Phase IV (1974)

... aka: Phase 4
... aka: Phase Four

Directed by:
Saul Bass

Thankfully, not just another killer bug flick, this is an imaginative, unique, smart and stylishly-made gem. Something referred to only as "the effect" happens in space and it seems to have had an adverse effect on the Earth. Then again, maybe not. That's only a theory. Either way, there's been a recent, unexpected change in "the smallest and most insignificant" of the planet's species: the world's ant population. And that change seems well on its way to altering life as we know it. Sure, ants are small and easy to squash but when there are countless numbers of them, they rapidly reproduce faster than they can be killed, they're suddenly super-intelligent and they're all working in service of one common goal, that spells major trouble. Because of many unusual incidents in and around a small Arizona desert community as well as a threat of biological imbalance due to a recently dwindling number of ant predators, biologist Ernest Hubbs (Nigel Davenport), who first noticed and began documenting these ant changes, and information specialist James Lesko (Michael Murphy) are brought in to the area to investigate matters and attempt to curb the problem.

A small, entirely self-contained, dome-like experiment station with lots of high tech equipment is set up in the desert so the two scientists can immediately get to work. It doesn't take long for them to discover this newly evolved breed of insect is both extremely dangerous and extremely intelligent. One small bite from one of these ants is so toxic it causes as much swelling as a rattlesnake bite. They can strip other bugs and small animals down to a skeleton in a matter of seconds. They're smart enough to make their own booby traps, tear apart whole houses and sabotage equipment and vehicles; even disabling the air conditioning system and building rock formations to reflect light directly at the dome in an effort to overheat their equipment. They also prove to be resistant to nearly everything thrown at them, whether it be poison or high-pitched sound waves, by taking ant corpses back to the queen ant, who ingests them and then pops out a new batch of even stronger and more resilient worker ants that are immune to whatever had killed the previous ones.

Two of the major questions to arise are how the ants have gotten to this state and what (if anything) has caused it. The opening shot of the stars and mention of an anomaly in space, as well as a crop-circle formation found in a field and some bizarre Stonehenge-like rock formations, hint strongly at alien involvement, though the film goes a more vague route by never actually explaining it. Sometimes ambiguity works and sometimes it doesn't, but in this context it works extremely well because it only adds another layer to an already unique and intriguing central concept. The film is not only imaginative itself but also invites the viewer to use their imagination to connect the dots. While there were numerous killer animal / bug movies made in the 70s, none of them are quite like this one and they're seldom done with this much creativity and thought.

Phase IV is also really impressive in visual sense, utilizing excellent macro photography by noted wildlife photographer Ken Middleham to give these bugs fascinating close-up detail and bring us right into the underground world they inhabit. Great use is made of slow-motion as well as fast-motion of the ants quickly devouring various animals in their path. The ant scenes are also quite artfully and sometimes even beautifully shot through with color. There's lots of spellbinding imagery in here, like a yellow ant with a bright green abdomen standing on the edge of a tunnel lit with blue flashing lights. Watching the remastered version, the colors really pop in a strangely psychedelic and other-worldly kind of way. It's the ideal aesthetic choice for this kind of movie.

Director Bass (who passed away in 1996) is rightfully regarded as one of the best title-makers of all time, but it's a true shame this was his only feature-length film as director. It probably didn't help matters that it wasn't well-received by many critics in its day and was a box office flop, but what really crippled its chances more than anything else was distributor interference. The removal of the film's original ending; a fascinating and thought-provoking barrage of odd and surreal images depicting the "New Earth," was completely excised from the theatrical release and has yet to be reinstated. In other words, some doofus at Paramount decided it was wise to remove the entire "Phase IV" scene from Phase IV! That ending has since been found and screened separately, but has yet to be officially reinstated into any of the prints. Hopefully it will one day be because it's vastly superior to the non-ending in the 84 minute cut. The images below are taken from the original ending and currently not available on any of the DVD and VHS versions.

Lynne Frederick, a very pretty young actress who has a co-starring role as a teenage farm girl who ends up at the installation after her parents are killed, also starred in Hammer's Vampire Circus (1972) and Pete Walker's Schizo (1976). In 1977, she married actor / comedian Peter Sellers (who was over 30 years her senior) and, upon his passing in 1980, ended up retiring from acting after inheriting his entire fortune after just three years of marriage. Afterward, she became the subject of malicious tabloid gossip due to not sharing the inheritance with Sellers' three children (he supposedly was in the middle of divorcing her and re-writing his will when he died) and getting remarried just six months after his death. She struggled with alcohol and cocaine addiction for years and ended up passing away in 1994 at the age of just 39.

Phase IV was (undeservedly) riffed on a very early 1989 episode of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 when it was still in the early cable access days, but has since gone on a decent cult following. A novelization of Mayo Simon's screenplay written by Barry N. Malzberg was also released as a tie-in with the film.

★★★1/2

I lunghi capelli della morte (1964)

... aka: La larga cabellera de la muerte
... aka: La sorcière sanglante (The Bloody Witch)

Directed by:
"Anthony M. Dawson" (Antonio Margheriti)

Here's one of at least three dozen black-and-white Italian Gothic horrors from the decade when these films were reaching their peak in popularity. Skimming over the non-Anglicized credits, those familiar with this subgenre will notice many familiar names. The director was "Anthony M. Dawson" (Antonio Margheriti), who'd previously made the the enjoyable HORROR CASTLE (1963) with Christopher Lee. It was written by "Julian Berry' / Ernesto Gastaldi, who'd previously co-written Mario Bava's fantastic THE WHIP AND THE BODY (1963; also with Lee), and went on to write dozens of other genre films, and "Robert Bohr" / Tonino Valerii, who'd previously co-written Terror in the Crypt (1963) starring, you guessed it, Mr. Lee once again. The cinematography was by "Richard Thierry" / Riccardo Pallottini, who also shot the aforementioned Horror Castle as well as Margheriti's Castle of Blood (1964) and numerous others. Composer Carlo Rustichelli had scored many of the better films of this type, including Bava's Whip and Kill Baby... Kill! (1966). And perhaps its biggest coup of all, and why the film is still frequently viewed these days, is having Gothic temptress and BLACK SUNDAY (1960) lead Barbara Steele in the lead role. All the stars were aligned perfectly here and, thankfully, this ends up mostly living up to its high pedigree.

Falsely convicted of witchcraft and murder, Adele Karnstein is dragged off to a village square where she's scheduled to be burned alive. Her eldest daughter, Helen Rochefort (Steele), is also suspected of being a witch and has been in hiding, but manages to sneak into a heavily-guarded castle to see Count Humboldt Whalen ("Jean Rafferty" / Giuliano Raffaeli). Helen is convinced her mother is innocent of both witchcraft and of murdering the Count's brother, Franz, and the Count uses his position of power to get Helen into bed with him. Adele is executed anyway, but first places a curse upon the Humboldt family and the entire village before she's killed. The following day, Helen attempts to flee but is intercepted by the Count, who pushes her over the side of a waterfall. Now left all alone, little Elizabeth, the final Karnstein descendant, is shown the secret tomb housing the remains of both Adele and Helen by nursemaid Grumalda ("Laureen Nuyen" / Laura Nucci) and asked to come there every day and and pray.

"At the end of the 15th Century, superstition, cruelty and appalling evils loomed over mankind."

Years pass and a now-grown Elizabeth (Halina Zalewska) is living with in the Humboldt's castle. The aged Count, who's now a miserly drunk, is made uneasy by the girl's presence and thinks she's looking more "witch-like" with her long, black hair and resemblance to Adele as she matures. The Count's son, Kurt Sebastian Whalen (George Ardisson), who's even more lecherous and wicked than his father, reveals that it was he who actually murdered Franz when he found out he was going to be disinherited. Kurt also is determined to marry Elizabeth whether she wants to or not (hint: she doesn't). Elizabeth ends up having no choice in the matter and their romantic honeymoon night consists of him forcing himself upon her and slapping her around while she scowls things like "I hate you!" and "You're repulsive!" While all that's going on, there's a horrible plague striking the village; something that Adele predicted.

During a raging thunderstorm, lightning strikes Helen's grave and, through a time lapse effect, eyeballs and skin start to form on her skeleton as she begins to take shape. While everyone is sitting through a church service, the doors swing open and the beautiful Mary (Steele), a dead ringer for Helen, walks in and collapses. That, combined with the sudden realization that Kurt has been doing a little grave robbing on the side, is too much for the poor, sickly Count to handle and he keels over from a heart attack. Claiming to have been in a carriage accident, Mary is taken back to the Whalen castle to recover, where Kurt promptly falls head over heels in love with her. He's so in love, he's willing to do anything to keep here there, including poisoning a messenger who's simply trying to deliver a message on Mary's behalf.

Kurt and Mary soon begin having an affair (punishable by death in those days) and eventually plot to do away with Elizabeth. They drug her, take her downstairs into the family crypt, put her inside a tomb and seal it shut. Once they feel she's been down there long enough to suffocate, they bring her body back upstairs, tuck her into bed and then go to their rooms. The next day, the adulterous duo are shocked to see that Grumalda and Von Klager ("Robert Rains" / Umberto Raho), a priest who also lives in the castle, are interacting with Elizabeth and claiming to see and talk to her, though Kurt can find her nowhere. He grows increasingly more paranoid and starts going mad, something the surprise ending remedies quite nicely.

This certainly treads of very familiar ground, which could be either good or a bad thing depending on your tastes. It's bad if you're not a fan to slower-paced films that rely heavily on atmosphere, but it's good if you're a fan of moody, measured b/w Gothic tales as this one has pretty much everything you could possibly hope for. There's dense, high contrast and atmospheric black-and-white photography, genuine suspense in spots, a late 15th Century period setting brought to life through appropriate costumes, props, fine art direction and sets and a thundering and commanding score, plus the usual awesome castle complete with crumbling crypts, a cool little hedge maze and cobweb-covered secret passageways behind fireplaces. We get candlelit strolls through dark corridors and dungeons, plenty of duplicitous / scheming characters to keep things interesting, ghosts, ghouls and more. As per her usual, Steele is mesmerizing in her role and the rest of the cast (lousy English dub aside) also do fine. While the film does slow to a crawl a few times, there's a satisfying ending that eventually brings the story full circle that's worth waiting for.

To my knowledge this was never released theatrically in the U.S., though it was English dubbed and released in the UK. The full uncut version runs around 95 minutes and even features a brief topless scene for "continental" release, which is sometimes attributed to Steele but is clearly a body double. Lots of shoddy prints for this one have been released on DVD over the years thanks to its public domain status but there's also a restored 2014 Blu ray release from Raro Video. It includes the option of watching the film either with the English dubbing track or in Italian with English subtitles, plus includes lots of good extras.

★★★