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!