Spikeopath It still seems ridiculous that after all these years of cinema and all its advancements, that we are still waiting for a good killer bee/wasp/hornet movie. As it turns out, The Savage Bees, in spite of its TV budget production, is the best on offer.Plot in a nutshell sees a strain of African Killer Bees sneak over to the deep south of America via freighter. Once child and pet meet with nasty ends courtesy of the buzzing menace, the authorities come to realise what is going on and must do something before The Mardis Gras celebrations becomes a lambs to the slaughter type scenario.Cast are strong enough for the material, with "name" actors such as Ben Johnson and Horst Buchholz lending their support to the production. The science isn't half bad, the threads involving colour rage and water are interesting, and even though the Bee Genocide finale goes out with a whimper, the idea behind it is at least well thought out.Disposable and forgettable, but enjoyable enough while it's on. It was popular enough to spawn (or should that be swarm?) a sequel, Terror Out of the Sky (1978). 4/10

jonathan-577 I say Ben Johnson and my fellow Canadians say, "Ben Johnson?!" - he was a goddam MOVIE STAR guys, a COWBOY, and by 1976 he was scraping by playing a sheriff in stupid made for TV disaster movies such as this, cashing in on the DEADLY SWARMS OF KILLER BEES that everyone apparently thought were coming to get us at the time. So there's these bees, and they kill some people by flying in their mouth and going after them underwater. Eventually these idiots find the swarm and die and this woman is trapped in her car by the entire swarm. The cops are like, what do we do? Uh, bees die when it's cold. So where could we make it cold? I know - the stadium in New Orleans! So they drive this car and its attendant swarm of killer bees on and on through the streets of New Orleans, with a bullhorn saying "GET OFF THE STREETS OR YOU WILL BE STUNG TO DEATH." And the future home of tens of thousands of flood victims with its broken toilets so becomes the narcotic doom of this particular buncha bees. I don't know which is the greater indignity on this great city...well I do, but this one sucks too. Most appropriately viewed on an extremely faded-to-orange 16mm print, although Betamax is a good alternative!

Sturgeon54 This is not just another cheapy television movie from the 1970s, but actually an intelligent, scary horror film worth seeing, something along the lines of "Kingdom of the Spiders" or "Phase IV" - 2 other very good underrated insect attack movies. There is some good location filming of New Orleans and the swamps of Southern Louisiana, and veteran Ben Johnson is solid in the lead role of the local sheriff. Movies like this need to know how to push the right buttons, and this one does, containing one scene with a scientist in a protective suit poking a giant beehive that really impressed me with how skillfully it was set up. This ain't Shakespeare, but it is the finest quality you will find for this genre.

jnsavage3 I remember seeing this movie on T.V. as it was starting back in the 70's and being just too lazy to get up and change the channel thinking "not another killer bee movie". I'm glad we didn't have remote controls back then, as this proved to be very good little made-for-TV flick.First off, the movie does a very good job with the "science" aspect, explaining how the very aggressive African Killer Bees are making their way to the U.S. and are almost unstoppable. Also, the cast does a very good job in building suspense and empathy in the characters they portrayed, with the strongest by Gretchen Corbett as the lead female character, with the weakest character being the sheriff.In spite of being made in 1976, this movie is surprisingly not all that dated in look and atmosphere. The pacing is good and the effects are fine for this type of movie, although, with all of the computer tricks available now, they could have enhanced some of the final scenes. But, again, the performances are good enough to make up for any short comings in the effects department.I recently dug this movie up in a box of video tapes I had recorded in the 80's and decided to put it to the real test. I invited my 13 year old son in to watch some of it with me, and after 15 minutes or so he was hooked and wanted to watch the whole movie.It seems that they never show these good old made-for-TV movies on T.V. any more, so a DVD release would be nice. This one gets 8 out of 10. You will forever associate the Voltz-Wagon Bug with this movie.