905 - THE DEADLY BEES

Genre:  ’60s British Horror (1966, Color)

Synopsis:  If, based on the title, you are expecting this to be one of those cheesy ’70s movie on African “Killer” Bees swarming into the U.S. from South America, think again – we weren’t so lucky and this movie isn’t even that good.  This instead is a very dull ’60s-era British pseudo-horror, attempted-thriller about ordinary bees that are manipulated to kill.  It starts off in some office as some British officials of some type laugh at a letter in which a beekeeper claims that he can kill people with his bees.  The movie then jarringly switches to what I think is the Big TNT Show (I guess that’s the show, because BOMB is the word in this case) and we see some ’60s pop singer named Vicki pass out during the 14th minute of her career.  Her manager sends her to recover from exhaustion at Seagull Island, where she will stay with a beekeeper named Hargrove and his chain-smoking wife, Mary.  But soon, Vicki is getting pretty nosey and noticing some odd behavior by Hargrove (which, given that she just got there, how does she even know it’s odd behavior?).  Soon, focus centers on a pail that apparently has some substance on it that causes the bees to attack, because the last two living creatures to touch the pail – first a dog and then chain-smoking Mary – are both stung to death by bees.  Vicki meets another beekeeper named Manfred, so she begins to tell him of her suspicions about Hargrove.  Manfred convinces Vicki to take some of Hargrove’s papers so he can see what he’s up to.  The papers show that Hargrove has isolated the smell of fear in a convenient liquid form and that it is what attracts the bees and causes them to attack.  But Hargrove is on to Vicki’s snooping about and, the next thing she knows, bees are attacking her in her room.  Her brilliant plan of defense is to set everything on fire! (That’ll show those bees!)   Hargrove and the housekeeper find Vicki passed out (again) and put out the fire.  But Vicki is afraid Hargrove will kill her if she stays, so she escapes to Manfred’s house.  Of course, a plot twist blatantly apparent from a mile away occurs and the beekeeper raising the fear-attacking bees gets his just deserves while Vicki-the-pyromaniac gets to start another fire and burn down his house.

Don’s Review:  While not as completely awful as a lot of the movies seen on MST, this still wasn’t a good movie by any stretch.  The plot is slow moving and predictable and the bee attack special effect are cheap and hokey.  M&tBs provide decent riffing and the host segments vary in quality.  The best segment deals with the other Observers returning to get Brain Guy, while the weakest segment has Mike in a bee costume trying to communicate to the ’Bots and is far too silly and not very funny at all.  So, this is another good, but not great, Sci-Fi episode to add the mix.

Don’s Rating: