A sequel to the earlier killer bee TV feature, 'The Savage Bees', this story sees what happens as the deadly South American strain from that movie continues to do more damage. Bee experts David Martin (Efrem Zimbalist Jr., '77 Sunset Strip') and Jeannie Devereux (the beautiful Tovah Feldshuh, 'Law & Order') realize that their work is not done, and set out to curtail any potential bee rampages - with the initially reluctant help of Jeannies' boyfriend Nick Willis (Dan 'Grizzly Adams' Haggerty).
While understandably a rather mild affair, with less than stellar thrills, this proved to be fairly watchable regardless, with the cast treating their material with the gravest of faces. The bee sequences are competently handled, in any event; Norman Gary, who was the bee wrangler, also plays the small role of ill-fated Finley Dermott. (He'd performed the same duties on 'The Savage Bees'.) Familiar faces in the supporting cast include Ike Eisenmann of the "Witch Mountain" movies as a Boy Scout, Richard Herd ("Get Out") as his father, Charles Hallahan ("The Thing") as a helpful local, Joe E. Tata ('Beverly Hills, 90210') and Philip Baker Hall ("Boogie Nights") as concerned bureaucrats, Lonny Chapman ("The Birds") as a beekeeper, and Bruce French ("Black Eagle") & Steve Franken ("The Party") as two of Martins' workers.
Story elements include the love triangle between the three leads - which you know has to get resolved somehow - Jeannies' horrible memories of events from the previous movie, and a so-so climax involving Jeannie and various Boy Scouts trapped inside a school bus.
Journeyman director Lee H. Katzin ("Le Mans") directs capably enough, but he just doesn't create enough real excitement or terror in his presentation, despite the scores of insects used.
At the very least, I was able to take this a little more seriously than the theatrical all-star stinker, "The Swarm".
Six out of 10.
While understandably a rather mild affair, with less than stellar thrills, this proved to be fairly watchable regardless, with the cast treating their material with the gravest of faces. The bee sequences are competently handled, in any event; Norman Gary, who was the bee wrangler, also plays the small role of ill-fated Finley Dermott. (He'd performed the same duties on 'The Savage Bees'.) Familiar faces in the supporting cast include Ike Eisenmann of the "Witch Mountain" movies as a Boy Scout, Richard Herd ("Get Out") as his father, Charles Hallahan ("The Thing") as a helpful local, Joe E. Tata ('Beverly Hills, 90210') and Philip Baker Hall ("Boogie Nights") as concerned bureaucrats, Lonny Chapman ("The Birds") as a beekeeper, and Bruce French ("Black Eagle") & Steve Franken ("The Party") as two of Martins' workers.
Story elements include the love triangle between the three leads - which you know has to get resolved somehow - Jeannies' horrible memories of events from the previous movie, and a so-so climax involving Jeannie and various Boy Scouts trapped inside a school bus.
Journeyman director Lee H. Katzin ("Le Mans") directs capably enough, but he just doesn't create enough real excitement or terror in his presentation, despite the scores of insects used.
At the very least, I was able to take this a little more seriously than the theatrical all-star stinker, "The Swarm".
Six out of 10.