Bee Warned
Sheriff Lyndon Harris (C. Thomas Howell - The Return of the Musketeers) has a few things on his plate; there is an estranged wife who wants a divorce, his children who could really do with his guidance as well as a mayor who sees dollar signs in front of his eyes when ever the bank forecloses on someone's property, swooping in to snap it up. But Lyndon is also concerned about some bee attacks and after having spoken to expert entomologist Riley Muir (Fiona Loewi) learns that his town has a rare case of Latin American killer bees. Unfortunately for Lyndon mayor Ditwaller refuses to do anything about it as it will spoil his business plans with the upcoming honey festival.
As "Killer Bees!" opens we encounter a Bee on a plant which flies off and the camera follows it, it looks fake as if someone stuck a bee to the camera's lens and then shot the camera across a field. That opening scene didn't exactly lift my low expectations and what follows, with a scene featuring a father and son attacked by bees, just continued to disappoint and lower those same expectations. But those two scenes are pretty representative of the movie in general with poor special effects, poor acting, poor dialogue and no atmosphere.
There is of course a storyline and lo and behold we just have some recycled cliches going on from are hero having an estranged wife to a teenage son who is a bit of a tearaway it is all familiar. But there is nothing more familiar than the set up of a local mayor not wanting to heed the Sheriff's warning about impending danger because all he cares about is making money and that making money is the local honey festival, what a nice coincidence bees just happen to be swarming close to where there is a planned honey festival.
The most disappointing thing about all this is that "Killer Bees!" isn't entertainingly bad it is simply bad. The humour of a mayor with an obvious wig doesn't even make you smile whilst the dodgy special effects are simply terrible. About the only amusing thing I could come up with is Michael Eklund who plays the deputy looks uncannily like Ethan Hawke.
What this all boils down to is that "Killer Bees!" is simply a poor movie which fails on pretty much every level and doesn't even achieve the honour of being entertainingly bad.
