Monster Movie of the Week: Them (1954)

THEM! (1954)

Director: Gordon Douglas

Genre: Monster-on-the-loose, atomic mutants

THE MOVIE

Them! is the prototypical 1950’s giant bug movie and one of the best sci-fi/horror movies of the decade. The movie has a very contemporary tone and its very matter-of-fact approach to action and horror are a precursor to James Cameron’s classic movies like Aliens, as are it’s mute, terrified little girl and its labyrinthine and claustrophobic insect nest. Like its contemporaries Gojira and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Them! is shot in stark black-and-white, which helps create a disconcerting documentary feel and loans the film a realism that it wouldn’t have had in color.

The movie opens in New Mexico, where there has been a mysterious sandstorm and several disappearances. The only witness present is a little girl who is in such a state of shock that she will not speak. This character is handled quite nicely and is the antecedent for spooked children in movies for decades to come. Her memorable freak out upon smelling the ant’s formic acid is what gives the movie its name: “It’s them! It’s them!”

The police in cooperation with a father and daughter pair of scientists, soldiers and government agents discover the presence of gigantic mutated ants who have established a nest in the area. The explanation given is that they have been mutated due to atomic testing in the area. They destroy this nest only to find out that the queen has escaped and the rest of the movie is concerned with attempts to locate and contain the nascent ant colonies.

THE MONSTERS/EFFECTS

The ants are decently realized in the form of large puppets or animatronics. The movie is filmed in such a way as to conceal the parts of them that the filmmakers did not want you to see but they are good enough and the special effects are decent for the time period.

HOME VIDEO AVAILABILITY

On DVD.

MOST MEMORABLE SEQUENCE

The opening scenes of the movie do a great job of creating a sort of menacing, apocalyptic tone, with scenes of a destroyed Western landscape and an unnatural sandstorm in which anything can be hiding.

SEQUELS

None.

SEE ALSO

Aliens (1986), Mimic (1997)

THE TRAILER