Nine years ago, in Black Stone, a handsome exterminator was killed in a wasp nest removal accident. Presently, his identical twin brother Sebastien Roberts (as Devin Hall) works as the small New York town's pest controller. He's thinking of moving just as his brother's red-haired widow Sarah Allen (as Jane Kozik) moves back to Black Stone with her exceptionally mature nine-year-old daughter Rebecca Windheim (as Kelsey). Immediately installed as the town's sheriff, Ms. Allen begins to investigate some strange deaths. Meanwhile, little Miss Windheim has befriended weird-acting bee-keeper Robert Englund (as Eli Giles). He has been experimenting on wasps. Hit in his windshield by a super-wasp, Mr. Roberts decides to stay and face the menace...The basic idea behind this monster bee thriller, by Todd Samovitz, is engaging. Considering the TV Movie budget, the make-up is also an asset. Sadly, there is little effort to make the bees a terrifying threat. It might have been better to suggest, rather than show, the initial swarming attack on homeless guitar player Andrew Shaver. When we see his body, we can imagine the horror. Later attacks are comic, with performers veering into theatrics. Also, it appears like most people in the town are slow to notice many residents have developed welts and make a buzzing noise. Zombies should be a constant peril. Roberts and Allen are attractive, play very well together and try to keep it serious for director David Winning. Unfortunately for all, it's a lackluster effort.**** Black Swarm (12/7/07) David Winning ~ Sebastien Roberts, Sarah Allen, Robert Englund, Rebecca Windheim

Usually I try to be generous with my ratings and encouraging with my comments, but I have come across movies that are so bad and make you so angry that they aren't deserving of either. Black Swarm is one such movie. To start with, it is choppily edited with dull lighting and scenery and poor if not quite atrocious effects. I have come across worse acting, but these actors still seem largely uninvolved with their characters and don't deliver their lines with anywhere near enough passion and care about what's happening to them. The music is generic and you don't remember any of it afterwards, while the wasps are lacking in menace and the attacks are done with a great deal of predictability and no real sense of horror or suspense. The script, story and characters are the worst assets. The dialogue is just terrible, full of cheesy lines, stilted delivery, no sense of logic and everything just feels aimless. The story is thin and very predictable, with an unatmospheric and abrupt climax and no explanation as to the wasps' control. In regard to the characters, I don't mind if they are clichéd, but they have to be likable and well-written to make me not care about that and just empathise with the character. The characters aren't just clichéd, they are undeveloped and annoying and I found myself not only not caring for any one of them but actually shouting at the screen at the countless times a character did something dumb, and these ladies and gentlemen are simple common sense things that you should've already learnt at five years old that they get so wrong here. Pacing is also an issue, because the story is so thin in structure already Black Swarm does become tedious to watch. Overall, it is difficult to begin criticising Black Swarm as everything imaginable was wrong with it. 1/10 Bethany Cox

I spotted the Freddy Krueger actor before I read the plot of the film, which did admittedly sound relatively worth a go, but I knew it was most likely going to be terrible viewing. Basically in the small town of Black Rock is where a few years ago pest control man Dan Hall (Sebastien Roberts) was killed by a swarm of killer bees, and only now has Detective Sheriff Jane Kozik (Sarah Allen) returned to her home with the daughter she had with him, Kelsey (Rebecca Windheim). It is a quaint quiet town where everyone knows each other, but this will change soon with the appearance of a swarm of genetically enhanced killer bees. Mysterious local townsman and beekeeper Eli Giles (Robert Englund) is responsible for this failed secret military experiment, where the bees can not only travel from nest to nest, but they can take over humans to become zombie like drones. Also in town returning to his roots is the identical twin brother of Dan, Devin (also Roberts), who has taken over the pest control business, and he is first to spot that there a new kind of bee in town. Soon enough he and Jane, with the help of the overly curious little Kelsey sneaking around Eli's underground lab, they discover the truth about his research and the government conspiracy. Eli admits he has tried to find what out what happened to his swarm and a way to contain the problem, using such things as a dog whistle and pheromone filled peaches, Kelsey has eaten on of these and the bees believe she is their queen. Katherine Randell (Jayne Heitmeyer) is one of the government personnel who knows the truth about the experiment too, and she determined to do everything she can to make sure it doesn't get out but remains, even kill Eli. Delvin finds out at one point he is actually Kelsey's father, and he and Jane eventually find her trapped inside the large cocoon protected as the queen, with Katherine there to stop them getting out. Eli comes back as well, having survived a gun shot to the arm and bee stings which he is immune to, and they get out of the building all the bees are in, that is blown up by helicopters, and Eli sacrifices himself to let the others escape. Also starring Michel Perron as Mayor Blatz, Sheena Larkin as Beverly Rowe and Robert Higden as Father Francis. Englund is both a little creepy but likable as the mad scientist, a nod to the Elm Street films is seen too, the bees are reasonably scary, but there is no tension to be had, the characters are actually relaxed when Englund tells them about the trouble he has made, a pretty slightly horror film. Adequate!

The widow Deputy Sheriff Jane Kozik (Sarah Allen) moves from Manhattan to Black Stone, New York, with her daughter Kelsey Kozik (Rebecca Windheim) expecting to find a safe place to live. On the next day, a homeless is found dead with stings in the tool shed of Jane's blind friend Beverly Rowe (Sheena Larkin) and the exterminator Devin Hall (Sebastien Roberts) and the entomologist Katherine Randell (Jayne Heitmeyer) are summoned to help in the investigation. Devin is Jane's brother-in-law and former boyfriend, and Jane still has a crush on him. Meanwhile, Kelsey befriends the scientist Eli Giles (Robert Englund), who has developed genetically modified wasps to the army as a weapon, and now he is trying to revert the process. When the wasps attack Black Stone, Jane, Devin and Eli team-up to attempt to destroy the swarm."Black Swarm" is a lame and corny mess, with a flawed story that is so absurd and ridiculous that I am ashamed to have spent my leisure time watching this crap. There are so many imbecile situations that do not worth spending time to write about it. My vote is three.Title (Brazil): "Black Swarm" ("Enxame Negro")