Theme Song: Violins.
Interesting Dated References: People caring about Killer Bees™.
Best Line:Said by a man to a woman he just met and has lured into his home without sexual overtones — “The tranquilizer I gave you is going to take effect soon, so please stay here tonight. I’ll sleep on the couch.”
Social Context: Somehow The Bees manages to be completely unmemorable while having the most ridiculous plot of all the Killer Bee™ movies. More ridiculous than the bee-covered car/freezing air conditioning combo of The Savage Bees, more absurd than the bee-covered suit of Terror Out of The Sky, and even more preposterous than the nuclear reactor detonation of The Swarm.
The Bees goes totally anti-establishment by making their villain an evil corporation that is hellbent on importing Killer Bees™ to extract honey for their Royal Jelly brand women’s salve. After a failed attempt at turning them homosexual, the bees become upset, form a collective conscience that can speak English, and inform the United Nations that people need to learn how to coexist with Killer Bees™.
Summary: In a wood-paneled boardroom, a bunch of fat cats discuss importing genetically-engineered non-Killer Bees™ from South America. Scientist John Norman (played by John Saxon, Running Scared, Enter the Dragon, Cannibal Apocalypse, Blood Beach, Battle Beyond the Stars) warns them that the non-Killer Bees™ aren’t ready yet, and are really just Killer Bees™.
Nobody listens to him, and the bees are unleashed on America. Eager to cover their tracks, the corporation finances Norman’s research theory, which posits that he can confuse the bees with a special pheromone, thereby causing the males to mate with each other.
But this doesn’t work, and the bees get super mad and swarm over old stock footage of crowds running and planes crashing. Seriously, they even use footage of this military plane crashing, which you’ve seen a thousand times in the terrible, old, industrial music videos you used to watch late at night:
As previously mentioned, the bees learn to speak English and go to the UN meeting so they can explain to all the world that the Killer Bees™ are here to stay and nobody is allowed to use their honey in salves or ointments or creams of any kind.
Worth Mentioning:
– John Carradine (Golden Rendezvous) plays the scientist who helps John Saxon come up with the homosexuality plan.
– This movie is terrible.
– I was so tired of watching bee movies that I missed several plot points with this one.
Poster and Box Art: Here is the U.S. poster for The Bees. It’s better than the movie, but if you hung this in your home everyone would know you like terrible movies that aren’t even ironically enjoyable.
Availability: Available on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome via Amazon.