Phase IV

TV Guide Magazine by

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.

The A.V. Club by 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.

Chicago Reader by Jonathan Rosenbaum

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

The Dissolve by 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.