This Week's Film: Invasion of the Bee Girls (1973)
Written By: Nicholas Meyer
Directed By: Denis Sanders
Actors: William Smith, Victoria Vetri, Anitra Ford.
What's it About: Hot ladies killing men by seducing them with their bee powers. Genetically modified by a mad scientist, this Bee Girls have an insatiable appetite of death and only Special Agent Neil Agar (Smith) and sexy librarian Julie Zorn (Vetri) can save
the day.Is It Good: I mean, good is relative when it comes to early '70's exploitation films, but I would give this one a pass. It's goofy and ridiculous, but the acting is fairly sincere and everyone seems to actually want it to be a good film. It's pretty slowly paced for this style of film although the constant barrage of nudity keeps things lively.
Writer Nicholas Meyer (responsible for scripting The Wrath of KHAAAAAAANNNNN!) actually tries to take the story of genetically modified bee women killing a town full of men seriously, which is impressive, but there's not enough batshit insanity on display here to make it a great 'lost" cult film. While the nudity and violence seems refreshing from an early 70's movie, the film just doesn't have that anarchic, borderline manic vibe that so many of the greats had in their day.
The score by Charles Bernstein is filled with so many awesome 'bow chicka wow wow's' that even when something boring like a car being driven or someone doing paperwork is happening, it adds a much needed sense of fun to the film. Without the score, the flick might have been a bit of a bore. But if you're in the mood for beautiful Playboy Playmates doing their thing and some dude named William Smith acting all sexist and alpha, then dive right in to the goofiness.
Link to the Movie: If you want, but I warned you!!
Grade: C-
Favorite Line: “If I wanna go home and ball my old lady (or anyone else for that matter) I will and you can't stop me."
Next Week: Demonic (2005)
