History Film / PhaseIV

This 1974 SciFiHorror film would seem, on the surface, to resemble many of the other "Man vs. Bugs" films that came out during TheSeventies (like ''Film/TheSwarm'' and ''Film/KingdomOfTheSpiders''). ''Phase IV'', however, is a bit more cerebral than its brethren; the conflict with the ants in this movie more resembles a game of chess than it does an action-packed physical battle. It was the first and only feature-length film made by Creator/SaulBass, who is better known for his graphic designs and [[ArtisticTitle innovative opening title sequences]] for various classic movies, like Creator/AlfredHitchcock's ''Film/{{Psycho}}'' and ''Film/{{Vertigo}}''.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Kendra is barefoot throughout the entire film.

* AdaptiveAbility: Once our two leads use the yellow poison in the ants, several ants are shown individually attempting to get a large sample of it to the Queen ant. Once the poison gets to her (at the cost of the lives of three ants), she eats it and is shown laying a yellow egg. Not too much later, yellow ants immune to the poison are shown among the regular ones. There is a chance these yellow ants are poisonous as well but it's never made clear as none of the human characters ever physically touch them.

* DecapitatedArmy: Hubbs' idea in the final act, driven by insanity and desperation more than anything else, is to leave the dome and walk several miles to what appears to be the central ant hive to kill the queen within. [[spoiler:Lesko walks to the hive, but the GainaxEnding occurs and pretty much implies that performing this would have been useless anyway]].

-->'''Hubbs''': Hello, James [Lesko]! As you can see, we are under siege. (Cut to a screen showing the mirrors that the ants have built outside, making the dome increasingly hotter).