Friday, 8 December 2017

Phase IV

(Saul Bass/1974/UK & USA) 

Ants, imbued with a psychic hive mind from an interstellar phenomenon, begin to take over the world. Ok they take over a patch of desert in Arizona but you have to start somewhere right? A scientific team comprising James Lesko and Ernest Hubbs deploy themselves in the centre of the ant activity to observe and analyse what’s happening. The ants have attacked nearby residents and shown an evolved form of aggression. The scientists and ants go to war, as much psychological as physical and as small and seemingly innocuous as they are the ants seem to be the superior strategists. It’s one of those barmy sci-fi plots that presents a threat in something that from the get go you can’t fathom but then generates a genuine sense of unease and building panic as the humans run out of ideas and time in their battle against the teeny weeny army. The camera work on the ants is great and also the setting and exterior shots all add to the atmosphere of increasing paranoia. As silly as the story sounds it does keep you engaged and the ending is very nicely done. A solid low budget sci-fi.

(3/5)

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