The Bees (1978) User Reviews

Buzzin' makes me feel good.

[Hey_Sweden · 5/10 · 24 December 2016]

"The Bees" is a gloriously awful animal attack thriller marked by some truly incompetent filmmaking, a ridiculous script, and some hilariously insipid acting. The story involves the corporate smuggling of killer bees into America, which causes a massive swarm such as the country has never seen. The scientists desperately trying to solve the problem (John Saxon as the egghead hero, the ravishing Angel Tompkins as his love interest, John Carradine as her German accented father) realize that they're going to have their hands full.

Led by director Alfredo Zacharias ("Demonoid"), the filmmakers here miss any horror in the premise by bungling almost every action scene. Most of the time, the only possible reaction to the goings-on is laughter. Granted, some of the humor *is* intentional - there is an occasional priceless line such as "That's adding incest to injury." When it comes to the insect cast, we have a practical cast of thousands, and regarding the human actors, Saxon gamely tries to look serious, and Carradine is as genial as he's ever been. Mexican icon Claudio Brook appears early on as Tompkins' husband. There's even an appearance by the "President"! Highlights include a good ol' boy hiring kids to procure bees for him so he can treat his rheumatism with bee stings. There's a fair bit of violence and a couple of impressive vehicle crashes. Everything is capped off with a delightfully idiotic music score (composed by Richard Gillis) that completely works against any suspense that Zacharias and company might otherwise have created. The ending is priceless and right in tune with so many other ecologically themed thrillers of the 70s.

Warner Bros., the makers of "The Swarm", went so far as to pay off New World, the American distributors of this flick, to delay their release so the two movies wouldn't be in direct competition.

Five out of 10.

Teach us more about "Zhe Beez", mad Uncle Ziggy!

[Coventry · 3/10 · 20 June 2019]

Don't be alarmed, there's nothing wrong with your television set. The blurry black dots on the screen are the makers' ingenious method to illustrate that the world is infested with killer bees!

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! I was expecting to see a rather silly and typically cheesy late 70s B-movie in the 'nature runs amok' sub-genre, but I wasn't the least bit prepared for "The Bees" turning out to be one of the most unintentionally hilarious and awfully inept horror films of all times! This film, courtesy of the nobly unknown writer/director Alfredo Zacarías, deserves far more honor than I can write down in a simple review. "The Bees" deserves essays, novels and even complete MST3K specials to be dedicated to it, because that's how bad - but wondrously entertaining - this movie is!

Where to start with a masterpiece of lousiness like this? I believe the following sentence, which I stole from the trivia-section, pretty well summarizes what sort of utter nonsense you can expect: "Alfredo Zacarías got the idea for the story after his son gave him a jar of honey as a gift". Oh wow, that truly is the sort of inspiration where Academy Award winning titles are made of. I think I'll offer my dad a toy soldier and encourage him to script an epos on World War II! Writing a plot synopsis for "The Bees" is pointless, because it'll sound convoluted and intelligent even though it's dead simple and dumb. Here goes: African killer bees, that are being researched in South America, get illegally imported into North America by greedy cosmetics companies. Evidently, a few ones escape and in a very brief period of time, the entire US is beset by aggressive buzzers. The brilliant scientist Dr. Sigmund Hummel (John Carradine) and his niece (Angel Tompkins) team up with hunky Dr. John Norman (John Saxon) and develop an artificial pheromone to neutralize the male specimens, but the super-intelligent bees strike back even harder than before.

Sounds promising, doesn't it? And it is, until you discover that the first solution consists of turning the male bees into homosexuals, and the entire third act deals with Saxon and Tompkins actually communicating with the bees and spreading their warning to humanity to stop messing around with Mother Nature! If you are into really bad cinema, "The Bees" features one inane highlight after the other. A talented and experienced actor like John Saxon must have realized that the speeches he gives to the alleged board of the United Nations are utter drivel? Tompkins carries around killer bees in her beauty-case, the bee-attacks are completely random and the supposedly "shocked" and "petrified" looks on the faces of people are genuinely priceless. Notably the attacks at a beach and during the Gerald Ford parade are laugh-out-loud hysterical! But the - hands down - most bonkers quality of the film is the role of John Carradine as the German Dr. Sigmund Hummel; - or "Ziggy" as he's referred to by Tompkins and Saxon. There absolutely isn't any reason for this character to be German, but Carradine fully grabs the opportunity to go tremendously over the top with his accent, facial expressions and gestures. Sometimes, Dr. Ziggy simply falls asleep whilst others are talking, and then he wakes up and begins chattering about "Zhe beez! Zhe beez!".

