Some time ago, I had this crazy idea of seeing as much Killer Bee-movies possible (since I never saw any in this sub-genre). I started with the soap-opera vehicle "Killer Bees!" (starring C. Thomas Howell), which was a boring pile of crap. So, fortunately, I did have a reasonable amount of fun watching "Swarmed" (in my country known as the less imaginatively titled "Killer Bee"). "Swarmed" gets it at least half right. The plot is sort of a "Jaws" rip-off with all the possible clichés. The effects are pretty good (this time no crappy black CGI killer dots, but nice-moving CGI close-ups of flying yellow jacket wasps). Some fine gory make-up FX's (the mayor with one of his eyes eaten away by a wasp), some corrupt politicians and cops, a male/female duo of scientists trying to stop this mayhem, a pretty fast pace, and an okay climax. This one also stars Carol Alt (I don't know how I do it, but I regularly get this: watching random movies in a short period of time which, as it turns out, can be related to each other in one way or another), and let's not forget Tim"Jack Deth"Thomerson, always a pleasure seeing him pop up in a flick. "Swarmed" is just fun to watch in a not-scary way (killer bees, or wasps or ladybugs or whatever just aren't scary...), it's unpretentious B-movie entertainment, really. Watch it for the scene where the mayor's assistant blows away one wasp with... a shotgun!

On the surface, this movie is about mutated wasps that make a huge swarm to kill people.In effect,it is light comedy, and obviously done on purpose. This is one of those movies that has a lot of little things, and probably a lot in the background that I didn't bother noticing, but that the geeks surely will.The formula story of the officials who refuse to believe in an emergency situation, straight from "Jaws", the ambitious reporter, the camera man who will do anything to get a camera shot, the few people who know what is going on that no one will listen to (which is actually true to life, which is what makes these movies work.) All of these are in this movie.There are then the light hearted comic bits. The head honcho macho guy who has a spotter for his 65 pound bench press will crack up any gym goer. The attacks as seen from the bug's point of view is purposely comical. The girl using a rifle to shoot at a wasp. These and other little things make this formula movie almost bearable. It is possibly made for those who will try to spot little things. A great movie for the dorks, but with enough obvious comedy to appease the masses somewhat. Not a great flick, but not a bad one.

Swarmy. The Sci-Fi Channel gives yet another flying menace flick. A chemist (Michael Shanks)is working on a better insecticide. A few of his experimental yellow jacket wasps accidentally get loose and seem to be growing more aggressive and stronger after being sprayed with a super-pesticide. A nationally televised burger cook-off is scheduled sponsored by Phineas Washburn's(Tim Thomerson)barbecue sauce. The grilled burgers and the crowd become a huge buffet for the chemically enhanced killer wasps. The F/X are not all that bad; but the acting is. Also in the cast: Carol Alt, Balazs Koos, Booth Savage and Maria Brooks. The funniest scene is a secretary trying to shoot a wasp with a shotgun. As bad as this is...you still end up watching it.

Okay, so this is not a great movie, but I have to admit I was engaged through the whole 90 minutes. It was also one of those rare creatures in that it was made for TV and never made it to TV, it went straight to the Movie Channel. You have to be tipped off by the size of the budget when the 'big' confrontation scene should have thousands of extras milling around but you can actually count them- less than 30 by my count. I'm a fan of any mutated creature film: fish, insects, rodents, whatever, so I HAD to watch this one. The special effects were pretty good for the most part but not great. The acting is also not great but less wooden that in all those '50's movies I love like Them and Kronos. There are holes in the plot you could drive a wasp through but without them there wouldn't be a movie. And by 'them' I mean both plot-holes and wasps. I think if you are a fan of mutated creature movies it won't supplant your favorites but because there aren't that many made you have to see it. If you aren't a fan, give it a pass because it doesn't have any interesting sub-plots (it doesn't actually have any sub-plots) to keep you interested.