[[quoteright:305:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Deadly_bees_6253.jpg]]

''The Deadly Bees'' is a 1967 British horror film from Creator/AmicusProductions, directed by Freddie Francis and [[TheFilmOfTheBook adapted]] by screenwriters Creator/RobertBloch and Anthony Marriott from H. F. Heard's 1941 novel ''A Taste for Honey''.

The depressing story begins with overworked pop star Vicki Robbins (Suzanna Leigh) collapsing whilst lip-synching during a "live" television performance. Her doctor prescribes some immediate R&R for her, and packs her off to an old friend of his who has a farm on remote Seagull Island, isolated from the pressures of the outside world.

Said friend, Ralph Hargrove (Guy Doleman), is a surly and despondent beekeeper, married to an equally surly and despondent old woman who smokes and only pets their dog. Vicki's vacation really kicks into high gear once she meets the rival beekeeper in town, one Mr. Manfred (Frank Finlay).[[note]]Incidentally, Finlay played Iago to Creator/LaurenceOlivier's ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'' only two years before this movie's release. Unbelievable as it seems while watching ''The Deadly Bees'', Finlay also portrayed Porthos in Richard Lester's ''Film/TheThreeMusketeers1973''.[[/note]]

As it turns out, there're killer bees on Seagull Island. People (and animals) are attacked, including Hargrove's wife, and Hargrove seems to be the prime suspect. Manfred enlists Vicki's help to find evidence to prove Hargrove's guilt and stop the attacks.

The film was the target of episode 905 of ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' in 1998, gaining it a certain amount of notoriety outside the British horror fandom. To read a recap of the ''[=MST3K=]'' episode, go [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S09E05TheDeadlyBees here]].

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!!Tropes:

