SpecialsTarget Disturbing yet enthralling

Patience Watson One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Red-Barracuda A deadly cross breed of African bee descends upon New Orleans during Mardi Gras.I watched this one recently and was amazed to discover it was a film I had seen many, many years previously on television; I think it must've been the late 70's it made it to the UK. A couple of scenes evidently stayed in my memory. The first was a point of view shot from the perspective of the bees as they rise high in the air over some trees as they pursue a little fleeing girl. The other scene was the finale where a Volkswagen Beetle drives slowly through town covered in the bees. So, this flick evidently made some impression on my very young mind.Even before realising I had seen The Savage Bees before I was already onside with it. The reason is that I have a real soft spot for 70's American TV movies. I find them cosy and charming and this one was certainly no different. It seems like many even proclaim that this remains the best killer bee film out there, which is pretty impressive given that there have been some cinematic attempts; films that clearly would have had more money and less censorship restrictions imposed on them. I guess it shows that it all comes down to how well the story is presented on screen and it is well told here. Like many others, this one shows the definite influence of the big blockbuster of the time, Jaws (1975). Many animals attack films followed the Jaws template pretty closely and Savage Bees is no exception, seeing as it has characters discover the bee threat but being disbelieved by the authorities whose main concern is the money-making festival that is Mardi Gras. But it uses its influences well and the resultant film is good, with a finale that is quite memorable, after all I remembered it from over thirty five years ago!

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

Vomitron_G This was my third killer-bee-flick in a row, back when the urge overtook me to watch some of those. So this made-for-TV flick from the 70's ended my Killer Bee Trilogy. At the time of its release, it would've probably deserved a 6/10 rating. But it didn't age well, plus it borrows just a bit too much from the "Jaws"-plot (again!). Still, it's a rather serious film and at no point it becomes really ridiculous. You could say it contains a lot of clichés that every killer bee movie seems to have: The bees always invade a small town first. There's a male/female duo of scientists that discover the phenomenon. The authorities won't believe them. There's always a big festivity planned or going on in the town. The two scientists will eventually kiss each other. And if you're lucky, you'll get to see the bee-threat stopped/destroyed in an original way (which was more or less the case in "The Savage Bees"). So I'll be mild in my final rating. But I have to say: the most fun killer-bee movie I saw, out of these three, was "Swarmed" (2005). The lame "Killer Bees!" (2002) pretty much sucked.

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.