Them!

A staple in the 50s creature feature genre, while investigating a series of mysterious deaths, Sergeant Ben Peterson finds a young girl who is unable to speak. As Peterson joins forces with FBI agent Robert Graham and scientist Dr. Harold Medford, he discovers that all the incidents are due to giant ants that have been mutated by atomic radiation. Peterson and Graham, with the aid of the military, attempt to find the queen ants and destroy the nests before the danger spreads.

Review from Once Upon a Screen

Them! is a movie of distinction whether your hand just happened to be covered in ants or no matter how much anyone out there wants to discount it as just another campy 1950s monster movie. I’ll note just a few of my favorite reasons why Them! is worth your time.

Them! was one of the first films to deal with the atomic age fears and to feature monsters that came about due to nuclear activity. It tackles its subject seriously, taking its time to explain the hows, the whys and the menace. The explanations come from the primary scientist in the movie, Dr. Harold Medford (Edmund Gwenn), a myrmecologist who along with his equally scientific daughter Patricia (Joan Weldon) are flown in to New Mexico from Washington after a series of strange attacks in the desert. Upon arrival Dr. Medford already has a partially formulated theory about what is responsible for the attacks and simply gathers details that prove his theory correct. The final confirmation comes by way of the little girl who was found wandering in the desert in a catatonic state at the onset of the movie by Police Sergeant Ben Peterson (James Whitmore) and Trooper Ed Blackburn (Chris Drake).

After discovering the little girl the police officers took her to the hospital for care. There she sits still in shock when visited by Dr. Medford who puts formic acid fumes close to her nose and revives her. Upon regaining consciousness the girl recoils screaming “Them! Them!” validating the Doctor’s suspicions and in the process allowing for the connection to the film’s terrific title.

Read the rest of the review from Aurora here...