Them!

(1954) ****

Two police officers are sent out on a strange call. They find a little girl wandering around the desert with a fixed stare, completely nonresponsive. A few miles away is a trailer and car; the trailer has been torn apart and there are no occupants. One of the police officers find clues suggesting the little girl had lived in the trailer. As the police get the little girl settled into an ambulance, a strange, high pitched, shrieking whistle fills the air. Unnoticed by the police officer and the ambulance orderly, the little girl sits bolt upright, then sinks down again as the noise fades. The ambulance orderly suggests that the whistle is probably just the wind. In reality, the whistling is the communication amongst gigantic, atomic-mutated ants that proceed to terrorize the county and then the Southwest United States.

Hey, another really good 50s horror movie! I thought a movie about gigantic mutated ants would be totally laughable, low budget garbage, but I really enjoyed Them! The movie takes itself seriously and realistically portrays events that would logically follow from the existence of such creatures. They don't skimp on the science of ant behavior, there are plenty of good action scenes, and the ants are sizeable and vicious. Them! is good wholesome black-and-white fun.