One Of America’s First And Best Monster Movies Just Got The Upgrade It Deserves

A little girl wanders out of the New Mexico desert, mute with shock, her face frozen in absolute terror. That’s the opening of one of the most iconic sci-fi films of the 1950s, Them!, in which a team of local police, officials, and scientists discovers that a rampaging colony of ants, mutated to the size of elephants by atomic testing, is on the march to Los Angeles. Scream Factory has just released a new 4K UHD Blu-ray of the film, making this a great opportunity to explore why Them! remains an enduring genre classic.

How Was Them! Initially Received Upon Release?

Although film critics weren’t always kind to science fiction films in the 1950s, Them! actually managed to receive a generous share of critical acclaim. The New York Times called it “tense, absorbing, and, surprisingly enough, somewhat convincing,” while Variety hailed it as a “top-notch science fiction shocker.”

Other outlets, such as the New Yorker and Monthly Film Bulletin, chimed in with positive notes as well, with many of the reviews citing the film for its grounded, no-nonsense approach to the material. Them! is one of those rare films from its era that didn’t need the passage of time to earn critical reappraisal, and many later reviews and entries in film encyclopedias have crowned it as one of the best sci-fi films of the 1950s.

Why Is It Important To See Them! Now?

Released in 1954, the same year as Japan’s Godzilla, Them! was the first major American motion picture to explore the fear of nuclear testing through the concept of giant insects. Its success spawned a slew of movies all based around the same general premise of science wreaking havoc on nature, including titles like The Black Scorpion, The Deadly Mantis, and Tarantula. Other enlarged animals continued to flourish in Japanese kaiju films, as well as American entries like The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, It Came from Beneath the Sea, and later efforts such as The Food of the Gods and Empire of the Ants.

While the idea of oversized ants might sound ludicrous on paper, the onscreen impact — thanks to practical effects, stark production design, real locations, and an intelligent script in which no one, from children to the movie's heroes, is safe — is riveting. It's no wonder it's now considered one of the era’s crown jewels, with a pop culture footprint that's lasted for decades and a long-mooted remake reportedly on the way from producer Matt Reeves and director Michael Giacchino.

Them! benefits from the fact that everyone onscreen – including stars James Whitmore, James Arness, Edmund Gwenn, and Joan Weldon (a rare-for-the-era female scientist with actual agency) – plays the material perfectly straight. The buildup to the ants’ reveal is fraught with dread and tension, and once the menace is established, director Gordon Douglas and screenwriter Ted Sherdemann create a sense of spiraling urgency that never lets up until the final, harrowing battle. The movie’s ultimate message – that the nuclear age has “opened a door into a new world” in which we cannot predict what we’ll find – remains a potent one.

Its thematic and narrative power aside, Them! also features several prominent names from sci-fi and horror in its relatively low-key cast. James Arness rose to fame just three years earlier as the title monster in The Thing from Another World, while James Whitmore’s long career would take him to the Planet of the Apes in 1968 (as the head of the Simian Assembly) and Shawshank Prison (as Brooks) in 1994’s The Shawshank Redemption.

Uncredited actors in the film include Booth Colman (who played Dr. Zaius in the short-lived Planet of the Apes TV series), William Schallert (Nilz Baris in the classic Star Trek: The Original Series episode “The Trouble with Tribbles”), and the future Mr. Spock himself, a young Leonard Nimoy, who shows up around 54 minutes in as an Air Force officer who delivers some papers and two lines of dialogue.

What New Features Does The Them! 4K Blu-Ray Have?

The main attraction of this new edition of Them! is, of course, the fresh 4K scan taken from the original camera negative of the 72-year-old film, adding more depth and detail to its already striking cinematography. The film is presented in Dolby Vision, almost certainly making this the finest appearance of Them! since its premiere.

The other bonus features are a little sparse: there’s a featurette on the director, a featurette on the score, an interview with actor Richard Bellis (who appeared uncredited as a child menaced by the ants), plus some behind-the-scenes footage and a trailer retained from previous editions. It would have been nice to see more, but the timeless Them! can easily stand on its own.