Horror Movie Empire.com Reviews

1954 Warner Brothers

Enormous ants, products of the nuclear age, are killing and terrorizing people. Will they be stopped in time or will they go on a killing rampage destroying all of humanity?

Bloofer Lady loves this film even though she can’t stand ants in real life. Well, maybe that’s why I find giant ants getting their just desserts such a good time! Even though this film is now almost sixty years old it really does stand the test of time because it is pretty much a cautionary tale of what happens when humanity doesn’t think before it acts.

Ted Sherdeman wrote the screenplay and it is a thinly veiled warning at what can happen to nature when nuclear testing is done. Back then the Cold War was in full swing and nuclear testing was a normal occurrence in the American Southwest, so this subject is a very timely one during the era in which this film is made. The story follows scientist Dr. Harold Medford (Edmund Gwenn) and an assorted cast of characters as they try to figure out where the ants come from and where they are going. In the process we get to lean quite a lot about them, such as the fact that they inject formic acid into their victims. So, not only are you watching a monster film you are getting educated at the same time! Since this is the 1950’s there are some really funny scenes concerning sexist shots being made at Dr. Medford’s daughter Patricia (Joan Weldon) who also happens to be a scientist. She’s told by FBI agent Graham (James Arness) that after telling the team that she wants to go down into the ant’s nest that it would be no place for a woman! Well, she pays him no mind and goes down anyway! Good for her I say! Despite the fact that I personally hate ants I feel kind of sorry for the poor things because it’s not like the ants chose to become huge. Right?

Them! is directed by Gordon Douglas and I think he does a really good job, because despite the years that have passed since this film was made it actually stands the test of time. We don’t even see the ants for quite a while, and the tension in the film is built instead by us continuously hearing them. Since these scenes mainly take place in the desert it is both stark and very spooky to be hearing such things and not actually get to see them. The very first scene in which we see one is on a dirt ledge above one of the characters and we have to wonder whether they are going to see it before they get eaten! Talking about being eaten, I love seeing the ant with the human ribcage between its mandibles, and right after we get a scan shot of a bunch of human bones littering the area! Perhaps the very spookiest scene in the whole film is when the good guys go into a nest of ants after it is gassed. It’s dark and there is a thin layer of the noxious fumes still swirling about their feet as they see ant after dead ant. The ants themselves look very cool, and in my opinion are far more effective then a lot of the CGI effects being used in films these days.

The acting in this can be a little over the top at times, but hey it’s the 1950’s we’re talking about here! Edmund Gwenn plays Dr. Medford perfectly and the ccharacter is pretty much responsible for the audience finding out about what the ants are and how they are created. It’s a standard type of ccharacter for a 1950’s monster film, but Gwenn is very effective at playing the nerdy scientist. My favorite character is probably Sergeant Paterson who is played by James Whitmore because he is very earnest in the role. The only thing that puts me off about him is the uni-brow he sports. It can be very disconcerting at times, trust me! You may recognize him because he appeared in a lot of movies and TV shows throughout his career, and in fact just died in 2009. The only actor that somewhat bothers me is James Arness who plays FBI agent Robert Graham. I think it’s because the character himself is a sexist pig so maybe I should give the guy some slack!

Them! is a great and classic sci-fi/horror film that is not only great fun to watch but is a cautionary tale about what happens when we carelessly do things.

You can buy Them! at Horror Movie Empire

Bloofer Lady
Horror Crypt .

This entry was posted on Monday, February 22nd, 2010 at 5:06 PM and is filed under T. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.