After hearing over the years a number of positive things about this cult movie - such as it being the feature length debut for title designer Saul Bass - I was sure to catch a viewing of it when recently it played on Turner Classic Movies. After actually watching it, though, I was kind of mystified by its strong cult status. My guess is that a lot of its fan base consists of people who indulge in certain narcotics. That's because the movie is filled with admittedly strong visuals, ranging from extremely close up photography of insects to desert landscapes. The look of the movie does have some compelling power. However, it isn't enough to hide the fact that the script has some major weaknesses. The human characters are kind of vague and undefined, and the story has some plot points that are not properly explained. Had these script weaknesses been corrected before filming started, we might have had something here, but as it is, the movie is for the most part just (admittedly) pleasant eye candy.

Nigel Davenport should have knighted for his services to drama. In this film, he plays a scientist out to study ants in the Arizona desert. Michael Murphy is great as the reasonable voice. Lynne Frederick's Kendra is never fully explained in the movie. I caught this film a few times but still have questions about it. The director and cinematographer did an excellent job. It's not your average thriller with cheap shots! In fact, the cast is concise where all the characters serve a purpose. The desert ants have a mind of their own and are more evolved and intelligent! I still don't get how they dominate the humans. We only know the three phases but not the fourth. The ending is never fully explained.

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.

I watched Phase IV in the 1970s when I was probably too young to understand it but I was hooked on it anyway... It's the ants.This film has a lot to offer and is deeply rewarding when watched again and again over the years. I only recently realised that this is one of the very few films directed by Saul Bass, whose production, titles and graphic designs defined the coolness, and the cool, of the 1950s, 60s and 70's American cinema. Mad Men? Not without Saul Bass.And Phase IV is very much a design cinema, the kind that Don Draper would watch several times over. It's Sci-Fi for sure. It could be an extended episode of a never-realised 1970s visit to the Twilight Zone. It's a type of American film that makes you think of the low-budget Americana of Easy Rider, Corman, and early Coppola. It's very cool. If you can imagine an American SF film reconfigured as world cinema nature documentary with aspects of Cronenberg horror, then you have only just begun to embrace this film.A few years ago I listened to a Blue States album and the cover reminded me of this film so I watched it again. And I keep watching it. It's haunting, worrying, apocalyptic, cool, beautifully photographed and minimalist in its attitude to conventional drama and character. The actors are amazing, though. Michael Murphy. Understated and subtle. Nigel Davenport. A Don!Finally, If you are afraid of ants, DO NOT watch this film. The idea that they could truly harm humankind is outlandish and beautiful. I love ants, so it's OK.