Someone tell Panos Cosmatos, eh? And Brian Sepanzyk of Waingro: The preview version of Saul Bass' bizarre, 1974 arthouse ants-vs-humans science fiction film, Phase IV, has come out on Vinegar Syndrome in a limited edition box set (also including a blu and 4K disc of the original theatrical cut). This marks the first-ever opportunity to see the way the film was supposed to be seen.
If you think that the original version of Phase IV is weird, wait til you see the preview version.
Cosmatos -- director of Beyond the Black Rainbow and Mandy -- actually (if I've got my facts straight) flew to LA to see the preview cut of Phase IV in a rare public screening. telling me at the time in an interview that "Phase IV was a huge influence on the movie in its sterile tone, stylized framing and somewhat oblique approach to story. I just saw the 'lost ending' of Phase IV last week and it was a real eye opener."
Sepanzyk, meanwhile, loved the film so much that Waingro's album, Mt. Hood, riffs unmistakably on it in its art (which we geeked out on a bit about when I interviewed him for the West Ender, which is now on the Vancouver is Awesome site). Sepanzyk should take note: Cosmatos also drew influence from Michael Mann's Heat, which is where the name Waingro comes from! (Someone introduce these guys?).
I haven't come to full terms with the preview version quite yet. There are actually two audio variants offered, the London preview and the California one. The beginning of the London preview is a bit different from the theatrical cut; it emphasizes Hubbs' (Nigel Davenport's) narration, and dis-includes Lesko's (Michael Murphy's), which is significant, in that there is more of a (thematically relevant?) shift in the film's voice, from Hubbs' to Lesko's, in the London preview, which is undone in both the California variant and the theatrical cut, where we hear Lesko much earlier, explaining things. But it's not a huge difference, otherwise; the London variant is less expository, takes a bit longer for words to appear at all. You enter the film through abstract imagery of some sort of astronomical phenomenon and superb ant microphotography courtesy of the great Ken Middleham (a two part documentary about his work is on Youtube; he shot bug, so to speak, for The Hellstrom Chronicle, Bug, Damnation Alley and other classics of insect fear -- as well as the locusts in Days of Heaven! His obituary is worth a read, containing a quote from a review of the film that likens it to 2001, which is also something I've done; I often call Phase IV the "2001 of insect fear cinema"). The book on Saul Bass reveals that Middleham actually bred ants for the film, to achieve the effect of having them in different colours (!).
Crop circle enthusiasts will want to note that (according to Mark Pilkington of Strange Attractor, in a piece called "History, the Hive Mind, and Agrarian Art" in the Fortean print magazine The Anomalist) Phase IV (released in 1974) came out "two years before the first [crop circle] formations appeared in the UK." I haven't read the actual print piece but Wikipedia, referencing Pilkington, asserts that Bass' film "has been cited as a possible inspiration or influence on the pranksters who started this phenomenon," while linking the claim to a page where it does not appear. But someone may have actually read said print piece, so who knows? (It's Wikipedia, Jake.)
If the beginning is slightly stranger than what theatrical audiences saw in 1974, the main conflict and most of the middle of the film are much the same. Lesko is a young game theorist who accompanies senior scientist Hubbs into an area where there is unusual ant activity -- including said crop circles. They attempt to communicate with the ants and discover that the ants aren't very friendly (though given Hubbs' way of introducing himself, who can blame them?). There are some references to Carl Stephenson's classic adventure story "Leiningen Versus the Ants," which was itself adapted into a so-so Charlton Heston adventure called The Naked Jungle (which commits the unforgivable sin of insect fear cinema in that it is far more interested in the human characters than its ants; Heston's character is a virgin and, in the tried-and-true formula of many vintage SF and horror films, in order to succeed with women must first overcome the obstacle of primal monstrosity, here manifested in the form of army ants. This element is entirely the interpolation of the filmmakers, having no bearing on "Leiningen Versus the Ants" -- my previous link to which, by the way, will allow you to read the full story; I recommend doing so before you see Phase IV, if you want to fully appreciate the reference when you come to it, but it is not essential to understanding the film itself).
Note that there is not a single fucking ant in that poster, which is not true for the posters for Phase IV. I vastly prefer the German version...