* AdaptationalVillainy: [[spoiler:The Manfred character]] wasn't evil at all in the book, and [[spoiler: is hinted to be Literature/SherlockHolmes himself]]. Inverted with Hargrove, who ''was'' the villain in the book, but is innocent in the movie.
* AssholeVictim: Invoked by [[spoiler:Manfred on trying to kill Hargrove]]. He states no one would miss him because he was "rude".
%%* BeeAfraid
* BeeBeeGun: The bees are lured to their victims by a substance the killer calls "the smell of fear". However, by the time the film is over, everyone ''but'' the bees' intended targets is attacked, because the villain is actually ''extremely'' inept at placing the substance.
* BrickJoke: Harcourt (the Bowler-Hatted Guy) at the end was one of the inspectors from the beginning of the film, finally showing up late to investigate the bee-centric goings on at Seagull Island. Adding to the strangeness is that he's sporting a goofy grin and looks absolutely delighted to visit Seagull Island -- which makes a little sense, given he's ignorant of everything that's happened and thinks that at most he'll be having a conversation with some ridiculous poison-pen crank.
* CarChase: Late in the film, Vicki tries to drive off with Hargrove's Land Rover in a panicked escape attempt. As this was also the late 60s, she does this wearing only a coat and underwear.
* DistaffCounterpart: Vicki isn't in the original book ''at all''; the protagonist is a male "country squire" type.
* EarlyBirdCameo: One of the guitarists for The Birds was future [[Music/{{Faces}} Face]] and [[Music/TheRollingStonesBand Rolling Stone]] Ron Wood.
* EvilVersusEvil: [[spoiler:Manfred]] claims that he suspected Hargrove was interested in using the killer bees for his ''own'' ends. It's not elaborated on if this was pure paranoia on the killer's part, or if he had a point.
* {{Fanservice}}: Vicki is seen in her underwear quite a bit in the film.
%%* {{Final Girl}}: Vicki.
* ForTheEvulz: It's not quite clear why [[spoiler:Manfred]] wants to kill Hargrove, [[spoiler:except for the fact that he's a rival beekeeper and a bit of an asshole]]; then again, the letters he's been sending over the years don't indicate a very logical mind.
* [[FromMyOwnPersonalGarden From My Own Personal Apiary]]: In another RedHerring moment, Hargrove proudly informs Vicki that the honey she's enjoying with breakfast came from his very own bees.
* GoodAdulteryBadAdultery: Hargrove's wife suspects him of having an affair with Doris. His flirting with her doesn't help.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: In about two seconds, [[spoiler:Manfred]] manages to spill his smell o' fear juice on himself ''and'' break the tape player pacifying his bees. Simple Darwinism takes care of the rest.
* IncriminatingIndifference: Hargrove hated his wife. She's later killed by bees which everyone suspects to be Hargrove's, so we are led to assume that he's the one who did it. During the inquest, Hargove isn't sad at all, maintaining a proper British StiffUpperLip, which doesn't help his case on being innocent.
* JerkAss: Hargrove. Apart from the way he treats his wife, there's also the fact that toward the end of the movie, he's perfectly willing to let Vicki move out of his house and stay with someone whom he is ''absolutely certain'' is a murderer. Granted, she is pretty annoying.
* JustBetweenYouAndMe / EvilGloating: [[spoiler:Manfred]] becomes MrExposition because he's sure Vicki is completely at his mercy.
* KickTheDog: Hargrove literally swats the dog away to keep her out of his barn. Manfred gets one in when he passively-aggressively twists the knife on Hargrove about his wife being killed (true, he hated her, but this still seemed to piss him off).
* LateToTheParty: Harcourt, told to go and investigate the claims of killer bees at the beginning, shows up at the ''very'' end set to silly music.
* LethalKlutz: Vicki ends up defeating [[spoiler:Manfred]] and saving the day almost entirely by accident.
* MisterExposition: Shut up, [[spoiler:Manfred]]. Shut up.
* MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold: Hargrove, though a tad light on the "Heart of Gold" part. Turns out he's not a murderer, just a bit of a jerk, and he's very quick to rescue both Inspector Hawkins and Vicki when they run into trouble. In the original book, though, [[spoiler: Hargrove ''is'' the murderer]].
* MonsterMisogyny: Okay, so the bees aren't technically ''monsters'', but throughout the course of the movie there are about four attacks on female characters (five, if you count Tess the dog) and only two attacks on male characters.
** Of course, the intended target of most of the attacks was Hargrove. [[spoiler:Manfred is just an incompetent nitwit]].
* MundaneMadeAwesome: Okay, honey is tasty, but you'd think Hargrove considers it to be ambrosia of the gods. (Then again, freshly made honey has a distinct taste to canned honey.)
%%* MurderIsTheBestSolution
* NeutralFemale: Doris, Mr. Hawkins' pleasant, helpful daughter who serves as Vicki's caretaker. So neutral, in fact, that the movie [[NotQuiteDead didn't have the heart to actually kill her off]]; she collapses in the middle of the woods during a bee attack, but ends up surviving because [[spoiler:the bees were after the pheromone-soaked garment she was carrying and ignored her once she dropped it]].
* PrettyInMink: Vicky starts out wearing a fur coat to film a music video, and then promptly collapses in the middle of the song, probably due to fainting from the heat.
* ObviouslyEvil: [[spoiler:Manfred]] couldn't be any more transparent if he ''tried''. Hargrove is a subversion, being an outright JerkAss but not a villain.
* {{Pastiche}}: The original book was one of Literature/SherlockHolmes. [[spoiler:In fact, it's hinted that the character who assists the hero is Sherlock himself.]] This character was turned into Manfred for the movie and made the villain.
* ProductPlacement: There's no other reason for the appearance of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birds_(band) The Birds]], except to advertise their tour of the US, which never happened. What ''did'' happen was a UK tour by Music/TheByrds, who The Birds' manager sued for having the same name; he was promptly fired by The Birds.[[note]]Ironically, The Birds had already fallen victim to using a name associated with a famous act. They were originally called The Thunderbirds (in honor of Music/ChuckBerry's "Jaguar and Thunderbird") but [[invoked]][[RenamedToAvoidAssociation changed to The Birds]] after finding out that there was already a English band called The Thunderbirds.[[/note]] Another song was shoehorned into the film: there was no reason for Vicki to blast "Baby, Let Me Love You" sung by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elkie_Brooks Elkie Brooks]], especially since she wanted ''peace and quiet''.
* RedHerring: The movie goes out of its way to make Hargrove seem like the bad guy.
* TooDumbToLive:
** Really, it should be ''obvious'' who the real killer is. Yet Vicki buys [[spoiler:Manfred's flimsy, stammering explanation for why he wasn't harmed by the swarming that killed Mrs. Hargrove]] without hesitation.
** [[spoiler:Protip for Manfred: They had spray bottles back in the 1960s.]]
** Mrs. Hargrove is (at most) ten feet from her open door when she's attacked by killer bees, but just stands there, apparently never considering just ''running inside.''
* UselessProtagonist: Apart from bumbling into danger, Vicki doesn't actually ''do'' much of anything. She does end up resolving the plot by [[spoiler:throwing that stone bust at Manfred which spills the bee aggressor formula on his face]], and she accidentally destroys the deadly bees by starting a fire.
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