Phase IV: How The Indie Horror Movie Created The 1980s Crop Circle Craze – Screen Rant

1974's Phase IV, features crop circles for the first time in a film. Could it have inspired the mysterious incidents in the following decades?

Phase IV, the Saul Bass thriller from 1974, features the idea of crop circles for the first time in any medium. The phenomenon of crops sporting signs and messages didnt begin until two years after the film was released. Bass film seems to have inspired the mysterious incidents, which grew in number and popularity in the following decades.

Bass was a popular designer who created dynamic title sequences for such iconic films as Vertigo, Psycho, Oceans 11, Bunny Lake is Missing and many more. In 1974 he directed his firstand onlyfeature film,Phase IV. After a mysterious cosmic event, the ant population begins to eradicate its predators and build strange geometric shapes in the desert. In one specific area in Arizona, the ants begin to terrorize the local residents, forcing an evacuation. Two scientists are tasked with solving this alarming change in ant behavior, setting up a sealed dome next to a series of curious sand structures created by the ants. As they begin to study the ant behavior they discover that they have developed a superior intelligence with designs on world domination.

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Dr. Ernest D. Hubbs (Nigel Davenport) narrates the beginning of the film, updating the viewer on the disturbing events surrounding the ant behavior. His research creates interest with the local university, which begins funding his studies. Scientist James Lesko, Michael Murphy from X-Men: The Last Stand, soon joins him in the investigation in the Arizona desert. Hubbs takes Lesko to a nearby field, which has been manipulated by the ants; forming a shape within a circle of dead pasture. The image created resembles a shared symbol on the forehead of every ant. A dead lamb, a victim of the ants, is also found within the curious image. This crop circle was the very first image of its kind on film, a fictional way of ant communication created by screenwriter Mayo Simon.

Two years after the release of Phase IV, the first official sighting of a crop circle was reported in the UK. It was attributed to a prank inspired by the scene in Bass film, though the two involved, Doug Bower and Dave Chorely subsequently gave credit to a widely reported UFO incident in Australia in 1966. Reeds were broken where the object had supposedly landed and referred to as a nest. However, the notion that the marking was a symbol or ambiguous message was never part of the story. It wasnt until after Bass film had been released that the idea of crop circles as messages from intelligent beings began to surface in pop culture.

In the 80s and 90s, the crop imagery began to grow in both popularity and complexity. Though most incidents were written off as pranks, some of the more intricate designs have perplexed even the more skeptical investigators. The concept has been the subject of other films including, most notably, M. Night Shyamalans Signs. While not a hit at the time of release, Phase IV has been reassessed by critics for the intelligent concepts in Simons script and the incredible visuals that Bass brought to the slick production.

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Phase IV: How The Indie Horror Movie Created The 1980s Crop Circle Craze - Screen Rant

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero