Killer Bees (2002 TV Movie) User Reviews

Yet Another By The Numbers Bee Movie

[Theo Robertson · 2/10 · 7 January 2005]

It wasn't until after watching this that I suddenly realised something - That movies featuring bees on the rampage are totally self limiting in concept and structure . I've seen several of these type of movies and they always play out like this : A figure of authority ( usually a doctor or law enforcement agent ) finds the body of someone who's died under unknown circumstances . The audience are always one step ahead of the authority figure so know fine well how the victim died ( Usually by a camera being thrown in their face or something resembling bees superimposed over the camera lens ) so in order for the plot to go somewhere the running time is taken up with the authority figure meeting a beautiful doctor/scientist/vet so we get a romantic subplot , then about 2/3rds of the way through the movie after the authority figure has consumated the relationship it's then he realises people have been getting killed by cameras being thrust in their face/ rather poor animation and then races to save the local population against superimposed bees

There you go , another by the numbers thriller with deadly bees . the important number here is two . As in two out of ten

HILARIOUS!!!

[Elmtree64 · 2/10 · 9 July 2004]

I don't know when I've laughed so hard at pathetic "effects". Those black blobs (bees??) flying in formation were just too funny! I was surprised to learn this was made in 2002; the effects were reminiscent of something out of a low-budget 50's or 60's movie. Unfortunately, the title Bees were the best actors in the movie. Their human costars were at their best after they were dead. The lucky ones died early in the movie; the rest had to keep screaming in terror, as they realized they were trapped in an atrociously bad movie, with no script to work with, or acting skills for that matter. Besides the swarming black blobs, there were also a few laughs in the "plot"; it was both humorous and painful to watch them try to take seriously the tired, over used, simplistic plot line. There's no need to go into detail: bees arrive in small rural town, people scream, people die... About half way through the movie, I wished I could join them! Rating: 2 out of 10. (It would have been a 1, but those bees so put their little hearts into it!)

Awful indeed

[Leofwine_draca · 2/10 · 5 July 2014]

My review of KILLER BEES!, a silly and no-budget TV movie from 2002, will go off on a tangent because of personal reasons. I found the tone of the script particularly offensive, particularly in the depiction of multiple sclerosis. I write as somebody married to an MS sufferer, and I can report that the MS portrayed in this film is even more ridiculous than the stuff involving the killer bees. The character doesn't act like somebody with MS in the slightest, the symptoms as described are wrong, and to top it all they describe MS as a 'terminal illness'. It's sloppy writing, and had me fuming.

Still, at least it enlivened what is otherwise an entirely forgettable movie. KILLER BEES! follows the same old hackneyed storyline with a single character (THE HITCHER'S C. Thomas Howell, looking old and tired) who recognises the impending threat while nobody else believes him. Inevitably, there's a big event coming up, and the greedy Mayor refuses to cancel it. What makes KILLER BEES! stand out is how poorly the action is staged, in addition to the terrible calibre of the special effects.

The PG rating is the final insult; if this had contained some proper gore effects a la PIRANHA 3D, I could have forgiven it for the rest of the problems. Instead, it plays it safe throughout, and the shots of bees are limited to just a few CGI clouds in the skies. It's nonsense and the cast of badly-acting townsfolk hardly serve to increase the entertainment value. In a world of bad films, KILLER BEES! is the worst bee B-movie yet.

Hilariously awful

[InaneSwine · 1/10 · 25 November 2004]

According to this hilariously awful disaster movie, a swarm of African killer bees looks like a bunch of chocolates doing a Mexican wave. At least, that's what Sheriff Lyndon Harris finds when he spots a truck full of the insects crash. He must try to warn the people of his town before a Honey Festival (a really lame excuse to attract the bees) takes place.

Even the '70s thriller 'The Swarm' had better special effects than this, probably because the makers didn't automatically switch to a digital solution every time a stunt was involved.

All in all, the acting is terrible, the plot is awful and the best special effect in the whole movie is the farmer's decomposing body after he swallows a bee in his beer.

A crime against nature.

[vip_ebriega · 1/10 · 9 February 2007]

My Take: Made-for-TV yawner.

