The Deadly Bees (1966)
An ailing starlet is sent to a remote island to recover. Little does she know she is about to stumble into a hive of horror! A neighboring bee keeper has discovered "the smell of fear" and is using it to control a lethal swarm of killer bees which carry out his evil deeds.
The US publicity blurb for The Deadly Bees calls it "Late night drive-in fare at its campy best". In truth the film is much more than that. Despite the special effects at times leaving a lot to be desired, the bee attacks in places look terrible and are often just superimposed over other images. However this isn't a major US studio production this is from the small British company Amicus and i think they've done a terrific job with it.
The film was made on a few simple indoor and outdoor sets and they all look great. The tight screenplay by Robert Bloch and Anthony Marriott hasn't much flab to it and moves along quickly, some nice dialogue taking place in between the numerous bee attacks.
The three main leads - Suzanna Leigh, Frank Finlay, Guy Doleman - all work well and come across as strong believable characters. Finlay drips with seedy menace as he strolls about in his cardigan, you just know he's the villain from his first scenes. Leigh as our heroine looks beautiful yet vulnerable. Her scenes in a white slip being menaced by the bees in the bathroom were used heavily in the films publicity to imply a sleazier side to the film than it actually had. Its always great to see Michael Ripper in a movie, especially one such as this where he comes out from behind the bar and has a pivotal role in the films flaming conclusion. There's even time for an on stage appearance TOTP style from The Byrds during the opening few minutes. Byrds and bees? I thought it was an in-joke anyway.
A largely successful killer bee film years before Hollywood got in on the act.
As with all the Amicus Blu's i've seen from various companies the image quality isn't up there with Hammer when it comes to HD.
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