Monster of the Day #3078

Updated on August 4, 2020 By Ken Begg 7 Comments

“Bees! Bees! Thousands of Bees!” (Hey, not everyone has Irwin Allen’s budgets.)

GalaxyJane pointed out to me that 1978’s delirious The Bees, no doubt rushed to drive-ins to (somewhat ironically) cash in on The Swarm. It’s really dumb in the most enjoyable way, and stars John Saxon to boot. It also has John Carradine playing “Uncle Ziggy”–really–and he sports a Shemp Howard haircut and the resemblance is pretty striking. There’s  a gorgeous, no doubt pilfered print on YouTube, so check it out before it’s removed.

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  • Interestingly, Warner paid off New World to hold release of this until after The Swarm as they didn’t want it to compete for their box office. Can’t say that worked out for them considering how badly the bigger film tanked. Knowing Corman, he probably held out for enough that the actual movie didn’t have to make a dime for him to turn a profit (I can’t actually find box office numbers for The Bees, but it can’t have cost much).

    This is such bat-poop insane fun. Got to watch Mr. GJ watching it for the first time recently, which is always fun with something this nutty, I had no idea that he’d not seen it.

    And the Vinegar Syndrome print that is (undoubtedly illegally) up on YouTube, is indeed gorgeous. I’d never seen it except in washed-out low-res copies from VHS before.

  • Also the only Killer Bee movie to feature (really) former-President Gerald Ford.

  • This image reminds me of Fulci’s City of the Living Dead, where it looks like (and probably was) the cast getting pelted by maggots.

    ….

    …

    Yep, that’s the limit I’ve got to say. Figured why should I be the only one with that image stuck in the old brain pan this morning.

    Giving man, I am.

  • zombiewhacker

    Although some in the past had pegged Angel Tompkins as a crappy B movie actress, I thought she was very good in this. She played off John Saxon and the rest of the cast very well and came off as quite charming, actually.

  • The Rev.

    I saw it this past weekend for the first time (a favorite Roku channel was running Saxon movies all week). Probably my favorite killer bee movie now because it’s just bonkers (especially the ending) and I loved that music sting (see what I did there?) when an attack happened.

  • The truly inappropriate score is definitely another point in the movie’s favor.

  • Jamie B.

    I enjoyed this movie so much!

    John Saxon practicing his yoga while Angel Thompkins is only wearing his gi top and belt. And then Uncle Ziggy shows up and doesn’t even bat an eye… Too funny!