...to the more garish American poster, which Bass had no hand (so to speak) in, and which makes a big deal of one of the few remotely gory images in the film -- makes far more of it, in fact, than the film itself does. From p. 258 of said book, Saul Bass: A Life in Film and Design (which doesn't devote much space to the film, sadly):
That image, when it appears -- an ant emerging from a hole in a hand, but not quite as shown in the poster -- itself is actually one of the few clunky moments in Phase IV, where the story and aesthetic of the film are seemingly altered so Bass can make an overt reference to Bunuel and Dali's Un Chien Andalou. (Y'know, the film "Debaser" is referring to? What, there's a rock video for "Debaser?" I didn't know that til just now). Which is understandable and will appeal to film geeks, but also is slightly distracting and not really connected to any other images in the movie (at least not in the theatrical cut; there are a few ants coming out of holes in the preview version that might make the shot seem more "motivated" and meaningful, but in the theatrical, it just reads as the visual equivalent of a namedrop).
Anyhow, getting back to the story, briefly: the two men disagree about how to approach the ants. The ending of the theatrical cut of the film -- I spoil nothing here (yet) -- apparently vindicates one of their approaches, while, at least arguably, the ending of the preview version seems to vindicate the other. Much of the middle period is used to reveal their different approaches, as they attempt to engage with the ants. Where the preview cut differs significantly is in the last five minutes -- which we will get to presently...
Before we get there, it should be noted that the Vinegar Syndrome box set is a beautiful package; I have only begun to delve into the extras, so presumably there is more to learn. It comes with a booklet I have not even opened, a 4K disc with the theatrical variant, and two separate blus for the theatrical and preview variants. The theatrical variant has a scholarly commentary; extras on the preview cut include a rather pleasing extended clip of everything Bass had prepared for the original ending, which is set wisely to music so you can just watch it as a short film on its own (though occasionally images of the making of the film pop up; there's a separate featurette on that, too, which, again, I haven't gotten to yet). People who love this film -- and who were disappointed that the book on Bass, previously mentioned, devotes only a few pages to it -- will have lots to explore. Note that I'm a bit less thrilled about the front cover of the Vinegar Syndrome release than I am about the clever riff on the Vetruvian Man in an insert, but this is a quibble -- this is a very welcome package, one of my most longed-for, begged for blus to come out (...now if someone could just do justice to Zabriskie Point?).
But this is intended less as a review of the set than it is as a teaser/ taster for those of you who have not seen the film yet, who should note that only 8,000 of these have been made; the supply is finite. Videomatica is stocking it. I mean, if you are like me, and have seen the film in its theatrical version multiple times, you know all of this already, anyhow; about the only detail I'm learning in writing this is that the other, non-micro cinematographer on the film is Dick Bush, who shot another favourite of mine, Sorcerer. I also noticed in writing this that the soundtrack (mostly by Brian Gascoigne, with contributions from Desmond Briscoe and David Vorhaus) includes material by Japanese avant-gardist Stomu Yamash'ta, which I didn't know. I probably should have bought the record when I could have; seems to be sold out...
Spoiler alert: if you are concerned about spoilers, you should go see both cuts of the film before proceeding. DO NOT EVEN LOOK AT THE IMAGES THAT FOLLOW.
You have been advised.
However, for those of you who have seen the preview cut of the film, I'm curious what you make of the ending. There's a lot of stuff in the preview that is clearly intended to boggle the mind, compelling, surrealist images that have nothing, or at least nothing obvious, to do with anything else in the film. For instance, there are suggestions of fish/ human and frog/ human hybrids which seem more like pure surrealism for its own sake than anything plot-related. Fish and frogs are not a feature of the film, so the images, like many in that preview ending, have a disorienting, mindfucking effect (there is a pelican in there, too). It's actually even a stranger ending than 2001's, in some ways; much of the ending of that film seems like eye candy for acidheads, but the preview cut ending of Phase IV has image after image that you will not, cannot understand, presented in a mounting cascade of strangeness: faceless faces, heads with holes, bizarre architecture, even some sort of apparent cataloguing system that, I don't know, maybe a science or math geek could get meaning from, but which I sure as hell can't.
But perhaps even if these images cannot be decisively unpacked, the uncertainty, discomfort, confusion and intrigue that they generate are all meant to comment on human reactions to social change. Where the theatrical cut ends with Lesko's narration that people are being changed, for unclear purposes, there is none of that here; we are SHOWN people changing, rather than being told about it. I've always thought that the core idea of Phase IV, in fact, had nothing to do with ants at all, but was rather about a shift in consciousness from one generation to the next, from the masculinist, old-school individualistic rationalism of Hubbs, which is the stuff of the 1950s SF, really -- Hubbs serves as the Leiningen of the film, or the analogue of the scientist in almost any classic creature feature -- to the more thoughtful, exploratory game-theory approach of Lesko (given his ultimate apparent willingness to follow the way of the ant, to accept the changes he is invited to undergo, could his name perhaps be a pun on "let's go"...? I'm probably reaching, but it says something that that's not entirely inconceivable). It's a film about, heh, the "dawning of the ants of Aquarius," so to speak, an incitement for humans to evolve, to shift to a new paradigm, to enter a brave new world. There's actually a curious optimism to the theatrical cut, as Lesko and Kendra (a girl rescued from a besieged farm, whose importance does not come clear til the end of the film, as she apparently embraces the hive-mind before Lesko, and may even be biologically altered as a result) seem posed to populate a new world, under the guidance of the ants, with Lesko as the "Adam" (no jokes about Adam Ant, please) and Kendra as the Eve.
But that's the theatrical cut, and here I must emphasize that the final image in this blogpost will be the final image of that version of film, so if you are concerned about spoilers, really, really, you should have stopped by now.
...Because what's most interesting about the final image in this montage (minus a bit of sunrise) is that it is actually rather, uh, dark. An image of enslavement, domination, subordination, where our filmic representatives, Lesko and Kendra, are seen in the jaws of a looming, black, utterly huge ant.
There's nothing remotely as disturbing anywhere in the theatrical cut. Lesko says that he does not know why humans are being changed, but is sure that they will be told -- but this is neither dire nor hopeful, just a point of fact. In the preview cut, on the other hand, it's like you've been built up to maybe be prepared to accept, or at least be intrigued by, the paradigm shift -- then you are slapped with this horrifying image: LOOK WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN CONTEMPLATING. Sure fooled you!
The preview cut also has a bit more close-up imagery of Kendra's foot being bitten by the ants (which are poisonous), which also makes the ending a fair bit darker. It's funny, given how tiny the ants are, how disturbing it is to see their jaws puncture flesh (you may even get to see some sort of poison being extruded, pumped into the foot by the ant's jaws, but I'm not an entomologist, so I don't know exactly what's going on there). One doubts the actor being bitten even felt it, but we believe actress Lynne Frederick's flinching response as we see the mandibles at work. It's like Bass wasn't told just to make the ending less weird, but to make it less disturbing, which is a bit funny, given the marketing of the film in the US presented it as a horror film. That I noticed, the moments where Kendra's foot are bitten and she flinches in pain are the first visual differences between the theatrical and the preview, the first shots that have been restored (Sadly, the source for the following image, WikiFeet, which seems to be some sort of foot fetish repository, does not have images of the actual bites taking place; the following image does appear in the theatrical version, as well).
Anyhow, after spending several minutes throwing images at you that you cannot unpack, that are, a few ant bites aside, strikingly beautiful and intriguing at times but also very puzzling, that COULD arguably be said to be preparing you to open your mind, Bass, in the preview cut, ultimately seems to end on a note that vindicates the now-dead Hubbs' rejection of the ants, his determination to stick to his guns and REJECT the transformations offered. Whatever doors you may have opened will now slam shut, because this image is terrifying (note that it looks quite a bit prettier in the Vinegar Syndrome version than in this screengrab, which is taken from a Youtube leak of the preview version ending). I defy anyone to embrace entry into a brave new world where THIS is the ultimate conclusion:
...so not only is the preview ending quite a bit weirder, it actually seems to reverse the (at least arguable) optimism of the theatrical cut's ending. Both cuts' endings ask you to wonder where the next phase will take us -- the phases aren't explained, really, so we have to arrive at our own conclusions, either way -- but the preview cut is, while also more beautiful, surreal, and compelling, in this final shot, much less optimistic, more conservative, and really, like those close-up bites, makes the film into even more of an "insect fear" film. It's the stuff of nightmares.
Which you too can now have, thanks to Vinegar Syndrome! Bravo! Thank you! Blessings! (And seriously, folks, if you like thoughtful SF and have not seen this film, you really, really should).
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