I watched 'Killer Bees" when I was on a school camping. We were to choose from two activities, go for the bravery test or watch this movie. Well, I was very tired at that time (it was really late at that time), so I decided to watch the movie instead. What the heck happened, I even got sleepier. "Killer Bees" is boring TV movie fare. No excitement, no suspense even no sense. The story sucks, the effects are fake and...well you get my point.

The lead isn't even much of a hero, because of his terrible acting. The bees aren't even scary,for two reasons. One, the effects are fake, I mean really fake. Two, there is no suspense, no theme music to underscore the bees' presence and nothing even scary about them, the bees look just like a couple of floating black dots attacking people. It wasn't only boring, it's also stupid.

It bored us, and it doesn't even get a little bit interesting. It's not one of those B-films that are "so bad, it's good". No, this one's "so bad, its awful.".

I tell you, if ever you watch this on a camping trip, choose the bravery test or any camp activity over this, no matter how tired you are, to keep your spirit up.

TV movie rating: 0 out of 5.

Honey I'm Home

[Prismark10 · 3/10 · 12 August 2015]

Killer Bees is a stinging remake of Jaws even going as far as having a town mayor warning the sheriff not to frighten the locals.

C Thomas Howell is the sheriff in question and he has thing against bees as he saw his father die from an attack by a swarm of bees as a child.

After a truck driven by what seems like a drunk driver from South America is involved in an accident, a crate or two filled with South American killer bees are unleashed.

The Sheriff is suspicious as one or two bodies turn up dead with what looks like bee stings. He calls in a bee expert, she happens to have the hots for our sheriff. Fortunately although the sheriff is married with kids, he is available as it seems that he and his wife are not together any more.

Of course the nasty Mayor who spends his time buying up land from poor farmers will have none of these deadly bee tales. He is organising the Honey Festival and everyone is going to show up for that including the local media. I think the Mayor failed to tell the bees not to show up as that leads to the stinging finale.

There is no suspense here as initially a few stray people get attacked and killed before a member of the sheriff's family is under attack. The CGI bees are poor but the whole movie is still a lot better than an Asylum film made for the Sci-Fi channel.

Its corny, its predictable but its also cheesy fun.

This movie sure stung!

[OllieSuave-007 · 4/10 · 6 June 2007]

In this film, a town is attacked by deadly killer bees after a truck accident caused them to be released. So, it's up to the the town sheriff to convince everybody that they will have to leave before the bees attacked. Pretty nice action, especially the scene at the Honey Festival (how appropriate to name a festival that when everybody was about to be overwhelmed with killer bees). That scene is probably the most action-packed and suspense filled int he movie. But everything else felt like a bee stung. The acting was cheesy and lame, the special effects were unrealistic and the ending (spoiler ahead) was disappointing-rushed through and undramatic. Overall, a pretty predictable film, with no plot twists or character development.

Grade D-

Like a sting that became infected

[StevePulaski · 3/10 · 4 October 2011]

I remember from my youth watching a film on Svengoolie (for those unaware, it's a Chicago-based horror, TV program that airs cheesy and low budget films from back in the day) called The Swarm, but it was reissued as Attack of the Killer Bees. Not having seen it in so many years, I can't remember a lot of it off the top of my head. I remember it having a creepy and eerie presence to it, but that's about it.

Why do I bring this up? Because killer insect films have always fascinated me, while at the same time legitimately making me uncomfortable. I hate bees, wasps, snakes, and many other insects - but to have them become the main enemy in horror films is actually a very creative and smart thing. Unlike your monsters like Jason, Freddy, and Myers - mine's real.

Sadly, from the looks of it, I'm not sure there are very many, if any, good killer bee films, and the simply-titled mess Killer Bees doesn't reassure the genre in any way. It's purely a made-for-TV-film, and that's it. It has the production budget of what appears to be a television pilot, and it accomplishes even less than one could imagine. Even the opening sequence feels like one of those odd, unknown CBS TV miniseries's.

The story is about a sheriff (Howell) who has to protect the town when a swarm of killer bees is freed. The bees are freed because of town drunk crashing his car into a bee-truck, and knocking over a box filled with them. The rest of the film is mindless, contrived, predictable, and an utter waste of potential.

Right off the bat, just from the style of filming, one can tell that not a huge budget was put to use here. I recall a shot where you see a man driving, and on the side of his car you can see he is approaching a parking lot or a driveway. The next shot is in the car and you can clearly see out the window which is now looking at a vast, empty, lifeless field of grass and weeds. I believe the same truck is carrying a group of trouble-making teenagers later in the film after the owner of it dies.

