Invasion of the Bee Girls
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| Invasion of the Bee Girls | |
|---|---|
 Video cover for Invasion of the Bee Girls |
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| Directed by | Denis Saunders |
| Written by | Nicholas Meyer Sylvia Schneble |
| Starring | William Smith Victoria Vetri Anitra Ford Cliff Osmond Wright King |
| Music by | Charles Bernstein |
| Cinematography | Gary Graver |
| Distributed by | MGM |
| Release date(s) | 1973 |
| Running time | 85 min |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Invasion of the Bee Girls was a 1973 science fiction film, the first film venture for writer Nicholas Meyer. Directed by Denis Saunders, the premise of the movie is that a mad scientist (played by Anitra Ford) has created an army of beauties who seduce men to death.
A semi-sequel to the movie, Beyond the Invasion of the Bee Girls was produced by House of Dames in 1998 in Seattle, Washington.
A remake is currently in development.
[edit] Plot
A federal detective, Neil Agar, is summoned to the Brandt Research Center in the American Southwest. Their male scientists, engaged in secret research for the government, keep dying of sexual exhaustion. The killings are being committed by the Bee Girls, led by Dr. Susan Harris, a buzzing race of lovelies spawned by radiation.
While her Entomology Department colleague, Dr. Nordstrom, was away at a seminar in Europe, Dr. Susan Harris used their research on mason bees (genus Osmia, family Megachilidae, order Hymenoptera). They had discovered hormones in the bees which could be injected in a procedure of controlled mutation. Using the procedure, Dr. Harris reversed the aging process, giving herself full breasts, slim waist and hips, and smooth skin. Accidentally, the mutation melded the genetic material contained in the hormone injection with her own, giving her black compound eyes and the compulsion to mate. Concealing her eyes behind Foster Grant sunglasses, she sought out Dr. Grabowski and lured him to a deadly tryst in a nearby motel. It was then, in a stroke of perverse genius, that Dr. Harris hit upon a solution to her dilemma. Telephoning Mrs. Grabowski, she told her of her husband's death. "I think we should talk. You see, I was the last to see your husband alive. It's a matter of his good name. Do you understand me?" Once Gretchen Grabowski came to the lab, Dr. Harris repeated the procedure. After a hyperdermic injection above the right eyebrow, Gretchen was exposed to gamma radiation. Then she was covered with white goo, placed in a glass cabinet, and bees introduced. The bees detected she was entering a pupal state and molded the goo into a cocoon. When the transformation was complete, Dr. Harris helped Gretchen break out of the cocoon and guided her back to the gamma ray chamber for a second, final dose. Gretchen became the second Bee Girl, a process they could repeat indefinitely. Each husband they seduced and killed yielded a widow, which they could blackmail into joining them.
Julie Zorn (played by Victoria Vetri), a librarian at the Center, was lured by Dr. Harris to her lab by playing on the suspicions Julie developed while aiding agent Agar. Although too late to save Julie from the transformation, Agar rescued her and accidentally set the lab on fire, destroying the rest of the gathered Bee Girls.
The plot is summed up by these lines spoken by Agar, who tells Julie:
- "What Dr. Harris didn't realize was the radiation made them sterile. They were driven to keep mating over and over because they could never become fertile."
