Phase IV

Name: Phase IV
Genre: Sci-Fi, Thriller, Horror
Released: September 1, 1974
Duration: 84 min
Rating: 49
Cast: Alan Gifford, David Healy, Helen Horton, Lynne Frederick, Michael Murphy

1974

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Mixed or average reviews based on 7 Critic Reviews

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Generally favorable reviews based on 4 Ratings

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7.0	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 4 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Paramount Pictures | Release Date: September 1, 1974 | PG

Starring: Alan Gifford, David Healy, Helen Horton, Lynne Frederick, Michael Murphy, Nigel Davenport, Robert Henderson

Summary: Desert ants suddenly form a collective intelligence and begin to wage war on the inhabitants. It is up to two scientists and a stray girl they rescue from the ants to destroy them.

Director: Saul Bass

Genre(s): Sci-Fi, Thriller, Horror

Rating: PG

Runtime: 84 min

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Critic Reviews

Keith Phipps

In form, Phase IV isn’t that different from monster movies of old, though the ants never grow to monstrous size. In execution, it’s much more striking, offering a study in contrasts between ants and humans, and one that doesn’t always reflect favorably on the humans. Read full review

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky

It’s a movie that seems to have been designed more than directed, and edited around principles of color and line, rather than around performance or plot. Read full review

A. H. Weiler

In making his feature directorial debut after a succession of distinguished film titles, graphics and short subjects, Saul Bass, with the aid of special insect photography by Ken Middleham (Hellstrom Chronicle), has fashioned a pictorially persuasive adventure. Read full review

Jonathan Rosenbaum

So-so ecological SF thriller from 1974 about superintelligent ants. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

Humankind's fate is left in the hands of several unusually inept and colourless scientists, the ants get the works from the special effects department, and original ideas (so often a casualty in sci-fi cinema) take a back seat. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

This one didn't get the bugs worked out before release. It's another in the Hollywood cycle of films based on every kind of creature enlarged by radiation. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

One would think that director Saul Bass, whose credit sequences for such films as Hitchcock's PSYCHO are nearly as interesting as the films themselves, could pump some energy into this potentially interesting premise, but all he comes up with is an overly intellectual bore. Read full review

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