Saul Bass’s “Phase IV” lies within the interstices of science fiction and horror, and adds an unexpected element: that of sheer awe and mystery.
As a partial inspiration for his film, Bass likely had the 1971 faux documentary “The Hellstrom Chronicle” in mind. “The Hellstrom Chronicle’s” thesis is that insects will be the ultimate inheritors of the Earth. Bass, best known as a creator of film titles (most notably for many Hitchcock classics), was also a great admirer of Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey”. He even wrote a brief letter of appreciation to Kubrick that is reprinted in Jerome Agel’s book “The Making of 2001”. “Phase IV” itself seems a demonic inversion of Kubrick’s film, offering, as it does, a rather different view of human destiny.
Cosmic disturbances appear to have caused strange alterations in the behavior of ants. Instead of ordinary mounds, enormous towers bearing massive ant colonies have been discovered in the desert. The ants have also become aggressive, and are mounting nocturnal attacks upon local farmers and their livestock. In addition to a tremendous collective intelligence and purposiveness, the ants seem to have developed a virulent form of venom. A pair of scientists–the leader of whom exudes rationalist, anthropocentric arrogance–establishes a laboratory in the vicinity to study the phenomenon and to put an end to it.
(Note: SPOILER ALERT!) I know: Just another 1950’s B-movie retread about mutant insects thwarted in their evil plot for world domination by good, old-fashioned pluck and scientific know-how, right? Wrong! The ants–normal-sized, by the way–are more than a match for each of man’s contrivances. By using their superior social organization and intelligence, and by fearless self-sacrifice, the mutant ants bring the humans to their knees in short order. The film’s end leaves little doubt as to man’s future, and eerily implies that the ants have a plan for a new “Adam and Eve” that is rather different from that of humanity’s supposed “creator”.
For the “species-traitor”, it is exhilarating to see the ants, through their disciplined single- mindedness, triumph over the arrogant scientists. I doubt, however, that this theme endeared “Phase IV” to the movie-going public. In fact, given the film’s mood, ending, and inadvertent demonstration of the power of quasi-fascistic social organization, it is easy to understand why *Phase IV* is not better known–and why Saul Bass, alas, never directed another film after this one.
