An archetype of “monster horror” in the atomic age, Gordon Douglas’ THEM! sensationalizes USA’s epidemic nuclear hysteria which in process of time has morphed into an idée fixe one feel blasé about.
Nearly a decade after the first atomic bomb test, a nest of irradiated giant killer ants is found in the desert of New Mexico, local police sergeant Ben Peterson (Whitmore), teamed with FBI special agent Robert Graham (Arness), gets the bottom of the mutation with a little help of a pair of father-daughter myrmecologists, Dr. Harold and Pat Medford (Gwenn and Weldon), who feed audience alike interesting facts of our itsy-bitsy friends, and make a heavy weather of their ferocious nature as if human race is entirely composed of crying pacifists.
Suspense has been adequately built one-third into the narrative thread, when our imagination is tickled to do all the tricks apropos of the unknown mystery, demarcated by the first advent of a foraging ant, materializing amid a vivid sand storm, then the mystique dissipates (not helped by the ponderous design of those very unwieldy monsters, cutting-edge at then, but ineluctably look ridiculous today), the story accelerates in a trite, dead-serious procedural routine of decimation, formicary adventure, interrogation of witnesses, and a widespread tension when the climax is pinpointed at the claustrophobic storm sewers of a martial law enforced Los Angeles, where a children-rescuing bravado actually heroically rubs out our hero, a move nowadays is quite at a premium due to the business-savvy franchise building and multi-projects contract of the lucky movie stars.
Elsewhere, a hale Edmund Gwenn makes the most of his expository-heavy task to impress us with his scientific prowess and phrase the central message among the humor-free cast, and taking account of its time, Douglas does a fine job in threading a far-fetched rigmarole into a compact whole, more than anything, Bronislau Kaper’s spine-tingling score has the drop on anything else to be appreciated by posterity in this black-and-white oldie.
referential entries: Don Siegel’s INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956, 7.3/10); Richard Fleischer’s 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA (1954, 7.0/10).
虽然道具和特效十分简陋，但不难看出在当时条件下仍是严谨的制作。片中尽其所能的对涉及到的科学知识作了详尽的阐述，使得全片的真实性加强，这种态度也影响了之后的很多怪兽科幻片，98年的卖座片《哥斯拉》是最佳代表，特效不可同日而语，基本架构仍维持了50年代老祖宗的创意。
既是很具娱乐性的科幻片，其中不少知识的讲解又可作为优秀的科教片，不愧为一部经典之作，是很值得回味的作品。
An archetype of “monster horror” in the atomic age, Gordon Douglas’ THEM! sensationalizes USA’s epidemic nuclear hysteria which in process of time has morphed into an idée fixe one feel blasé about.
Nearly a decade after the first atomic bomb test, a nest of irradiated giant killer ants is found in the desert of New Mexico, local police sergeant Ben Peterson (Whitmore), teamed with FBI special agent Robert Graham (Arness), gets the bottom of the mutation with a little help of a pair of father-daughter myrmecologists, Dr. Harold and Pat Medford (Gwenn and Weldon), who feed audience alike interesting facts of our itsy-bitsy friends, and make a heavy weather of their ferocious nature as if human race is entirely composed of crying pacifists.
Suspense has been adequately built one-third into the narrative thread, when our imagination is tickled to do all the tricks apropos of the unknown mystery, demarcated by the first advent of a foraging ant, materializing amid a vivid sand storm, then the mystique dissipates (not helped by the ponderous design of those very unwieldy monsters, cutting-edge at then, but ineluctably look ridiculous today), the story accelerates in a trite, dead-serious procedural routine of decimation, formicary adventure, interrogation of witnesses, and a widespread tension when the climax is pinpointed at the claustrophobic storm sewers of a martial law enforced Los Angeles, where a children-rescuing bravado actually heroically rubs out our hero, a move nowadays is quite at a premium due to the business-savvy franchise building and multi-projects contract of the lucky movie stars.
Elsewhere, a hale Edmund Gwenn makes the most of his expository-heavy task to impress us with his scientific prowess and phrase the central message among the humor-free cast, and taking account of its time, Douglas does a fine job in threading a far-fetched rigmarole into a compact whole, more than anything, Bronislau Kaper’s spine-tingling score has the drop on anything else to be appreciated by posterity in this black-and-white oldie.
referential entries: Don Siegel’s INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956, 7.3/10); Richard Fleischer’s 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA (1954, 7.0/10).
如果你看过《蚁人2：黄蜂女现身》，而且你恰好是个电影发烧友，大概会记得那个结尾场景：朗爹、凯茜和霍普缩小后窝在车里看电影，屏幕光打在他们的脸上，外面的世界似乎都静止了。镜头拉远，三个人不过是缩在笔记本键盘边的微小身影，而他们看的电影正是这一部1954年的怪兽片《X放射线》（Them!）。
《X放射线》的开头极简而凌厉：荒凉的西部公路、一辆翻倒的房车、两具冰冷的尸体、一个吓得失语的小女孩、被凿穿的车壁和陌生的巨大脚印。导演没有给答案，只留下风声和悬疑，让观众和角色一起被“未知”的存在压得透不过气。
夜色降临，杂货店的破洞被风灌得呼呼作响，孤零零的吊灯摇摆不定。镜头故意放慢节奏，留给观众去等待那个看不见的威胁。直到沙尘中一个庞大身影显形：修长的体型、复眼和触角构成非人的面孔，像是一堵墙压下来。下一秒毒针刺入，尖叫划破夜空。影片真正拍出了“失去掌控”的恐惧：世界秩序被某种未知生命打破，人类不再是顶端捕食者，而是猎物。
巨型蚂蚁的设定，在当时堪称突破。它们有完整的生物逻辑：甲酸攻击方式、声波交流系统、蜂群般的组织结构。它们的声音不似虫鸣，更像金属摩擦，刺耳而冰冷。电影用特写、低机位、光影对比，把怪物的体型和人类的渺小感拍到极致。最后科学家潜入地下巢穴的一段，更是把未知空间塑造成一场活生生的噩梦。
这部电影不仅奠定了怪兽片的叙事模板——延迟出现的怪物、悬疑感先于视觉冲击、声音制造恐惧、空间比例塑造压迫——它还在无形中提出了一个更深层的问题：人类一直以为自己能理解和掌控世界，但只要规则稍微偏离，恐惧就会如潮水般涌来。这是后来无数怪兽片延续的主题，不论是《群鸟》《异形》还是更现代的怪兽电影，都能看到《X放射线》留下的影子。
即使今天再看，这部电影特效已显陈旧，但那种对未知力量的想象力、对恐惧的精准把握依然有效：所有巨兽、灾变、猎食的电影奇观，都源自这段黑白画面里，人类在银幕上意识到自己可能不是世界的主宰，而只是故事里渺小而慌张的一员。