Killer Bees still succeeds in making your skin crawl at the thought of hundreds of little, pesky, stinging bugs on your skin at one time, but the shock value alone doesn't sustain a movie that hopes to be good. It's a TV film, but that doesn't give it any right to be bad and carefree. If variety, continuity, acting, and effects had all been things the film-makers payed a bit more attention to, this could easily go from pretty bad to horrible.

Starring: C. Thomas Howell. Directed by: Penelope Buitenhuis.

Very, very sad.

[gustavpapillon · 1/10 · 14 July 2003]

After watching "Killer Bees!" on television one night, I nearly decided to renounce modern technology altogether. The "bees" were just laughable as special effects go. Now, I understand that generating an effect that simulates the Brownian-like motion of a swarm is challenging, but the result here was very unnatural looking. The townspeople, in contrast, were very lifelike. Some of them almost seemed to be living, sentient beings. Amazing!

I think it would have been a better show if we had never seen the bees. Maybe there could have been some pack of dogs roaming the town, picking out the sick and the weak. That's scary. This was just sad.

Invasion of the Black Killer Dots

[Vomitron_G · 3/10 · 21 January 2010]

Oh boy, C. Thomas Howell has sunk so low... He did "The Hitcher", for Pete's sake! Here, he's starring in this poor soap-opera quality vehicle as a sheriff whose town gets infected by a plague of poor CGI killer dots. No thrills, no action, cinematography that gets painfully awful at some times and a final shot (involving a swarm of more killer dots) portraying that this silly nightmare isn't over yet. Please make it stop. And since this was made for TV, you might get the idea...: No gore and nudity either. Only watch it in a case where you feel you could die of boredom. Otherwise, avoid it, or you might as well watch "Swarmed" (2005) instead. That one's at least a bit of fun, and stars Tim Thomerson, everybody's favorite B-movie actor. Thomerson will kick Howell's ass any day. I don't care if Howell took on Hauer in the 80's. He sure lost it now.

one of the greatest killer bee movies i have ever seen

[mystflexagon · 10/10 · 11 April 2005]

I love Killer Bee movies. If anything would be in my top 30 film genres, it would most assuredly be Killer Bees. Me and my life partner, Jonas, decided to have a Killer Bee movie night. What a night that was! We watched 5 Killer Bee movies in one night and two the next! Definitely, this was one of the best. There's an exclaimation mark on this title for a reason. I don't want to give away too much, but you will never want to drink a beer again after the terrifying bee-in-the-beer segment that kills off a farmer! Holy moses! Killer Bees are a very real and dangerous threat. This movie did not shy away from the truth about them. I found the acting to be understated and subtle, a tone that was definitely necessary and sensitive to the hundreds that have died in killer bee attacks.

The lead guy gave a great performance.

I give this bee-tastic film a 10 out of 10.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED by Dan "The Movie Man" Wolfson!

Somewhat flawed but still highly enjoyable

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 7/10 · 20 September 2012]

A small-town sheriff tries to warn others about a ravenous swarm of killer bees loose in the area after a shipment to study them accidentally releases them into the wild, and then tries to stop the swarm from taking over the town when they fail to listen.

Rather predictable and ordinary killer bee movie, not a whole lot to get worked up about nor enough to really despise about it either. Some decent attacks, including a fun one at a rural farmhouse, the resulting panic when they hit the open-air festival in town and a big action-packed finale make for some rather fun times, but the lack of gore because of the creatures used, terrible CGI for the swarm in action yet use of real-life bees for most of the scenes and general clichés running rampant (from the mayor who doesn't want to dirty his hands with the upcoming money-boosting festival about to hit, the companions failing to see anything out of the ordinary despite the crazy situation before them and the reconciling family brought back through the experience before them) as well as a lazy explanation for their release all make this one seem decent but unspectacular.

