Beware of...the spiders?!

When this movie was released in Sweden about 45 years ago, it was retitled "Spindlarna", which means "The Spiders". It still bore this title when it was first shown on TV years later, but recently, it's simply been called "Them" (the original English title).

The Spiders?! Why on earth would a horror movie about gigantic ants be called "The Spiders"??? There's not a single spider in the entire movie!

The retitling was either a joke, or a crude way of hiding the real plot. After all, you're not supposed to know that the monsters are ants, until they SHOW THEMSELVES. I was certainly surprised when I saw "Them" the first time. In fact, I was even a little bit irritated. I mean, I had expected large, woolly tarantulas! Besides, I happen to *like* ants. (I hate spiders.) Nuking a bunch of Black Widows would have made my day!

But yes, the movie is surprisingly good for a black-and-white production from 1954 (I didn't even know it was *that* old).

Therefore, I give it five stars.

Besides, ants in California or Arizona are probably nastier than the coy, peaceful garden ants we have in our Swedish rosebushes...

Beware then...of the ants.

;-)