You can't possibly give "The Bees" a higher rating than 3 out of 10, but ratings are meaningless for this type of films. It's guaranteed entertainment to watch alone, but preferably even with a group of friends. There are also plenty of other 70s bee-movies available to form a double-feature with, but make sure to avoid the big-budgeted "The Swarm" since that one is a pretentious and dull flick.

Audiences stung by this Roger Corman ripoff of Irwin Allen

[kevinolzak · 3/10 · 9 June 2022]

1978's "The Bees" was inspired by Irwin Allen's upcoming big budget bee effort "The Swarm," as well as director Alfredo Zacharias's gift from his son of a jar of honey, New World producer Roger Corman on board but not Jack Hill, whose many suggestions were ignored by Zacharias, shooting from January 30 for eventual release in November. Exploitation legend Angel Tompkins joins the always reliable John Saxon in keeping a commendably straight face during proceedings, the discovery of a more aggressive strain of African killer bees transported from Brazil to Mexico City, enabling a far swifter invasion of the US. As usual, thuggish profiteers and imbecilic thieves ignore all the warning signs, resulting in special effects just as disappointing as Allen's epic but on a much lower budget, an early exit for Claudio Brook, who kicked off his screen career opposite Lon Chaney in 1955's "Daniel Boone, Trail Blazer," with more international roles in "Samson in the Wax Museum" (Santo), "The Devil's Rain" (William Shatner), and "Licence to Kill" (Timothy Dalton). The only other cast member worth his salt is aging veteran John Carradine as Dr. Sigmund Hummel, noted bee expert and Angel's beloved 'Uncle Ziggy' (Hummel is actually the German word for beekeeper). To this end, the actor struggles to maintain a German accent that renders many lines unintelligible, but with over 15 screen time he enjoys one of his more sizable roles of this busy period. Director Zacharias would continue as a trend follower (a swarm of killer bee movies never made the insects the least bit scary) with 1981's "Demonoid," a curious addition to the 'disembodied hand' fad that kicked off with Michael Caine's "The Hand," Samantha Eggar and Stuart Whitman on hand for this one.

The Bees is pretty bad, but a lot of fun to watch.

[GC-9 · 28 September 1999]

O.K. heres the basic plot: we have been poisoning the air for so many years that nature has fought back by sending us KILLER BEES. Now if that doesn't grab you how about this: This film features a swarm of bees addressing the United Nations, as Angel Thompkin's screams "You have to listen! You have to listen (sic) what the bees are trying to tell you!" I really had fun watching this, but I am truly amazed at how bad it is. There are surprising continuity errors. (In one scene hit men shoot a man as he is sitting in a chair. In the next shot, it's a different older chair.) Many of the shot's of the bee swarms look like they are just clouds of smoke. However, Nightmare On Elm Street's John Saxon is in it, and Claudio Brooks gets hit in the head with a rock. All in all I highly recommend it.

Unbelievably Bad

[Uriah43 · 2/10 · 2 March 2016]

After a brief introduction, this movie begins with a scientist named "Dr. Franklin Miller" (Claudio Brook) and his wife, "Sandy Miller" (Angel Tompkins) working on a project in Brazil to transform African killer bees into a hybrid variety which are less aggressive. However, when a local boy is killed attempting to steal honey from one of the hives, the residents of the local village riot and subsequently kill Dr. Miller in the process. As a result, all of his work is temporarily halted. Not long afterward, realizing the destruction that swarms of these killer bees pose for the United States, another scientist named "Dr. Norman" (John Saxon) meets with Sandy Miller in New York and attempts to take up where his colleague had left off. Now, rather than reveal any more of this movie, I will just say that it began with an interesting premise. Unfortunately, what really hurt this movie overall was the incredibly idiotic ending which has to be seen to be believed. Likewise, some of the disaster scenes were downright laughable as well. That being said, had it not been for the presence of Angel Tompkins, I would have rated this movie even lower than I have--it's just that bad.

Worst of the worst.

[insomniac_rod · 1/10 · 20 December 2004]

I had the misfortune to watch a Spanish dubbed version of this movie. If the performances are horrible, the Spanish dubbing make them even worse! Seriously, the dubbing is laughable! You can't take seriously a movie when Mexican actors try to imitate the Cuban, English, or Arab accent.

Claudio Brook looks creepy every time he appears on screen. I don't know how John Saxon (Dr. John Norman) got involved in this mess and his acting is certainly bad.

The f/x are laughable. Poor production values were used for a movie that intended to be a huge hit.

We shouldn't accept this kind of crap! Probably other people find it amusing because they're not used to this kind of ultra low budget movies. The worst thing about the movie is that it tried too hard to be a decent movie. You can say it failed.

Avoid "The Bees" at all costs!

Not even Mystery Science Theater material.

Buzz Off Already

[saint_brett · 1/10 · 17 October 2023]

Being a victim of multiple bee stings myself, let me clue you in on the little devils; don't swat them like mosquitoes.

Is this the one where the lady is trapped inside the beetle car and drives around a track and field oval?

I heard that bees only have a lifespan of 10 days.

The movie starts out with a couple of illegals jumping a border and trespassing onto Mr. Miyagi's house, only to be sprayed by either confetti or fake snow.

What looks like that creepy Lifetime actor Eric Roberts is alerted to the bee rustling activity and catches them red-handed being attacked by artificial fireflies.

It really looks like chewed-up polystyrene in the air.

The victim puts on an Oscar-winning performance by dying slowly.

What's-his-name sports Norman Bate's mother's hair?

Or, was that a wig? Either way, he's rocking it like a world star.

An angry mob of rabblerousers causes a stir while being led by a night of the living dead twit, sporting herpes, who parades a corpse around in his cradle. Unlawful working conditions start a riot, resulting in the Lifetime actor, with the 'Psycho' hair,' being hit fair square between the eyes with a chunk of rock, which gives new meaning to "only a stone throw away." Somebody give that woman a major league baseball contract right away. She's deadly accurate.

We leave the Jonestown massacre behind and are introduced to the guy from 'Nightmare on Elm Street,' and he's not entering a dragon in this movie but is head of the UN and wearing an expensive suit. By the end of the movie, though, he goes one-on-one with Bolo Yeung. They throw in another martial arts reference as well, and it's quite cringe-worthy.

We cut to New York, and I swear they're playing trumpet music from 'Ms .45.' The singer from Fleetwood Mac arrives from Jonestown and is accosted by Tom Berenger and Popeye.

They steal her fishing tacklebox, are set upon by imported bees from another movie, cry like little girls, and eventually get mowed down by savage automobiles in an attempt to escape the bug attack. That whole building scene with the lift reminds me of Thana when she blows away the photography guy in the apartment.

While John Saxon reminds me of Sean Connery meets Michael Ironside.

That spooky Carradine fella enters the dragon, and he sports a downward cowlick at first and looks like George McFly's father.

Come to think about it, that Fleetwood Mac chick is dressed like Thana as well. She's even rocking the same beret.

I thought that the Oscar-winning death scene at the start was the bees knees, but check out the performance by the beach babe with the ABBA eyeshadow, who gets bit on the finger and dies hard around the 29-minute mark.

The bees in this movie are deadlier and more potent than an Inland Taipan.

Hang on! We got a new winner on that death award. The beach babe only held the title for 3 minutes. Go to the 32:07 minute mark and watch the clown draped in denim timber over like a redwood for no reason to his grave. Did he die of heat exposure? Sunstroke? I'm actually laughing hard at this scene. I rarely laugh at anything anymore, but I'm rewinding this scene and almost going to award this movie 10/10 for that scene alone. (I changed my rating three times while watching this movie, from a 10/10 to a 5/10 and finally landing on a 1/10.) Why's that dude wearing winter warmers on the beach anyway? Did the total eclipse of the sun force him to fold like a pack of playing cards? He just froze and turned into a stiff corpse before dying.

A plume of poorly designed CGI bees amass over town and just wing it to nowhere with no actual cause, while a possessed little girl, who lives down the lane, communicates with the mother brain that dwells in a cave and sends out angry transmissions to hunt humans.

Two of the edit graphic cuts are the stuff made of family game show entertainment. The lines delivered are basic and written by elementary school children. There's even Road Runner sound effects at times as well.

Hold up! This pervert in the park offering children cash advances in return for favors dies pretty hard as well. What he's doing with that brown paper bag is questionable. (Some people use socks.)

San Diego? I thought we were in New York.

The navy is brought in to combat the marauding insects but is no match for the illegal swarm.

Pasadena? I thought we were in San Diego.

The killer bees want no part in a July 4th street parade and put a stop to everyone's good time, which is a pay-per-view event being broadcast by former weathermen.

The director thought he was filming total chaos at the time in this scene, but it's quite laughable and holds no intensity. 'Jaws' suspense was 10/10. 'The Bees' is 1/10. It's artificial mayhem and anarchy.

Washington DC? I thought we were in Pasadena.

