The Savage Bees (TV Movie 1976)

The Savage Bees (TV Movie 1976). 1h 30m | Not Rated

“u0026quot;The Savage Beesu0026quot; is a somewhat peculiar entry in the long list of nature-running-amok/animals-going-wild horror movies from the 70s. On the one hand, itu0026#39;s a very prototypic tale, with aggressive animals – African killer bees, to be exact – going on a violent murder spree in a small town near New Orleans just at the same time as the annual Mardi Grass celebrations. But, on the other hand, itu0026#39;s a much more intelligent and scientifically accurate film that often opts for realism and tension instead of sensationalism and gratuitous action. The lead characters, played by veteran Ben Johnson and a young Michael Parks, are plausible and even likeable, the sequences with massive swarms of real bees are more than impressive, and the buzzing killers cause for a couple of atypical victims in town. Itu0026#39;s harsh and painful to witness young kids or innocent workmen getting attacked and killed by a swarm, but also admirable. In many comparable movies, the wild animals only seem to wipe the bad, arrogant, and corrupt people. How realistic is that, honestly? The downside of the filmu0026#39;s approach, however, is that itu0026#39;s slow and occasionally rather boring, and that the grand finale (albeit imaginative) is very UN-spectacular.”