When a young girl is found wandering in the desert by a couple of policemen, the frightened and visible traumatized girl is only able to utter one word over and over: "them!". After getting the young girl to safety, the officers head back out in search of them and what they find will chill them to their very souls. Large mutated ants have come out of their underground nests in search of food to satisfy their hunger. Can the townsfolk and army defeat the enormous ants before it's to late or will they all fall prey to them!

When you think of the classic nuclear testing mutated animal movies, right behind Godzilla should come Them! The under-appreciated if not underrated 50's classic is still by today’s standard a very good film. Even though the ant effects are not state of the art for their time they were tremendous, in fact the effects in Them would earn their crew an academy award nomination in 1954. Also the sci-fi/horror classic would also be Warner Brothers top grossing film of the same year. Not too shabby for a creature flick.

Them is easy enough to follow, after the young girl is found in the desert, our friendly policemen quickly learn what is lurking out in the sands. Throw in a government agent played by James Arness, and a helpful scientist to keep everybody pointed in the right direction and you get the standard gigantic monster flick of the 50's. But the cast, effects and the story make Them! a little more in the monster film world because everything is done so well.

Although it was shot in black and white, Them's opening credits are in the color of red, why you ask? Well originally Them was supposed to be in color and in 3-D, but the studio got antsy (HA!) and decided not to spend the extra money on the film. Imagine if they had, Them probably would have become a true classic, but it may deserve that status anyway.

For fans of 50's horror Them is a must see, for fans of nuclear mutated monsters that run amuck Them is a masterpiece. Enjoy.

6/10