KILLER SWARM (a review)

KILLER SWARM (a review)

An Italy horror movie that seems inspired by all these mega-shark/giant snake movies.

The story: a woman estranged from her father comes home to some small Mediterranean island, but her father is stung by a bee and is dying all the while a growing swarm dangerous venomized bees is attacking the island. The girl will need to find the queen to find the antidote and stop the swarm before they spray the entire island with pesticide to try to stop the swarm.

Was it good?

Almost. This actually has almost all the elements of a classic B-horror movie, but unfortunately the elements aren't well constructed, so instead of building into a classic, this is mearly a semi-enjoyable B-movie.

So what are these elements that work? Well, first the bees. I should say that I am very scared of bees. I got stung a lot when I was a kid and now it's hard not to flinch even at the mention of bees. So swarms of bees definitely is the making of a good horror movie.

Next, the father getting stung and slowly dying is good. It gives emotion and a bit of a ticking clock. The fact that the doctor disagrees with her forcing her to action is good too. It's also good that the doctor seems to be hiding something, giving us a bit of a conspiracy.

The growing swarm is also good. I mean, really, the title is killer swarm, so the audience isn't there to watch some girl run around trying to collect bees while crying about her dad -- they want to see a massive swarm attacking screaming people. The fact that this is an island, so most of the screaming people are hot half naked people is a big plus too.

Except, even with all these good elements, the story just doesn't work. The problem is that the elements don't build together, so instead of them all weaving together to become more and more intense, they pull against each other, making the movie feel more fractured. And instead of getting a classic, you get a B.

So what doesn't work? Well, the contrast of the girl trying to save her father and the killer swarm. The first half is more focused on the girl and her dad, but once the killer swarm starts really coming out and attacking people, it seems the focus should shift. Except it doesn't. So you get a lot of small scene, where there should be big scenes. You get a slowing down of the action instead of an acceleration. Then you get a contrast of the conspiracy doctor who begins to turn into more of a diabolical, uncaring about humanity super villain. Except this isn't really a super villian kind of movie. Most of the movie is a girl-and-her-dying-dad film, not James Bond. Then you have the problem of the killer swarm -- the last ticking clock is trying to kill the queen before they spray the island with pesticides which will destroy the island ecostructure...except none of the movie has really been about the island ecostructure so who gives a damn? Again, you have all these pieces which aren't bad pieces, but as the movie goes on and on they begin to grind against each other like a poorly build engine.

Still, for all the faults of the story construction this isn't a horrible movie. Sure, the acting is bad and the dialog is cheesy and the romance story is lame and the girl and her dad is lame and gets in the way of the fun, but there's enough here that if you hate bees and feel like a creature feature-style B-horror movie, then it's an okay movie to see. But if you aren't in the mood for that kind of movie, then you should stay far, far away.

*** AVOID (except as a B-movie) ****