Military bombers are brought in, but I highly doubt their effectiveness. They do some crop dusting, and that is why your grapes taste like firecrackers, namely Lady Fingers.

This infuriates the mother brain, and she explodes and sends her armies out tenfold.

The Carradine fella brings nothing to the movie except attempts at humor, which are painful to watch. The accent he's trying to pull off makes what he's saying inaudible. He only lights up the movie when he's shot at the end.

The acting overall is weak in this by all parties.

Roper and Bolo go at it near the end, and it's farcical with the method used to take down Bolo, as is the escape from the Alcatraz dummy that jumps out of a window to its death in Washington, DC.

Fighter jets are brought in to drop lava scuds, and I kid you not, that was another Looney Tunes cartoon sound effect used while real-life planes crash.

Stock footage of Vietnam.

A-Team music.

Did no one think to just use some bug spray fumigation?

The thrilling conclusion to 'The Bees' is a gathering of UN members sitting around negotiating a bipartisan peace deal through democracy with the bees, as Saxon concedes that they can't be toppled, so if you can't beat them, join them.

Yes, you read right; they learn the bees language and hold peace talks with them to co-exist on their terms.

Movie, be gone already.

Astoundingy uneven and decidedly boring

[I_Ailurophile · 2/10 · 29 October 2022]

It's not a good sign when one's gut reaction, three minutes in - well before anyone should be able to form an opinion about even the average short film - is "I'm bored." This could have been a decent "nature run amok" horror flick, like so many others, but instead every little scene, story beat, and inclusion feels bizarrely forced and unnatural. Even those that could be feasibly worthwhile narrative ideas come off as inorganic, raising a skeptical eyebrow; meanwhile, the opening scene comes off as very needlessly semi-racist, and more obliquely, so does the one to follow. What happened to 'The bees?'

I'm given to understand that filmmaker Alfredo Zacarías replaced Jack Hill before filming began, presumably also adding to or changing the script as he saw fit. How much of the picture we see can be attributed to what Hill began, versus what Zacarías brought to the table? The scene writing and dialogue could generously be described as "curious"; for example, witness the first meeting of characters Sandra Miller (Angel Tompkins) and John Norman (John Saxon) within the first twenty minutes. The destructive force of capitalist greed and environmentalist concerns are always worthy plot points, yet this and other major story beats and themes are presented so nonchalantly that the slightest distraction on the part of the viewer will mean we miss them. For lack of substantial means to effectively visualize the swarming threat, death scenes mostly just mean a lot of flailing about or gently falling down. And this is to say nothing of predominant failure to attain or even merely foster an appropriately serious tone for the proceedings, nevermind tense or dire. Richard Gillis' comically ill-fitting score is a big problem to that end, as is Sandy Nervig's overzealous editing and Zacarías' weak direction.

The result, from the start, is a picture that's a horrendous, interminable slog of no meaningful entertainment. By the time it's half over we're begging for the end credits to roll, and this is a preposterous 90 minutes long. One might argue that the mishmash is so awful that it becomes funny, but I didn't laugh once the whole while - and by all means, if Zacarías had intended such a cheekily humorous endeavor in the first place, it failed outright. Unless you also count an absolutely bewildering exchange of a few lines around the 55-minute mark, or the likewise flummoxing performance of John Carradine, occasional stock footage of bees is the most interesting that 'The bees' gets.

There are fragments here of what could have actually been an entertaining movie; this could have been one of the best environmentalist horror films ever made. As it stands, however, the production is flailing in every way, and there's no genre label which earnestly applies: not "drama," not "thriller," and certainly not "horror." I'll stop short of saying this is at rock bottom only on account of its unmet potential, but that's not saying much. Whatever it is you think you'll get out of 'The bees,' you're wrong - you don't need to watch this.

It's All About The Honey Money Mummy! And The Bees Want Their Share... Stay Away

[P3n-E-W1s3 · 3/10 · 5 June 2021]

Hi, and welcome to my review of 1978s The Bees.

The story gets a 0.50 out of 2: Damn, this is one hell of a poor story. Even the writer Alfredo Zacarias, who also directed, appears to have recognized this. Throughout the movie, the story changes in bizarre and unbelievable ways. I'm unsure if he was ridiculing the better Bee movie of the year, The Swarm, but he appears to borrow a plethora of its plot devices. We start in Brazil, where a scientist is developing a less dominant and violent breed of African Killer Bee. As might be expected, the experiment goes disastrously and fatally wrong. His widow then moves to America, where she joins her Uncle, who's attempting to produce the same outcome. They are carrying out their experiments in the name of commerce. There's money in them damned honey jars. Directly, the major conglomerates decide they want the royal jelly for their anti-ageing creams. Sadly profitable business is not patient, and they opt to smuggle in their own Killer Bees; what could go wrong? It's at this point the story begins to stride down the path of the ridiculous. The scientist turns into Dr Doolittle, and Bees decide enough is enough, and it's time for world domination.

