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Killer Bees
A strong-willed woman not only dominates her family of California winegrowers, but also has a strange hold on a colony of bees in her vineyard.
Release : | 1974 |
Rating : | 4.8 |
Studio : | Robert Stigwood Organization, |
Crew : | Production Design, Set Decoration, |
Cast : | Edward Albert Kate Jackson Roger Davis Don McGovern Gloria Swanson |
Genre : | Horror TV Movie |
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Just perfect...
If you don't like this, we can't be friends.
Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.
The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.
odd accent from Swanson African wines...African bees!!!To me, "Killer Bees" is perhaps the dumbest or among the dumbest installments of "The ABC Movie of the Week". It's got a plot that is pretty weird (even for the series) but just isn't a particularly enjoyable film.The film begins with a bunch of bees from Van Bohlen family estate killing a guy who is a total idiot and rather deserved it! In the next scene, Edward (Edward Albert, not his father Eddie) has brought his partner, Victoria (Kate Jackson), to visit with his family. He's NOT thrilled about it but she is eager to meet everyone. However, they turn out to be an unfriendly lot and the family matriarch (Gloria Swanson) a bit weird on top of all that. They have a secret and it involves Gloria being the queen bee!To me, this film was a waste of talent and the big surprise at the end was just rather dumb. Perhaps you'll enjoy it...I just thought I had wasted about 75 minutes of my life.
Killer Bees (1974) ** (out of 4) Edward van Bohlen (Edward Albert) brings his friend Victoria (Kate Jackson) back to his family estate years after leaving them behind. Before long the friend begins to realize that some local deaths might have been caused by the bees that Madame Maria von Bohlen (Gloria Swanson) has been raising.KILLER BEES is another made-for-television horror film from director Curtis Harrington but sadly it's not one of his best. I guess you really can't blame him too much because there really hasn't been a good film dealing with killer bees. you can watch THE DEADLY BEES, THE BEES or even THE SWARM and you'll see that they're all pretty bad in their own way. This film here at least has a couple good performances but sadly there's just not enough going on throughout the 73-minute running time.The biggest problem with the film is the fact that it's basically a lot of family drama and too much talking. I lost count of how many scenes had Edward talking about leaving his family and the friend talking about how they must discover the truth. There's just way too much boring melodrama here and none of it really has anything to do with the main plot. There are a couple bee attacks but they're not very good as the special effects are certainly lacking.The one saving grace were the actors. Both Albert and Jackson were good in their roles as was Roger Davis in his role as the family doctor. Then you've got the legend Swanson. I'm not going to say she gave a good performance but it was at least an entertaining one as she certainly sold the role with a somewhat over-the-top performance.
The invasion of a community by a swarm of deadly bees was, for a time, a popular commodity in genre cinema: this was preceded by Freddie Francis' THE DEADLY BEES (1966) and followed by THE SAVAGE BEES (1976; TV), its sequel TERROR OUT OF THE SKY (1978; TV) and Irwin Allen's inflated all-star fiasco THE SWARM (1978). Frankly, I never understood this situation's appeal, as the sight of people fleeing for their lives from badly-processed insects (as in the film under review) was always prone to elicit laughter as opposed to the intended terror! Anyway, here we get the added – but equally dubious – treat of having the leading family of the locale (after whom it is named!) as the bees' keepers or, rather as one of them opines, it is the other way round! In fact, matriarch Gloria Swanson (in her much-publicized TV debut) is constantly surrounded by them – until it is time to pass the baton to another, younger woman and, since her direct relations all happen to be male, her successor ends up being one of their number's girlfriend (played by Kate Jackson, later one of TV's CHARLIE'S ANGELS)! Still, the fact that the reason behind the African killer bees' mass migration to the U.S. – apart from the declaration that their particular honey gives the "Van Bohlen" wine an extra sweet taste! – is never properly delineated hurts the overall effort (to say nothing of its credibility quotient).
Me and my third cousin Louis recently had a KILLER BEE movie night! It was amazing! We watched 4 bee movies in one night! It was UN-BEE-LEIVABLE! In all seriousness, Killer Bees should not be laughed at. This movie is a terrifying glimpse into the horrifying reality of the oncoming Killer Bee swarm making it's way here from Africa.The film show-cases two power-house performances, one by the inimitable Gloria Swanson (who, IMHO out-does her cheesy over-the-top performance in Billy Wilder's over-rated SUNSET BOULEVARD)...and the 2nd by......THE BEES! The special effects wizards behind this wondrous vehicle of movie magic should be lauded and made kings of a small third world country for their glorious efforts on this terrifying thrill-ride. I was scared to leave my house for several days after the viewing of this film, I thought the bees were that realistic! The only downside to this is some embarrassing 1974-era haircuts. Thank God I was just a baby back then! 10 out of 10 for this great film. Take it from me, Dan "The Movie Man" Wolfson!!!!!