Review of Phase IV (1974) by The N — 16 Jan 2016

This is a film I've always been fascinated by. It's not a brilliant film, but it's visually stunning, having been directly by Saul Bass, who is most famous for having created some of the most famous movie title sequences of all time (i.

E. "North by Northwest," "Goodfellas," "Anatomy of a Murder," "Psycho," "The Manchurian Candidate," "The Man With the Golden Arm" and so on and so forth).

The story here involved aliens making ants super smart in order to kill mankind and take over earth. It's a story that's right out of ridiculous 50s and 60s films like "Them" or "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" but this film rises above it's pulpy story to make something that really appears artful under Bass' direction.

There are montage sequences and single shot images that make this film a classic and absolutely worth watching for film buffs. I'm really not sure this film will appeal to the average sci-fi fan, but for film buffs, it's an absolute treat to see Bass in his sole outing as a feature film director.