The Deadly Bees (1967)

User Rating:

2.7/10   

Director:

Freddie Francis

Writers:

Robert Bloch (screenplay)
H.F. Heard (novel)

Release Date:

April 1967 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Hives of horror! - Excited by the smell of fear, they inflict their fatal stings!

Plot:

Trouble strikes when an exhausted pop singer, sent on a vacation to a farm, realizes that the farm's owner grows deadly bees.

Plot Keywords:

Singer | Bee | Island | Fire | Dog

Cast

Suzanna Leigh	...	Vicki Robbins
Frank Finlay	...	H.W. Manfred
Guy Doleman	...	Ralph Hargrove
Catherine Finn	...	Mary Hargrove
John Harvey	...	Insp. Thompson
Michael Ripper	...	David Hawkins
Anthony Bailey	...	TV Compere
Tim Barrett	...	Det. Harcourt
James Cossins	...	Seagull Island Coroner
Frank Forsyth	...	Seagull Island Doctor
Greta Farrer	...	Sister
Katy Wild	...	Doris Hawkins
Gina Gianelli	...	Secretary
Michael Gwynn	...	Dr. George Lang
Maurice Good	...	Vicki's Agent

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:12 | Norway:16 | USA:Not Rated | Finland:K-16 | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Twickenham Film Studios, St Margarets, Twickenham, Middlesex, England, UK

Company:

Amicus Productions

Trivia:

The exteriors of the Hargrove farm were built entirely on sound stages, complete with fake trees, fences and sheds.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Doris is chased through the woods by the bees, it is a grey overcast day, yet the close up shots of the hovering swarm feature a bright blue sky without a cloud in sight

Quotes:

Mary Hargrove: The dog's meat, have you seen it?

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Deadly Bees (#10.5)" (1998)

Terrible!

The Deadly Bees would be much more aptly titled were it called The Deadly Bore. Made by the company Amicus (a half-hearted sixties rival to Hammer) and directed by the usually reliable Freddie Francis, this is a truly terrible film.

Suzanna Leigh looks pretty but acts badly as a pop star suffering from exhaustion. Her agent sends her to Seagull Island to recover, and she finds herself lodging at a strange, isolated little farm run by Guy Doleman and his unhappy wife. Doleman breeds bees, as does nearby resident Frank Finlay, and things start to go wrong when a mutant breed of killer bee begins to attack and kill people and animals on the island. Finlay persuades Leigh that the bees responsible have been bred by Doleman, and solicits her help in gathering evidence to have him arrested.

The special effects are pitiful. The bee attacks look so unconvincing that they provoke humour rather than terror. All right, so it's a limited budget 60s film, so the effects are hardly likely to be the best, but surely they could've done better than this! Furthermore, the characters make no sense whatsoever. For instance, some of the events going on simply don't seem to perturb Doleman in the slightest; Leigh reacts strangely much of the time; and Finlay's character seems to be a different person from one scene to the next. Even the "shock" twist at the end is telegraphed miles in advance. I won't reveal the solution here, but as you're watching this film the likelihood is that you'll figure out what's going on long before the heroine does!