Killer Bees (1974 film)

Last updated
Killer Bees
GenreHorror
Written by John William Corrington
Joyce Hooper Corrington
Directed by Curtis Harrington
Starring Gloria Swanson
Kate Jackson
Craig Stevens
Edward Albert
John Getz
Theme music composer David Shire
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
ProducersRon Bernstein
Howard Rosenman
Production locationsNapa, Napa Valley, California
CinematographyJack Woolf
EditorsRobert A. Daniels
John W. Holmes
Running time74 minutes
Production company Robert Stigwood Organization
Release
Original networkABC
Picture formatColor
Audio format Mono
Original releaseFebruary 26, 1974 (1974-02-26)

Killer Bees is a 1974 American made-for-television horror film starring Gloria Swanson. Directed by Curtis Harrington, the cast includes Kate Jackson, Craig Stevens, John Getz, and Edward Albert. The film originally aired as the ABC Movie of the Week on February 26, 1974.

Contents

Plot

Edward Van Bohlen is estranged from his family and their wine making business. His new girlfriend, Victoria Wells, has convinced him to return to the family at their winery near San Francisco to reconcile despite Edward's warning that his family is eccentric and reclusive. Victoria is treated coolly by the family, but she nevertheless becomes involved in the family power struggle.

Victoria discovers that the family has been using the Africanized bee strain to improve yields at the winery.

Madame Van Bohlen, a strong-willed woman and matriarch of her family, runs the family wine business. Her family refers to her as "Madame." She also has a psychic link which allows her control over the swarm of killer bees that reside in her vineyard. Van Bohlen serves as the queen of the hive.

Victoria discovers that Van Bohlen is using this power to kill people she perceives as a threat, but the family appears to refuse to accept this. [1]

Van Bohlen dies under mysterious circumstances, and although law enforcement is highly suspicious, they are unable to obtain a search warrant to investigate further and close the case. Victoria and Edward plan to leave the family and return to their life as soon as the funeral is over.

During the Van Bohlen funeral, the bees attack the church, Victoria is cut off and shepherded by the bees into the attic housing their main hives; however, they do not attack Victoria.

Rather than leave, Victoria returns to the winery, now accepted as the queen both by the family, who now call her Madame, and the swarm.

Cast

Reception

Moria found the effects disappointing and the plot dull. It stats that much of the movie keeps the bees off screen and focuses on the family drama instead. However, the twist ending was found to be interesting. [2] The New York Times found the movie a tedious bore, stating the commercials advertising the movie to be more interesting that the film itself. [3]

SF Weekly was kinder to the film. While it found that the effects are laughable, the scenes where Jackson and Swanson allow real bees to crawl on them to be creepy. It also liked the musical score by David Shire and that it avoids many of the clichés that other killer bee movies contain. It does point out that many questions such as how the link with the bees exists remain unanswered [4]

Home Release

Available, as of July 2021, to stream on many services, including YouTube. [5]

Awards

YearAwardResultCategoryRecipient
1975 Saturn Award WonSpecial Achievement in TelevisionCurtis Harrington

See also

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References

  1. "Killer Bees (1974)". 7 March 2013.
  2. "Killer Bees (1974)". 7 March 2013.
  3. Thompson, Howard (1974-02-26). "TV Review". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2023-02-02.
  4. "The Golden Age of TV Movies: Killer Bees (1974)". 25 January 2016.
  5. "Search - killer bees 1974".