The Deadly Bees (1967)
Directed by Freddie Francis

Film Review

It may require a slight stretch of the imagination, but The Deadly Bees could conceivably have been for Freddie Francis what The Birds had been for Alfred Hitchcock, if only he had been given a big enough cheque and more autonomy in making the film.  Amicus was a small British film production company that, by the mid-1960s, had acquired a certain kudos for turning out respectable horror films on a shoestring budget, evidenced by the success of Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965) and The Skull (1965).  After the company's early successes, a degree of complacency set in and The Deadly Bees was the first casualty of this, a film that was marred by a lack of production commitment which resulted in it being a dismal misfire.  Widely regarded as one of Amicus's worst films, it suffers not only from some of the most appalling special effects to be seen in any British film, but also has major failings on both the writing and acting fronts.  However, it isn't all bad...

The film started out as an adaptation of H.F. Heard's novel A Taste for Honey, which had previously been adapted as an episode of the series The Elgin Hour entitled Sting of Death, featuring horror veteran Boris Karloff.  The original script was supplied by Robert Bloch, who had penned not only Amicus's earlier The Skull, but also the novel on which Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) had been based.  Amicus's bosses had some objections to Bloch's script and it was mostly re-written by Anthony Marriott.  The studio was unwilling to stump up the cash to hire Christopher Lee and Boris Karloff for the two principal roles, so these ended up being given to Frank Finlay and Guy Doleman, a fatal error in Bloch's eyes.  The tight budget allowed for only the most basic of special effects, and so the film's most obvious shortcoming - effects that are so bad they make you howl with derision - rendered the most dramatic parts of the story ludicrously unconvincing.

Even allowing for the poor effects, The Deadly Bees fails as a suspense thriller because the element of surprise is distinctly lacking throughout.  The identity of the killer is apparent almost from the first seen in which he appears, something that neither the script nor the performance by the actor concerned makes any attempt to conceal.  Saddled with a poorly paced script with sequences which, at the time and given the budget, were impossible to realise convincingly, director Freddie Francis could have been forgiven for walking away from the production - and maybe that would have been the best outcome.  Francis does the best he can, and one or two scenes are surprisingly effective, but overall his efforts are endlessly frustrated by the ramshackle script and a blatant lack of money and commitment elsewhere.

And yet, for all its numerous failings, The Deadly Bees does have a curious, indefinable appeal.  Frank Finlay's performance is hardly of Oscar winning standard but it is eerily unsettling and is in keeping with the thick, sour aura of creepiness that pervades the film, once we have got beyond the silly first few scenes.  Bloch may have had his script torn to pieces but his dark humour somehow still makes itself felt in the final film and you can't help wondering how much better it might have been had it been played for comedy.  There have been better films featuring lethal bees, but this one has its own particular downbeat charm, and if nothing else you can have no end of fun laughing at the effects, which really are in a league of their own.

Film Synopsis

Vicki Robbins, a pop singer suffering from nervous exhaustion, is sent by her doctor to a remote island to recuperate in the care of beekeeper Ralph Hargrove.  When a swarm of bees attack and kill the latter's dog Vicki begins to suspect that her host is up to no good, an impression that is only reinforced when she begins talking with a neighbour, Mr Manfred.  An amateur beekeeper, Manfred admits that he was once attacked by Hargrove's bees and is convinced he is breeding a deadly new species of bee.  Hargrove's wife is the next victim of the killer bees but there is no evidence of unlawful killing.  Manfred persuades Vicki to steal some papers from Hargrove's study that will prove his guilt.  Vicki is then herself attacked by a swarm of bees and, convinced that Hargrove intends to kill her, insists on moving in with Manfred.  It is at this point that the killer reveals himself...