Trailer
Plot summary
The ants of the Arizona desert stop behaving as separate species after a strange cosmic event. Different kinds now act as one and raise seven towers whose designs follow a strict geometry. Nearly every human nearby leaves the region, except one family. Two scientists, James R. Lesko and Ernest D. Hubbs, run a computer-driven laboratory sealed inside a dome in an area of heavy ant activity. Kendra Eldridge, a young woman, takes shelter with them. The narrative also follows the ants at their work in the colony. Colony and scientists come into conflict, and the ants prove the stronger aggressors.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Phase IV (1974)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The film was a box office flop and thus the only feature film directed by Saul Bass. It has since gained a cult following, due to TV airings beginning in 1975 and to being shown on Mystery Science Theater 3000 during the KTMA era.
- To make twenty-year-old actress Lynne Frederick appear convincingly sixteen, Saul Bass had her wear a specially made, painful iron-clad corset to bind her chest for the entire production, and he also pushed her to restrict her diet to chicken broth and black coffee.
- The idea for Phase IV was apparently hatched over cocktails in 1971, when Peter Bart at Paramount had dinner with Paul Radin and asked him what was cooking. Radin answered an ant story, though he actually had nothing; he then called Bass, who had a friend who worked with ants, and they quickly agreed to work together.
SPOILER
Bass filmed a spectacular, surreal montage lasting four minutes, showing what life would be like on the 'new' Earth, but this was cut by the distributor. Shots from the original montage sequence appear in the theatrical trailer, which was likely prepared before the cuts were made to the film.- This is the first film to depict a geometric crop circle, in this case created by super-intelligent ants. It predates by two years the first modern reports of crop circles in the United Kingdom, and has been cited as a possible inspiration or influence on the pranksters who started this phenomenon.
