Was there ever a genuinely good film that was featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000?
I think so, Saul Bass’s Phase IV (1974), a surreal, Zardoz-esque, absolutely creepy acid-horror movie in need of a rediscovery, where ants rise up in revolt against the human race after acquiring superintelligence. Full of eerie and effective imagery, I think the reason it’s been forgotten is that the heart of the movie, a creepy ending where you weren’t sure what you were looking at, but you were creeped out, sat on the cutting room floor. Some recent cuts restored and clarified the original ending, and the movie’s creepy punch:
You might be familiar with Saul Bass as the guy who designed pretty much every movie’s opening credit sequence, from Alfred Hitchcock to Scorcese’s movies. Phase IV was his only actual director credit.
