Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Cheese and Honey go so well together


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.  

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.