The Direction and Pace receive a 1 out of 4: The opening and dynamic sequence set the audience up perfectly for the film. However, something odd begins to happen. Zacarias plummets the movie's pace down to a tedious crawl before we're halfway through. Subsequently deciding it might be a good idea to add a few comedic deaths. There are also way too many stock film segments, especially in the segments where the armed forces are required. Evidently, it's cheaper to insert somebody else's film than pay actors, build sets, and buy uniforms. Some directors search for similar film stock. Zacharias doesn't care. I think he'd have happily included some black and white film if it had been cheap enough. These issues are annoyances, and there is way too many, especially when added to the poorly written story.

The Acting gets a 1 out of 2: By far, the performances are the soundest element of the film. Everyone does a great job with their portrayals, except John Carradine. I find Carradine is either an outstanding actor or the guy who stinks the most. He's definitely in stench mode for The Bees. For a start, his accent is all over the place. He should have stayed with his normal voice; most of the cast did. Even Angel Tompkins opted to lose the foreign accent quite quickly. It was so feeble, to begin with, you scarcely notice she's stopped speaking in it. Secondly, Carradine appears to stumbles everywhere. Not just in his movements but his perfomance. At intervals, it's disagreeable to watch.

And my Enjoyment level hits a 0.50 out of 2: I love B-Movies, but this Bee Movie includes a confusing storyline, a jagged and bewildering filming style, which produces a film too irritating and dull to enjoy fully. Zacarias needed to decide on one outcome for the movie and work a good story around that conclusion. He also needed to decide on a genre or a mix of genres the story was to include. Suddenly jumping from one genre to another is horrible.

Giving The Bees a total of 3 out of 10: Stay Away from this travesty. Unless you're a budding filmmaker, then watch this mess to see how not to do it.

Take Care & Stay Well - Get Inoculated.

If your Bee Masters decide you've been a good human, then nip on over to my Absolute Horror, The Final Frontier, and Monstrous lists and see where the Queen Bee set up her hive. But mainly to find a better film to watch than this one.

"The Bees" must bee seen to bee beelieeved!

[TheSmutPeddler · 6/10 · 22 July 2007]

"The Bees" is a LOT of fun (but you have to be willing to go along for the ride and NOT take it seriously at all). Kind of a cross between a TV sitcom (like "Three's Company") and Irwin Allen's (also laughable) "The Swarm", remember: it's all just goofy FUN.

John Saxon (the hardest working B (or bee) Movie Actor of the 70s), dishy Angel Tompkins, and John Carradine (looking quite frail as Tompkins uncle "Ziggy" with an utterly fraudulent German accent) form a team of bee experts whose research and chutzpah come to the rescue when huge swarms of killer bees make their way to the United States (via corporate greed), wreaking (laughable) havoc. Humor abounds (both intentional and, more significantly, unintentional). The results are cornball, played to the campy hilt by all involved.

The bee attacks are particularly amusing, underscored by goofy soundtrack music that goes disco at times when the bees get their close-ups. How can anyone not enjoy seeing the Rose Parade in Pasadena upset by an attack of the buzzing fiends? Face it, you WILL be rooting for the bees in this film, cheering them on as they go after the actors.

SPOILER ALERT (AS IF with a movie like THIS!)...That the solution for the bee problem involves using pheromone sprays to confuse the male drone bees, tricking them into mating with each other (essentially turning the bees GAY!), and thereby somehow rendering them sterile (huh???) kicks this one out of the field. But it doesn't stop there...Saxon and Tompkins actually communicate with the bees and reach the United Nations to warn, "You have to listen! You have to listen to what the bees have to say!"

"The Bees" must bee seen to bee beelieeved!

Sure, the bee effects are hokey, but what would anyone honestly expect from a film like this? CGI??? This was 1978!

Worthy of rediscovery, "The Bees" is just good, old, grade-Z, 70s bad-movie fun. Great to heckle (a la MST3K) with a swarm of your best friends. (Liquor (or your vice of choice) is highly recommended. Perhaps toast each bee attack with "the bees knees" (a simple combination of gin plus honey, shaken with ice, strained, and served straight-up) a popular Prohibition-era drink from The Savoy Cocktail Book.)

Screen "The Bees" with any of your favorite bee-themed, B-Movies. Suggestions include: "Invasion of the Bee Girls" with honeys Victoria Vetri and Anitra Ford; Bruce Geller's Emmy- winning "The Savage Bees" TV Movie; "The Killer Bees" starring Kate Jackson and Gloria Swanson (a must-see, if you can find it); or the hypnotic episode titled "Zzzzz" from "The Outer Limits" (original series, of course).

Or -- and this one you should already have thought of yourself -- precede "The Bees" with Hitchcock's "The Birds" and rely on guests' libidos to take the prurient overtones to the next level...(anyone for royal jelly and prophylactics?)

Have a real stinger of an evening!

The Bees

[BandSAboutMovies · 3/10 · 2 July 2022]

Alfredo Zacarías made Demonoid and we should thank him for years for that. He also took advantage of the sheer terror that ensured when the Africanized honey bee was on its way to America. Originally used in Brazil to increase honey production, 26 swarms escaped quarantine in 1957 and spread throughout South America, incredibly defensive and angry bees that supposedly can chase a person for a mile. These bees have killed a thousand people with many of their victims being stung over and over again. Just imagine six-year-old me watching this on the news every single night as we were told again and again just how close these bees were to us and how doomed we all were.

I also blame the exploitation film industry who seized upon this and made so many killer bee movies, as they had all the news doing their advertising work for them. There was the 1974 TV movie Killer Bees, The Swarm and this movie, ads filled with just bee after bee and I'd watch when I was outside sure today was the day I'd be stung to death.

Jack Hill went uncredited on this as a writer, as he was supposed to direct it, but life didn't work out that way. It's the story of South American killer bees who haven't just been smuggled into the country for experiments, but have also mutated into even smarter than your average bee and use that to kill humans.

It all happens when Dr. Miller (Claudio Brook) is trying to crossbreed the aggressive bees with a much calmer species so that more honey can be made. A local tries to break in and steal the bees, which leads to his angry family and friends burning down Miller's house and the bees escaping. Meanwhile, Miller's wife Sandra (Angel Tompkins) takes the queen to her uncle Dr. Sigmund Hummel (John Carradine, of course) and Dr. John Norman (John Saxon), who have the same goals as her husband, except there's a honey spy ring trying to make more money off the bees and that means murder.

There's a scene where Carradine falls to his doom and I won't lie, I watched it nine times and with each rewatch I loved this movie even more. Also: John Saxon speaks to stock footage of the UN.

John Carradine has the worst excuse for a German accent that I've ever heard! I love it!

[lee_eisenberg · 10/10 · 25 November 2006]

My 10/10 rating assumes that you're ready for some nice, corny, really dumb entertainment, because that's exactly what the lower-than-B-movie "The Bees" provides. Portraying killer bees getting loose and wreaking havoc, it's just plain laughable. If nothing else, the movie should show why John Saxon may be the greatest B-movie actor of the last 40 years. Of course, his co-star John Carradine - doing the lamest excuse for a German accent that I've ever heard - can't really lay claim to being Laurence Olivier either.

Anyway, if the killer bees ever arrive, they ought to go after the people who financed this stinker. It's probably the best example of unintentionally funny.

I like the strange music.

[lockbox929 · 6/10 · 1 June 2002]

It's truly the best film of all time. It was pretty funny to watch. I'm surprised that Mystery Science Theater didn't get a hold of this!

This isn't giving away anything... but I really love the disco tune that plays whenever someone's getting stung to death.

Thoroughly inept

[gridoon2024 · 3/10 · 14 September 2022]

"The Bees" could be used as a tool of punishment for those who thought "The Swarm" was bad; no matter how silly the 1978 all-star disaster marathon got, at least it displayed a level of professionalism, competence and coherency completely missing from this inept effort. Anonymous extras flail about while bees which look more like moths fill the screen. Instead of Michael Caine, Henry Fonda and Richard Windmark, you get John Saxon (he has a martial-arts fight with an Asian guy, not Bruce Lee though) and Angel Tompkins (at least she's cute). The scariest thing about this movie, though, is John Carradine's German (?) accent. * out of 4.

A Honey of a Turkey!

[Bolesroor · 11 June 2003]

If you would like to laugh at a truly silly, truly original, truly awful film, then this is the movie for you. I won't lie to you- it's terrible! If you're looking for an evening of suspense and drama go rent JAWS. If you're looking to see a Mexican farmer stung to death by several hundred special-effect bees while shouting for his honey, THE BEES is for you.

It stars the King of the B's himself, John Saxon, as some sort of scientist bee expert. Or something. He and a nearly-attractive blonde try to warn the world about the over-breeding of the killer bee, and the inevitable disasters to come. But those greedy fat cats have only one thing on their minds: Honey. I swear to you I laughed so hard while watching this movie that I choked. If you like B movies, you will love THE BEES!

Entertaining bee movie

[Red-Barracuda · 6/10 · 7 September 2021]

John Saxon and a zillion year old John Carradine star in this cheap knock-off of the mega budget disaster epic, The Swarm. Worth watching to see b-movie actors keep a straight face while hollering lines likes "You have to listen to what the bees have to say!"

The inconvenient truth about killer bees...

[simonmills47 · 10/10 · 30 September 2007]

Spoilers coming-but it really doesn't matter.

Angry bees attack the UN to assert joint control of the world between themselves and mankind. If we don't leave them in peace, they dispose of us. Enough said, except for the fact that the UN bees are entirely different from the set of angry bees that menace mankind in the first half of the film. Frankly this film was a lot more entertaining than "An inconvenient truth", AND it has John Saxon, and John Carradine to boot. The fight between Saxon and the Mexican hit-man (yes, this film has everything) is a real treat.

This film should undoubtedly be on the global school curriculum.

Much of the "zzzzz" noise actually comes from the audience

[Wizard-8 · 23 February 2003]

The idea of a low-budget quickie made to take advantage of publicity surrounding THE SWARM - of all movies! - will undoubtably sound irresistable to many trash fans. However, most of the movie is boring talk, without the campy sight of big-name stars making fools out of themselves or large-scale but silly special effects. And while it's shorter than the full-length cut of THE SWARM (which runs about 2 1/2 hours!), it feels *longer* due to a sluggish pace. Still, the movie has some mirthful moments, the best being the whole segment in the park with the old man and the little boys.

Here's the buzz

[GOWBTW-5STARreviewer · 9/10 · 22 July 2023]

Everyone knows that killer Bees are not natural. They were created in 1954 for honey production. However, reproducing Bees from Africa is a lethal solution. Therefore the result is terrifying. In this movie, these killer bees are breeded with a gene that causes them to be more intelligent. They not only attack, but they send a message to mankind to change their ways.

This movie is using nature as the enemy. A year ago, there was "Kingdom of the Spiders". They did nothing fancy in the film, but it kind to teach people how to respect nature. Regular bees are not scary, but Africanized bees are.

4 out of 5 stars.

So bad its hilarious

[Rrrobert · 6 August 1999]

Wow. This must be the funniest bad film of modern times, a real 1970s counterpart of Ed Wood's earlier classics. It features some awful acting but the main cast is kind of cool: B-movie veterans John Saxon and John Carradine, with glamorous starlet Angel Tompkins who apparently failed her "Charlie's Angels" audition, so ended up in this.

There's familiar and anachronistic stock footage, cheap dummies impersonating characters jumping from heights, and some crazy overacted bee attack sequences.

Love that funky and totally inappropriate theme music too! See it with "Demonoid" for maximum laughs.

Gloriously ghastly 70's killer bee abomination

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 19 March 2016]

A strain of killer bees smuggled into America by an evil and unscrupulous corporation threaten to destroy mankind. It's up to a small team of scientists to figure out a way to destroy them before it's too late.

Writer/director Alfredo Zacharias treats the inane premise with sidesplitting misguided seriousness: The copious use of laughably obvious stock footage (look fast for a clip of former President Gerald Ford on a float at the Rose Bowl Parade!), ineptly staged attack scenes, shoddy (far from) special effects, an incredibly inane solution to the problem that involves turning male bees into homosexuals (yes, you read that correctly), and a surreal climax set at a UN meeting complete with a heavy-handed plea for tolerance between humans and bees (!) all add to this hilariously horrendous honey's considerable campy charm. John Saxon tries hard as the stalwart John Norman, Angel Tompkins looks mighty foxy and just barely manages to retain her dignity as the perky Sandra Miller, and John Carradine hams it up shameless as flaky old fudster Dr. Sigmund Hummel (Carradine's uproariously overdone and unconvincing German accent in particular serves as a key source of unintentional belly laughs). The funky-throbbing score by Richard Gillis hits the get-down groovy spot. An absolute cruddy hoot!

