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Invasion of the Bee Girls - Blu-ray Review

3 beers

Boobs!  Babes!  Bees!  Cue the insect-O-vision for this release!  Get “Also Sprach Zarathustra” ready to roll on the LP, too.  Boils and Ghouls, the killer bees are among us!  Walking and talking their way into our beds, no affair safe from their deadly stings! Oh, the humanity!!!

For about 10 minutes, toward the end of director Denis Sanders’ Invasion of the Bee Girls, the b-movie allows viewers to peek behind the velvet curtain and witness the soft porn ceremony of housewives turning into half-bee creatures with big black eyes.  The scene, while not out of place in this sexploitation classic which pits dull cop-talk against strong-willed women, is weird enough to strike the right chord in an inebriated audience.

It is a strange indoctrinating ceremony – complete with flashing lights and dated metallic flair passed off as futuristic scientific hardware – that involves semi-nude scientists lathering a big-breasted young woman (also nude) with a milky substance from head to toe.  As the scientists fondle themselves, the substance dries and begins to crack.  The scientists stop squeezing with their breasts long enough to help pull the new woman out from within the cocoon.  A wet kiss is placed upon the young woman, now opening her big and black, bug-like eyes, as she awakens ready to kill ugly men during sex.

 Buzz, buzz, buzz!  If you see a hot woman and hear a buzzing noise, you better run like hell AWAY from her.  

Honestly, slightly buzzed is the ONLY way to watch this invasion take place.  Sober will not cut it.  Hell, the film is not even an invasion as the women – all hot and ready for action – already live in the town where the attack takes place.  This gooey slice of schlocky science fiction sleaze is fun enough, but, as the women learn to fend for themselves, their tongue-in-cheek attitude services the exploitative nature of the honey-laced hive far better than anything else.

In and around a high-security nuclear plant the government operates, it seems the men – all white, all ugly, all cheating on their wives – are dropping dead after wild sex with random women.  Imagine it, one man suggests (predicting his own fate), “coming and going at the same time” while shaking off the death of yet another man.  These men are piggish.  That’s the point.  What these dumbasses don’t realize is that the beautiful women surrounding them have been experimenting with radiation and have transformed themselves into queen bees and, as we all know from the many, many hours of nature footage we’ve seen, kill those they mate with.

You’ve disappointed me, Heathen.  Swoosh.  Head gone.

Anitra Ford (The Big Bird Cage), Victoria Vetri (When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth), and renaissance man William Smith (or, as he is lovingly referred to in biker b-movie land, Big Bill Smith) as the government officer who must put an end to their stinging, Invasion of the Bee Girls is a cult film through and through.  It’s shoestring cinematography and tries – more than once – to cop a Russ Meyer feel without bringing the level of the wit and sly commentary he was known for with his sexploitation offerings.  It also – with performances from Cliff Osmond, Wright King, Ben Hammer, and Anna Aries – has a cast that is capable of carrying the camp in the script, penned by Nicholas Meyer, to the next level.  They don't, though.  Perhaps the camp gets lost in all the randomness of back alley rapes and nude bikers as Meyer seems to comment upon the fear old white men once had in fucking the liberated woman.  Perhaps.  Regardless, the film remains an entertaining tale of bee-autiful delights.  

Get balled to death by the badass b(ee)-movie queens featured in Invasion of the Bee Girls, now available on blu-ray thanks to Scream Factory.

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Invasion of the Bee Girls - Blu-ray Review

 MPAA Rating: R.
Runtime: 85 mins
Director: Denis Sanders
Writer: Nicholas Meyer
Cast: William Smith, Anitra Ford, Victoria Vetri
Genre: Horror
Tagline: They'll love the very life out of your body.
Memorable Movie Quote: "Well, I must admit that since the curfew, Peckham has been more boring than usual."
Theatrical Distributor: Dandria Distribution
Official Site:
Release Date: June 1, 1973
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: April 4, 2017
Synopsis: who wouldn't be terrified by the very thought of watching these lovely bee-hived beauties love their chosen mates to death? A government inspector, that's who. And now he alone must stop their lust for killing, before he becomes one of the Queen Bee's honeys!

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Invasion of the Bee Girls - Blu-ray Review

Blu-ray

Blu-ray Details:

Home Video Distributor: Shout Factory
Available on Blu-ray
- April 4, 2017
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles
: English
Language:
English
Discs: Blu-ray Disc;single disc
Region Encoding: Locked to Region A

With an aspect ration of 1.85:1, Scream Factory releases Invasion of the Bee Girls onto blu-ray with a clear and fine-tuned transfer.  The new high-definition transfer has been culled from the film’s internegative and pops with color.  Gone is the orange wash from previous releases.  While lighting is still an issue, it’s not going to get any better looking than with this release right here.  Black levels are solid.  It comes with the territory of the b-movie.  The sound is distributed here with an adequate DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track.

Supplements:

Commentary:

  • While a commentary might have helped us appreciate the film a bit more, there’s a big fat nothing instead.

Special Features:

The strikeout continues with the bare minimum of supplemental items.

  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Photo Gallery
  • Radio Spots

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Invasion of the Bee Girls - Blu-ray Review

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