The night I stumbled upon this movie’s showing in the Alamo’s November-December schedule my brain had to do a double-take. For years I had to ponder if Phase IV really existed thanks to the few people who have heard of it; the rest gave me looks of “you’re making this crap up dude,” including my parents, they watched it with me on TV…the ABC Thursday Night Movie circa the Summer of 1978!
So this film is making the rounds as a part of a Saul Bass showcase sponsored by the Academy, the Oscar® one. The man was most famous for designing the opening credits/titles and posters to numerous movies you’d recognize from the Sixites: West Side Story and Ocean’s 11 (not the terrible remakes). I think the Academy’s representative said Bass also directed commercials. In the early Seventies, he finally directed a feature and it was his last, I guess he returned to what he did best. Before Bass died in 1996, he left a vast treasure trove of material to the Academy including this movie’s original ending. The studio hated it, found it confusing and changed it against Bass’s wishes.
The Academy is awash in treasure which is why it took over 15 years for what we watched to see the light of day. Plus the Academy had to put some effort into cleaning up what Bass left them; hunt down the color separations, negatives, remove dirt, scratches, etc. Was it worth the effort? I’ll let you know below and since Phase IV is over 30 years old, what I write isn’t a spoiler as I give a synopsis.
An ambiguous cosmic event happens in the Spring (northern hemisphere) with worldwide disappointment; sounds like Kohoutek. Little did the human race know, the event actually affected several ant species indigenous to the American Southwest. Enter entomologist Dr. Hubbs and game-theory expert Lesko. The government has sent them to investigate because Hubbs recently turned in a report stating that all natural enemies of these ants have disappeared. Lesko was brought along to assist Hubbs in finding an explanation for the ants’ behavior, maybe discover how they communicate.
Both underestimate how vicious and aggressive these insects have become until a local farm is overrun. The farm’s residents flee toward Hubbs and Lesko’s sealed lab for help but are killed by the ants’ bites/stings and poison Hubbs unleashes. The scientists go outside in sealed bio-hazard suits to assess the damage: the dead farmers, their exploded vehicle. To their shock, the farm’s youngest resident, Kendra, survived so they take her inside.
The ants then escalate the conflict by becoming immune to the poison in a matter of days, attacking the lab with reflective mounds (trying to raise the in-door temperature) and sabotaging the lab’s environmental systems. Hubbs also gets bit after Kendra damages his ant-behavior experiment, this results in his arm swelling and he gradually descends into madness. Lesko senses time is running out so he sends a message to the ants hoping they’ll understand. The ants’ response puzzles Lesko. Who or what represents the oval inside the circle (the lab) inside the square (the poisonous area)?
Kendra figures the ants want her and leaves the lab while the scientists debate. She disappears without a trace. Hubbs decides the ants are taking instructions from a hyper-intelligent queen in a nearby mound, thus he must go there with the strongest poison at his disposal to kill her. Delirious, Hubbs ventures outside unprotected, only to fall into a pit as the ants devour him. Lesko is now completely unnerved. His calculations state that if nothing is done, the ants will conquer the desert by the season’s end and based upon their reproductive rate, ants will invade the closest major cities. Lesko dons a bio-hazard suit, grabs the strongest poison in the arsenal and sets out to do what Hubbs recommended. The ants fight back every step of the way forcing him to the heavier gear.
Lesko makes it to the mound and climbs in through a human-sized tunnel, poison canister at the ready. Before he can find the queen’s chamber, Kendra rises out of the ground in front of him. They embrace and Lesko realizes what the ants want…them. Ants don’t want to destroy the human race, they plan to change us to be a part of their world. Obviously, the ants will be charge.
Bass’s Original Ending
After the movie ended, Alamo rolled the original conclusion which starts with Lesko entering the mound. Kendra rises up. They embrace. Then it’s a trippy, several minute montage of what the world will be like with the ants in charge…structured, specialized, ordered. At least I think it’s what Bass had in mind. There are elements of 2001 present, the part when Bowman enters the monolith to be transformed into the starchild.
Was it worth the effort? When it comes to seeing the writer’s or director’s original vision, absolutely. I may not like the ending or a character but studios shouldn’t muck with the person being paid to tell the story.
Do I recommend seeing it? Only if you’re familiar with the movie and have a strong curiosity.
