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Phase IV

Phase IV

Horror · Science Fiction · 1974

Arizona ants mock the food chain on their way to a desert lab to get two scientists and a woman.

Movie details

Phase IV

“The day the Earth was turned into a cemetery!”

1974 Horror · Science Fiction 1h 26m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.3 / 10

Community rating

Arizona ants mock the food chain on their way to a desert lab to get two scientists and a woman.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Phase IV?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

The Tingler

The Tingler

Horror · 1959

A pathologist experiments with a deaf-mute woman who is unable to scream to prove that humans die of fright due to an organism he names The Tingler that lives within each person on the spinal cord and is suppressed only when people scream when scared.

The Evil of Frankenstein

The Evil of Frankenstein

Horror · 1964

Once hounded from his castle by outraged villagers for creating a monstrous living being, Baron Frankenstein returns to Karlstaad. High in the mountains they stumble on the body of the creature, perfectly preserved in the ice. He is brought back to life with the help of the hypnotist Zoltan who now controls the creature. Can Frankenstein break Zoltan's hypnotic spell that incites the monster to commit these horrific murders or will Zoltan induce the creature to destroy its creator?

Willard

Willard

Horror · 1971

A social misfit, Willard is made fun of by his co-workers, and squeezed out of the company started by his deceased father by his boss. His only friends are a couple of rats he raised at home, Ben and Socrates. However, when one of them is killed at work, he goes on a rampage using his rats to attack those who have been tormenting him.

Return of the Fly

Return of the Fly

Horror · 1959

Fifteen years after his father's experiments with matter transmission fail, Philippe Delambre and his uncle François attempt to create a matter transmission device on their own. However, their experiments have disastrous results, turning Philippe into a horrible half-man, half-fly creature.

Mark of the Vampire

Mark of the Vampire

Mystery · 1935

Sir Borotyn, a prominent Prague resident, is discovered murdered in his home, with all indications pointing to a vampire assault. The victim's friend, Baron Otto, and the physician who analyzes the body, are certain that the vampire is the mysterious Count Mora or his daughter. Receiving little help from the law, Professor Zelen, an expert in the occult, is called in to assist with their investigation.

Invaders from Mars

Invaders from Mars

Sci-fi · 1953

A boy tries to stop aliens that have taken over his town and are brainwashing its inhabitants.

Island of Terror

Island of Terror

Horror · 1966

When a small island community becomes overrun with creeping, blobbish, tentacled monsters that liquefy and digest the bones from living creatures, the community struggles to fight back.

Silver Bullet

Silver Bullet

Horror · 1985

The small city of Tarker's Mills is startled by a series of sadistic murders. The population fears the work of a maniac, but sightings of a mysterious, hairy creature soon spread. People lock themselves up at night, but there's one boy who's still outside…

Twilight Zone: The Movie

Twilight Zone: The Movie

Horror · 1983

An anthology film presenting remakes of three episodes from the "Twilight Zone" TV series—"Kick the Can", "It's a Good Life" and "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"—and one original story, "Time Out."

The Creeping Flesh

The Creeping Flesh

Horror · 1973

A Victorian scientist returns to London with his paleontological bag-of-bones discovery from Papua New Guinea. Unfortunately, when exposed to water, flesh returns to the bones, unleashing a malevolent entity on the scientist's family and friends.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Saul Bass

Written by

Mayo Simon

Nigel Davenport

Nigel Davenport

Dr. Ernest D. Hubbs

Michael Murphy

Michael Murphy

James R. Lesko

Lynne Frederick

Lynne Frederick

Kendra Eldridge

Alan Gifford

Alan Gifford

Mr. Eldridge

Robert Henderson

Robert Henderson

Clete

Helen Horton

Helen Horton

Mildred Eldridge

David Healy

David Healy

Radio Announcer (voice) (uncredited)

Court is in session

Put Phase IV on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Arthouse Gremlin

“Its refusal to behave is the point.”

The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Oddness is not depth.”

A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.