Rated R: Violence and Adult Language

cheap 'Jaws' script

[jrwoods8875 · 1/10 · 25 December 2004]

Imagine 'Jaws"with a $2.00 production cost.Small town with tourists coming soon.A sheriff who hates bees but lives in a town that relies on bees to make their living.Sounds like another sheriff we knew who hated the water but lived on an island. Soon into the picture a shark-oops,BEE kills someone.Sheriff is alarmed but the Mayor and other town locals ignore his warnings.Throw in a few teens who run amok in their sailboats- Er, pickup truck( along with sheriffs son)and you just know there's terror(?)around every flower bed.Son ignores daddy sheriff and runs amok with brainless friends who find great humor in killing off a herd of cattle with a box of bees.Hey,I COULDN'T make this up! Nor would I even try.As a few more extras get stung and die-the only way to get out of this bad movie before the drawn out ending-the sheriff tries to warn the townspeople.But don't pluck your tulips just yet,folks.The sheriff saves the day and the plants are pollinated just in time for crop season.As for the herd of dead stung cattle-we assume 'Killer Bees 11' will start with the town having a big old barbecue.

One actress in this looks like Jerry Sienfeld !!...

[randy_kay · 2/10 · 17 November 2013]

Ha! It's the actress that played Georges girlfriend that Kramer and Elaine thought looked like Jerry -- she's honestly in this movie (as Audrey). Anyhow, pretty bad movie. . The funniest part though is there a honey festival complete with jars of honey and people dressed in John Belushi Saturday Night Live bee costumes and the bees swarm the festival. One guys car is smothered in bees but they're nowhere else but on his car, of course they don't explain why they've only swarmed 'his' car but it's obvious that they just didn't want to go to the trouble of gluing anymore little things on any of the other cars and that pretty much sums up this movie. It's like if some teenagers got a hold of a camera and decided to 'make a movie'.

Oddly tolerable..

[Tinmancr · 4/10 · 25 April 2012]

I will start with this is more of a 3.5-3.8 not a full 4. The effects are pretty bad more like 70s-80s b movie NOT 50s or 60s. The acting is also awful the kids actually almost save this flop. If you somehow like CT howell you may even enjoy this as he is the sheriff. The story is probably the best, about the quality you could expect from an average 6th grader. Even so I watched this and can say of the 1000s of horror/monster flicks this was not among the worst by any means. It is fairly clean for family watching, some sensuality and pg violence. Watch it on netflix or something it will be cheap and you could do a lot worse. Josh

Attack of the flying killer beauty marks

[Electric Rat · 1/10 · 29 March 2003]

Bad story, bad acting, terrible computer generated "Killer Bees" that don't even fly like bees would (more like the killer beauty marks from another dimension).

The thing that gets me overall: this film makes no sense!!! Now even though the terrible, and I mean TERRIBLE computer graphics bothered me, the plot of this movie is even worse.

It seems the whole town is held hostage by a mayor who just won't call anyone in on this because it might mess up the chances of the giant superstore people opening up a store in their town, and interfere with the upcoming "festival" (can we say "The Swarm"?). The sheriff (C. Thomas Howell) doesn't seem to have the sense to go over the mayor's head and call in the proper authorities. He just keeps running around telling everyone "the bees are here" like a nut and making posters to hang all over town. On a personal note, I truly hope the law enforcement in my town is a little smarter than this.

We are further forced to endure the silly sub-plot of the sheriff's failing marriage for some reason, a detail which just makes this horror of a film (not horror film) even longer.

So the festival goes on, the people are stung, bla bla bla. I was rooting for the bees.

Also I think people from Washington state should be insulted. This film portrays them as kinda dopey. Ah, Mr. Howell maybe it's time for a change in careers, but please not law enforcement thank you.

If this had been a student film, I would have given it a D-. Rating 1/10.

Attack of a bad b movie

[dsd1 · 1/10 · 26 May 2008]

This is so bad that I wasted so much free time on this bad special effects film.The bees are fake which don't look scary.Remakes are just not so good these days personally because special effects are what is ruining ferfectly good remakes. Special effects just destroy remakes. This is why Killer bees looks so bad for a remake.The Sheriff of a small town just goes around telling everyone that killer bees are coming and will get everyone.Even the Sheriff looks like an ass doing this. The bees are highly unscary.Also they are laughable for even me to watch.Flying in a swarm they look like little tiny dots. This looks so phony. Here this movie was just sad. If I WANTED something better I would have went for a stroll. Awful remake.

One of the WORST!

