The Bees (1978) New World/Horror RT: 91 minutes Rated PG (violence, gruesome images) Director: Alfredo Zacharias Screenplay: Alfredo Zacharias and Jack Hill Music: Richard Gillis Cinematography: Leon Sanchez Release date: November 17, 1978 (US) Cast: John Saxon, Angel Tompkins, John Carradine, Claudio Brook, Alicia Encinas, Julio Cesar, Armand Martin, Jose Chavez Trowe, Deloy White, Roger Cudney, Chad Hastings. Box Office: N/A
Rating: ***
Reportedly, Warner Bros. paid New World a tidy sum NOT to release The Bees until after their killer bee movie The Swarm. It wouldn’t have mattered how long they waited because everybody would still know that the Mexican-made horror film is a cheap knock-off of Irwin Allen’s big budget flop. Cheap knock-offs of big movies are the specialty of the house at New World. Didn’t they come up with Sorceress just months after Conan the Barbarian in ’82? Yes they did!
The Swarm was expected to be one of the year’s biggest hits (it wasn’t) which is why Roger Corman went ahead with his own killer bee movie. As much as I like The Swarm, I have to say that The Bees is great fun in its own right. How can I possibly knock a movie with such a cool cast? It stars John Saxon (Enter the Dragon), Angel Tompkins (The Teacher) and John Carradine (Billy the Kid vs. Dracula). That, my friends, is what you call a great roster of B-actors.
I won’t try and convince you any of the performances in The Bees are Oscar-worthy because they’re not. They are, however, perfect for something silly like this. It asks you to believe that bees could potentially hold the world hostage by threatening to wipe out humanity if their demands for better environmental care aren’t met. Yes, you read that sentence right. It would appear that Carradine’s character, bee expert Dr. Hummel, has deciphered their language. Makes it easier to negotiate with the little buggers I guess.
A bit of background is required here. In an attempt to increase honey production in South America, killer bees were imported from Africa and cross-bred with their own. It created a new deadlier species of killer bees that quickly spread across the continent. In the movie’s opening scene, the bees attack a father and son attempting to steal honey from a research facility. The boy dies and the locals don’t take too kindly to that. They attack and burn down the facility, killing the head scientist (Brook, The Devil’s Rain) in the process. His widow Sandra (Tompkins) makes her way to New York where she’s promptly mugged by two thugs in an elevator. They relieve her of her vanity case which contains, among other necessities, several of the killer bees which proceed to dispense their own brand of justice to the screaming dirtbags.
She’s come to work with another scientist, John Norman (Saxon), on solving the bee problem. She’s NOT, however, responsible for the imminent killer bee invasion. That would be a trio of corporate types who want to use the bees for industrial purposes (one guy represents a cosmetics company). When Sandra turns down their request, they hire somebody to smuggle some of the bees into the US. Naturally, the buzzing killers escape and start wreaking havoc from sea to shining sea. This means lots of scenes of screaming extras fleeing in terror, trampling each other to avoid being stung to death by the aggressive insects. Our brave and brilliant heroes must come up with a solution that will eradicate the problem permanently. Oh yeah, there’s also a corrupt politician trying to cover up his involvement in the bee problem. It’s okay, the bees see to him too.
There’s much enjoyment to be derived from The Bees. It’s incredibly campy. The special effects are especially cheesy. The swarm of bees hovering above in the sky looks more like a dark cloud. At times, you can tell there’s somebody off-camera throwing bees from a bucket at the actors who were never in danger of being stung since the bees’ stingers were removed prior to filming.
The actors, especially Carradine, really camp it up. The dialogue is hilariously bad. In the climactic meeting at the UN, Tompkins actually screams “You have to listen to what the bees are trying to tell you!” That one had me laughing my ass off.
The Bees has some cool scenes like when the killer bees attack the Tournament of Roses Parade. This scene features a cameo (of sorts) of former President Gerald Ford. He doesn’t actually appear in the movie; footage of him riding in the parade is edited in. What’s even funnier is the appearance of a Jimmy Carter impersonator (depicting the then-current Commander-in-Chief) thanking the scientists for their help.
The Bees is goofy from start to finish and I don’t mean that in a bad way. I really like this movie. Directed by Alfredo Zacharias (Demonoid), it can’t be taken seriously, not even for a second. Yet at the same time, it almost had me believing that whole bit about deciphering bee language. Almost, I said. It isn’t a well-made movie. It has a lot of continuity errors and an overall cheap look to it. It’s all part of its appeal. I think I speak for all B-movie aficionados when I say that. You just have to laugh when you watch it.
