This week’s feature highlight for Trash Night Tuesday on Tubi came as a pleasant surprise to me as not only did it serve as a b-grade sci-fi movie from the 70s but beneath the blatant sexual glorification of women could easily serve today as a mantle for the heavy skewed male gaze at its forefront.
With a bit of tweaking, I could see this in a modern setting shining light on the dominant man’s self-righteous and self-interested approach to sex, and their entitlement to women.
This would all come crashing down helmed by a female scientist who discovers a way to cross human DNA with bee DNA where the feminine species kills their male counterpart after reaching sexual gratification.
This is exactly how I viewed it and as such found myself championing the female cause and Dr Harris (Anitra Ford).

In truth, it heralds itself as a pure titillation flick that subjects women and their form for the satisfaction of the male viewers that it hoped would swarm to the movies to watch the film, and with its cast, including the lead heroine lead librarian, Julie (playmate Victoria Vetri – Rosemary’s Baby).

The premise of the story is a simple one and would serve as a great companion piece to George A Romero’s The Crazies. Set in small town America, the population finds itself in an epidemic when men appear to be dropping dead in the act of love-making. Yes, you heard me right. So the government send in Special Agent Neil Agar (William Smith – Conan The Barbarian) to investigate and kick ass while he’s there.

Agar teams up with Julie to uncover the source of these killings where they undercover Dr.Harris’ laboratory and try to save the local human population.

Prognosis: 

This is the stuff that only the 70s could dream up. If you’re a fan of b-grade science fiction that is actually a little better than you would expect, then Invasion of the Bee Girls could be just your thing.
Plus it boasts screenwriter Nicholas Meyer in his first feature film credit. He would go on to change the face of Star Trek with rewriting and directing Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and continue to be an active part in the universe with Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and an episode from tv series, Star Trek: Discovery. 

• Saul Muerte