Killer Bees is a 1974 American made-for-television horror film starring Gloria Swanson. Directed by Curtis Harrington, the cast includes Kate Jackson, Craig Stevens, John Getz, and Edward Albert. The film originally aired as the ABC Movie of the Week on February 26, 1974.

Plot

Edward Van Bohlen is estranged from his family and their wine making business. His new girlfriend, Victoria Wells, has convinced him to return to the family at their winery near San Francisco to reconcile despite Edward's warning that his family is eccentric and reclusive. Victoria is treated coolly by the family, but she nevertheless becomes involved in the family power struggle.

Victoria discovers that the family has been using the Africanized bee strain to improve yields at the winery.

Madame Van Bohlen, a strong-willed woman and matriarch of her family, runs the family wine business. Her family refers to her as "Madame." She also has a psychic link which allows her control over the swarm of killer bees that reside in her vineyard. Van Bohlen serves as the queen of the hive.

Victoria discovers that Van Bohlen is using this power to kill people she perceives as a threat, but the family appears to refuse to accept this.^[1]

Van Bohlen dies under mysterious circumstances, and although law enforcement is highly suspicious, they are unable to obtain a search warrant to investigate further and close the case. Victoria and Edward plan to leave the family and return to their life as soon as the funeral is over.

During the Van Bohlen funeral, the bees attack the church, Victoria is cut off and shepherded by the bees into the attic housing their main hives; however, they do not attack Victoria.

Rather than leave, Victoria returns to the winery, now accepted as the queen both by the family, who now call her Madame, and the swarm.

Cast

• Gloria Swanson as Madame Van Bohlen
• Kate Jackson as Victoria Wells
• Edward Albert as Edward Van Bohlen
• John Getz as Attendant
• Craig Stevens as Rudolf Van Bohlen
• Don McGovern as Mathias Van Bohlen
• Roger Davis as Dr. Helmut Van Bohlen
• John S. Ragin as Sergeant Jeffreys
• Liam Dunn as Zeb Tucker
• Heather Ann Bostain as Roseanna / Housekeeper
• Donald Gentry as Lineman
• Jack Perkins as Salesman
• Robert L. Balzer as Minister
• Daniel Woodwort as Townsman
• George Deangelis as Foster

Reception

Moria found the effects disappointing and the plot dull. It stats that much of the movie keeps the bees off screen and focuses on the family drama instead. However, the twist ending was found to be interesting.^[2] The New York Times found the movie a tedious bore, stating the commercials advertising the movie to be more interesting that the film itself.^[3]

SF Weekly was kinder to the film. While it found that the effects are laughable, the scenes where Jackson and Swanson allow real bees to crawl on them to be creepy. It also liked the musical score by David Shire and that it avoids many of the clichés that other killer bee movies contain. It does point out that many questions such as how the link with the bees exists remain unanswered ^[4]

Home Release

Available, as of July 2021, to stream on many services, including YouTube.^[5]

Awards