[patherwill · 1/10 · 16 April 2023]

Just how can anyone really be expected to use 600 letters in creating a "review" about a film with such a really bad plot and what there is has been done so many times already it's like a loaf of stale bread. I can only blame the actors so much because the plot is so old you can see what's going to happen about 10 minutes before it even arrives. C. Thomas Howell is a wimpy sheriff who is bossed around by the Mayor of the town instead of telling him to poke his job where the sun don't shine. A problem arises concerning 'Killer Bees', no one accepts it even though everyone if affected and people are dying quicker than the residents of Wuhan. Tracy Nelson (Father Dowling Mysteries) appears so amateur, all the other actors doa poor support job. Waste of time, money and effort. The bees outshine the human actors.

Better Than A Sleeping Pill

[donnak-42278 · 2/10 · 11 May 2020]

I love all kinds of B movies. This is not one of them. It could have been a campy, corny movie. Instead it is just awful. It is like they didn't even try. Bless his heart, C Thomas tried very hard, but it was not enough. The characters are a cliche. The script is terrible. The terrifying "swarm of bees" looks like a bunch of pixel dots. At least spend some money on special effects!! It took me an entire weekend to watch this. I kept falling asleep. I lost track of how many times that I restarted it. It is too bad that the "pixel dot" swarm just did not wipe out the entire town. That would have been satisfying

Horrible

[ResidentEvil2Fan · 1/10 · 21 March 2021]

This movie was horrendously awful in every facet. The best two actors were the mayor and the sheriff in my opinion, and even then, their performances weren't that great. The writing was just as bad, as the writers just had to magically save the disabled beekeeper from death somehow, even though she was stung hundreds of times when she flung her helmet off. The only funny parts was the horrible attempts at making a digital bee or a digital swarm.

A Tour De Force!

[fitloft · 10/10 · 29 October 2008]

WOW! All I can say is WOWWEEWOWWOW!!!! This blockbuster flick kept in a cold sweat from the first moment the bees made their swarmy appearance, I am shocked that this movie was inexplicably panned at the 2002 Oscars?!?! Not only was the spellbinding special effects ignored but the jaw dropping performances of to many actors to mention was also forgotten?? Who in Gods name does this sort of atrocity happen in Hollywood in the 21st Century....this movie needs to "Bee" re-released toot sweet perhaps now the so called insiders will be able to appreciate just what they missed the first time out. If you see this movie on you TV listings, I urge you to drop everything and anything you are doing to make time for this entertainment roller coaster, be it the Superbowl or birth of your first child... you wont be disappointed!!!!

Classic made for TV movie

[jennylreid · 7/10 · 22 July 2020]

I don't know why people are so down on this film. It's a great little TV movie. Loved it. Reminds me of TV movies from the 90's.

Killer CGI

[Hayden-86055 · 3/10 · 9 February 2021]

Killer Bees isn't a great film at all, but it plods slowly along and tries its best. There are one or two mildly effective moments but most of it is just talking and with poor dialogue.

3/10: I don't want to give it too low a rating as it's not a disaster and raises itself above some other low budget films but it is still not very good at all

Great movie

[b-molesky · 8/10 · 5 January 2009]

This movie was great as I had very little expectations going in. The plot is very predictable and the characters are stereotypical, but if you're watching with some buddies it's a great picture to have a chuckle at. You have the sheriff's sidekick who looks like Ethan Hawk, a Wilfred Brimly look alike and the peer pressuring teenager. All together this movie scores for laugh ability. Think Dante's Peak and you will see every plot line. An authority figure who sees an epidemic on the horizon, money hungry investors not wanting the town to be in an uproar, heroics, and a tightly packaged ending that tells the viewer that everything is going to be okay.

Film of the year

[jillanniefranklin · 10/10 · 30 November 2018]

Everything about this film was brilliant. Original and dynamic dialogue and superb acting. The effects were typical LucasFilm quality (I presume they were involved). The heartbreaking flashback opener really set the tone, reminding me of the time when my own Dad was being attacked to death by insects and rather than grab a bucket of water I sat in the car. I particularly liked the representation if women in this film as helpless nags and shrews at in love with the sheriff. If I had to pick a stand up moment it could be when the air conditioners in the car malfunctioned with deadly consequences. Seriously loved it, it was really thrilling.

Overall I thought this was the best creature feature since Jaws...and actually it was even better than that because that only had one shark and this had millions of bees. Unmissable.