Bad but Bad Enough for a Few Laughs

[Michael_Elliott · 3 April 2011]

Bees, The (1978)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

It was expected that THE SWARM would be a major hit so this Mexican film was rushed into production to try and cash-in on the others success but when the Irwin Allen film turned out to be a disaster there wasn't any "demand" for a rip so THE BEES has fallen into never land and very few have been brave to dig it up. The "story" involves some African bees that are crossbred with some from Brazil and they turn out to be craving humans and animals. Soon the bees are killing people throughout Brazil and Mexico and soon find their way to America and it's up to three dedicated folks (John Saxon, Angel Tompkins, John Carradine) to destroy the killers. I guess I should add that the major break in killing the bees is to create a special serum that will turn the males into homosexuals and they'll end up attacking one another. I'm not kidding. With that added bit you can tell this sucker is from the 70s and what a poorly produced mess it is. The nature attack genre has given us killer sharks, snakes, whales, bears, frogs and countless other creatures but the bee hasn't been too friendly as quite often its films are very bad. That trend continues with this production, which is just a major joke and you have to feel sorry for the cast members. Thankfully the film is bad enough to where you might find yourself laughing and being entertained by the campiness. As with THE SWARM, the special effects here are just awful with the majority of the bees being "dots" on the screen or some type of item being blown around by a fan. Every once in a while the image of bees are plastered over the footage we're watching but for the most part there's not a bee to be seen. There are several sequences where we see one attack after another and this is where most people are going to get the laughs because the performances are beyond horrid. The funniest has to be one where a woman removes her glasses, wipes them and then puts them back on just in time to see what's getting ready to attack her. Check out the woman in the bathroom who gets stung and then goes into her "death scene", which is bad enough to where many viewers might die from laughter. There's not a single death scene that actually makes on feel for the character or builds up any suspense and that's not a good thing for a film like this. Saxon is clearly bored with the material as he sleepwalks through it but he's always fun to watch. Carradine really hams it up as he's quite often shouting for no reason but this over-the-top performance at least gives us something entertaining to see. Thankfully both Saxon and Carradine have quite a few scenes together so genre fans will at least get to see them. THE BEES isn't the worst movie on the subject but it might just be the dumbest. The political speech at the end is unbelievable and let's not even get started on the other political stuff that works itself into the story.

Give me the buzz about "The Bees"

[GOWBTW · 8/10 · 29 July 2020]

A year earlier, they did "Kingdom of the Spiders". Now there's a disaster movie dealing with bees. I read the book "Killer Bees", dealing with Africanized bees released in 1954. Going to show what happens when you tamper with nature. Yes, man wants to improve the production of honey by enhancing the bees. But when you make a hybrid of European bees and African bees, you get a bee that is more aggressive than before. When a man and son tried to break into a hive that houses the killer bees, the chaos ensures. The wife of the professor travels back to the United States following her her husband death of a bee attack. The colleague in the States helps her out trying to find the solution to the aggression of the killer bees. It turned out that there was some inside business going on, and they tried to wipe out the people trying to make a solution. Unlike "Kingdom of the Spiders", "The Bees" found a way to communicate with the humans. John Saxon plays his role well. His martial arts skills were used in the fight scenes like "Enter The Dragon". I wonder how Bruce Lee would feel about that. It's silly to say, but it was entertaining. 2 out of 5 stars

EXTREMELY Bad but entertaining all the same WARNING!!!!!!!! SPOILERS!!!!!!

[callanvass · 15 July 2004]

downright laughable but is entertaining on a so bad it's good level it has a lame music score extremely lame dialog laughable effects and the bees look fake at times with lots of laughable moments like when the girl jumps into the water keeps going underwater and says help me help me the acting is bad John Saxon actually comes out of this looking decent too bad his material was awful!!!!!!! i love John Saxon though come back soon!!! Angel Tompkins is so so here and spurts out dumb dialog John Carradine is completely over the top and campy but he is fun to watch plus all the characters are idiots and the effects suck and laughable bee attacks and the death scenes all suck! and that crappy ending where Saxon gets to deliver a bad speech and the ending stinks and leaves many questions unanswered and there is this idiot who actually wants a bee to sting him and there is tons of logic lapses overall horribly made and written but fun if your in the mood for a dumb movie fun don't get me wrong that does not mean this still isn't a lame flick because it is but it is just entertaining * out of 5 but i cannot recommend this unless you are desperate for bad B movies like this

Great schlocky low budget horror.

[MonsterVision99 · 8/10 · 26 January 2022]

Anti-imperialist/anti-capitalist killer bee movie by Roger Corman, Jack Hill and Alfredo Zacarias. Its deranged and engaging to the max but like in many films by Zacarias the comedy is hit or miss but its highs are pretty hilarious.

Great killer animal movie even if it is ultra cheap.