The Bees
Directed By: Alfredo Zacarias 1978
John Saxon, John Carradine, President Ford
and killer bees in a low budget eco-disaster Swarm knock off (with a
twist)!! I mean what more do you need?
Okay, okay I guess we should mention the
storyline then for those who aren’t already rushing out to buy this baby. A yankee scientist is working in
South America trying to create a hybrid bee that will provide higher honey
yields. He’s having problems back home though and suspects corruption in higher
places. Unfortunately the bees he is working with are pretty vicious and after
a boy is killed by a swarm of them (well by a bunch of glitches and scratches
on the screen that represent the bees!) the natives get restless and trash the
place, releasing the bees who take out their vengeance on the yankee scientist.
Meanwhile back in the USA our two Johns are
talking to a table of world leaders in some sort of segue/comedy skit to
introduce their characters into the story.
Turns out Carradine is a scientist type himself and he’s also the uncle
of our poor yankee scientist’s wife… And she’s on her way home to continue her
late hubby’s work. She’s also going to
get very friendly with Saxon – so much for the grieving widow routine. Turns out the yankee scientist was right,
there is some corruption going on and when big biz steps in, our two Johns are
forced to go rogue so they can continue their studies ‘for the sake of
humanity’. Not that humanity is having
much luck since the killer bees are already swarming, or at least some scratchy
black clouds that look like they are actually drawn onto the film stock, are
swarming!! The beach is attacked, poorly
paid extras die, things aren’t looking good. Turns out the swarm is near a
radar station and the signals are mutating them.
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| it's what all the modern grieving widows are wearing |
The hive itself looks almost alien and is
quite effective in its appearance, particularly when you consider that the
swarm is usually drawn onto the screen.
When the bees attack the Rose Parade, complete with stock footage of
President Ford, things get serious.
Chemical warfare, planes, flame throwers, UN observers, romance, love,
betrayal, hitmen take out poor old Uncle John but then the bees hunt them
down! The Capitol comes under attack,
there’s stock footage carnage, planes crashing and those swarms of hand drawn
bees. BUT then there’s the twist. You see Uncle John was working on another
project, he was working on communicating with the bees!! So of course with him out of the picture the
bees go to the other John who wakes up to find his bedroom is a hive, a hive
visually reminiscent in fact of Contagion, another nice touch. The bees want us humans to clean up our act
before we destroy the world so John and the merry widow take their message to
the United Nations for a stirring speech by man and bee! I tell ya, I couldn’t make this up. This is so cheap, so dumb and yet so much
fun. Carradine with a bad German accent,
Saxon at his peak, talking bees, corrupt politicians, it has it all. And on a budget that probably didn’t provide
more than honey sandwiches for lunch.
You just have to love it.
