Warner Bros released Them! on 19 June 1954.

Them! was the first giant ant film. And it is surprisingly grounded from a scientific standpoint. What I most like about it, is that it presents scientists in a good light. Sure, they disappear for the last act. But 1950s science fiction often presented scientists as clueless, if not downright evil.

After the success of the film, you’d expect there to be a lot of copycats. But alas. The only giant ant film I know of before the digital era is Empire of the Ants. This Bert I Gordon gem is rather different, though. Sure, radioactivity made the ants grow. But these ants are smart and they enslave humans to produce sugar. I know I would if I were Them! (Hehe!)

Giant ants have had a bit of a moment in the digital era. But they are all low-budget efforts. First, there was Monster Island (2004). It was an MTV made-for-TV film about a group of teens who go to a big party on an island only to be attacked by even bigger insects. The most notable are the ants. It’s a comedy and it features Adam West.

The following year brought a more serious entry, Glass Trap. Fred Olen Ray directed this single-location cheapy of people trapped in an office building with CGI ants that are about the size of small dogs.

In 2008, David Huey made giAnts. It is about giant ants that escape the lab. It is mostly notable in featuring (for the first time) ants of the size we see in Them! This is repeated in the well-made It Came From the Desert.

I think there are a couple of reasons that we don’t see more giant ant films. If you use puppets, ants are hard. I think that’s why we’ve seen more since digital effects have gotten cheap. But this still doesn’t explain why we have no recent big-budget big ant films.

That is due to the nature of ants. We aren’t really afraid of them. Their danger is due to their numbers. And that’s why Phase IV is so effective. Still, giant ants are horrific. So let’s enjoy Them!

Other 19 June Anniversaries

Filmmakers

• Moe Howard (1897-1975): Leader of The Three Stooges.
• Louis Jourdan (1921-2015): Actor known for the BBC Count Dracula and Swamp Thing.
• David Peel (1920-1981): Actor known for The Brides of Dracula.
• Gena Rowlands (1930-2024): Actor known for art films but also Gloria.
• Daria Nicolodi (1950-2020): Actor known for Deep Red and Inferno. She co-wrote Suspiria.
• Kathleen Turner (1954-): Actor known for many things but especially Serial Mom.

Films

• The Neanderthal Man (1953): Mad scientist turns himself into a Neanderthal.
• I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957): A psychiatrist turns young Michael Landon into a werewolf.
• Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957): Teenagers fight space aliens.
• Captain Sinbad (1963): Sinbad must fight for his princess bride.
• The Lost Continent (1968): Ship goes to a land with dinosaurs.
• Superman II (1980): Superman must fight criminals from Krypton.
• Batman Returns (1992): Batman with a grotesque Penguin.
• The X-Files (1998): Film based on the TV show.
• The Exorcist Chronicles (2007): A psychiatrist works with the Catholic Church to hunt demons.
• The Tomb (2007): Low-budget Saw-like films.

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Them! (1954) poster via Wikimedia. It is in the public domain.