974 USA Release: Sept. 6, 1974 Alced Productions, Paramount Pictures Rating: USA: R

“It’s almost as if they were… organized.”
-Les Nessman

PHASE IV was directed by Saul Bass and written by Mayo Simon (MAROONED, FUTUREWORLD). It opens with two sets of narration. First we hear information specialist James Lesko (Michael Murphy: COUNT YORGA: VAMPIRE, X-MEN 3) talk about some never truly defined "strange events" in space that everyone was talking about and how no one knew the effect these events had on the lowly ant.

Then we see quite a bit of footage of ants walking around various geometric shapes and staring into each other’s eyes followed by another piece of narration from senior project scientist and ant expert Dr. Ernest Hubbs (Nigel Davenport: DRACULA [1973], THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU [1977]). Hubbs explains how he found ants of different species in the Arizona desert cooperating with each other and launching concerted attacks against the buildings in the area, driving out all the residents.

Hubbs gets funding to build a cool geodesic dome research station near some odd tower structures the ants have made. He brings Lesko along to translate the ant language and the project begins.

Well, sort of. Weeks go by and nothing much happens. The ants stay underground mostly, though they occasionally stare menacingly from their towers. In an effort to get some activity going Hubbs decides to blow up the towers, which has the desired effect and then some. The resulting ant activity allows the project to continue.

This turns out to be bad news for a local farm family who get in the way of the increased ant activity. A young girl named Kendra (Lynne Frederick: VAMPIRE CIRCUS, THE CANTERVILLE GHOST, SCHIZO) is the only one to make it safely to the station. Lesko correctly points out that they need to call for help but Hubbs is afraid of the project being shut down because no one understands just how smart these ants have become, damn it, so what difference do a few casualties make? Hubbs is a bit of a sociopath.

But is he an interesting sociopath? I'll tell you that in a minute, right after the

!!!SCIENCE MOMENT!!!:
Since the “strange events in space” are never defined I can’t speculate on whether or not they could boost ant intelligence. I will say that if aliens somehow made ant colonies into superintelligent beings then the things they are shown doing aren’t impossible or anything. And I did like the 70’s computer tech and applied information theory as a way to translate ant-speak. But I especially liked how the ants fought back after Hubbs starts the war, and that’s all I’ll say about that.

One more general comment: Am I the only one who finds it annoying when scientists wax poetic about what a perfect little society ants have with their perfect altruism and perfect division of labor and if only humanity, blah, blah, blah? In other words, if only people were happy with their genetically pre-determined place in society. If only they were happy slaves who never had an independent thought.

Spare me, you totalitarian nutjob.

In the spirit of full disclosure I must admit that I reviewed this movie mostly because I saw it as a kid and thought it was pretty cool at the time. Thirty-plus years later and cool isn’t the right word. What's the word for a movie that has a few interesting scenes but is otherwise filled with so many boring, meaningless segments that it seems really long in spite of an 84 minute run time? The word is "two", as in a two on the shriek girl scale.

This review copyright 2009 E.C.McMullen Jr.

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