The Deadly Bees (1966) - Movie Review

Official Score = 3 Devils

Ok, so I have to be honest and say that it has been a while since I have seen a truly great 'B' horror movie, and then went on to review about it for the site... And so I scoured my movie library, netflix, and all the other streamable sites (Amazon and the like,) and there is one that I thought would work well... And well, I found one that was not great, but I will be honest, was pretty good!

That movie being, The Deadly Bees (1966).

The movie poster for: The Deadly Bee (1966).

Written by: Robert Bloch (Psycho), Anthony Marriott (Public Eye) & Directed by: Freddie Francis (Dune). Starring: Suzanna Leigh (Lust For A Vampire), Frank Finlay (Lifeforce), Guy Doleman (On The Beach), Catherine Finn (Torture Garden) & Tim Barrett (The Mummy's Shroud.)

"Well, he didn't want to destroy my bees. He wanted to destroy me!"

- H.W. Manfred (A quote from: The Deadly Bees (1966).)

The Deadly Bees tells the story of how an exhausted lead singer for a British pop band, by the name of, 'Vicki Robbins' (Suzanna Leigh) decides after fainting while in the middle of a set, to take some time off and spend it in the country with some friends of her Doctor...

Vicki Robbins is about to embark on an adventure that she will never forget... And to think... She went in for a rest!

Now at first everything seems to be all good at the farm... I mean the wife is a little neurotic, and the husband has a temper, but they seem like nice enough folks... And she truly does seem to be getting better all of the time... That is until she met H.W. Manfred (Frank Finaly) of course!

You see, both Finlay and the husband of the family she is staying with are both in to, 'Bee Farming'... But one of them has a deadly secret about there, 'killer bees', and in this movie, the bees maybe the killer... But you will never guess who the murderer is!

I know... I know, I make this sound like a, 'mystery', but in all truth, this movie truly is a fun British, B, 'horror' movie, and despite the fact that the first 10 or 15 minutes are kind of useless, the rest of the movie explodes, and the deeper in to it you get, the better it is!

Five Must Have Horror Book Gifts For The Fan In Your Life For Christmas2014

That's right folks, with Christmas fast approaching, I thought that it might be helpful to give you guys a few little suggestions as words of advice when going Christmas shopping this Holiday season for the Horror fan in your life.

So with out further adieu:

5. Twilight, by: Stephenie Meyer:

A best selling Vampire romance novel series that was turned in to an extremely successful horror movie franchise.

Trust me when I say that recommending this novel for anything is not a particularly easy one, but the truth is, is I am sure you have heard of the movie... Well the movie is based on the book, and is one that would be a good gift for a fan of either, or is some one who is in to these types of horror novels.

4. It, by: Stephen King:

Don't let the terrifying clown on the book cover fool you... This book is a lot scarier then the clown is making it out to be!

To be honest with you guys, this novel certainly is not the best of Stephen King's body of works, but if you are looking for something for that Stephen King fan in your life for Christmas, and he or she has not read this one... Then this would be a good one to add to the ole shopping list!

3. The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, by: Robert Louis Stevenson:

One for the Victorian era Horror fan!

Now this one... This one, I am going to say this, this is a fantastic book, but unless your horror fan is in to older novels, then this may not be the one for him...

2. Desperation, by: Stephen King:

Here is a Stephen King book you can really sink your teeth in to!

The reason that I am mentioning both of these... And I am sure that if you get the Stephen King fan in your life a book this year that you are going to get them Desperation... The truth is, is I doubt you will be disappointed, but both books are one's I think the Stephen King fan in your life are going to like!

1. Psycho, by: Robert Bloch

A must for a horror fan!

This book... The movie is epic, the third book is amazing, this book... I haven't read yet... An error I assure you, but despite this fact, I can say that with confidence, the horror fan in your life is going to love this book!

I hope that this list helps when you are making your Christmas purchases this year!

Five Contemporary Horror Movie Villains That Got There Start In Novels

For those of you who don't know this, there are a few horror movie villains that had a truly prolific run as horror movie villains, they actually got there start In Horror Novels!

A great example of this would be, 'Norman Bates'... Now this is Anthony Perkins, in his role as, 'Norman Bates' was truly an amazing job that still resounds today (and heck I would go on to say that Vince Vaughn did a pretty good job as well!)

But believe it or not there has been more then a few that have done a great job as well... And so I thought that I would let you guys know about 5 that I found that I really like!

At number 5: Norman Bates.

Anthony Perkins as, 'Norman Bates', the main character in Alfred Hitchcock's, 'Psycho' (1960)... A movie based on the novel of the same name by: Robert Bloch

As mentioned above, Norman Bates was definitely initially a novel that was written by Robert Bloch... A novel that was loosely based on the serial killer: Ed Gein.

At number 4: Jame Gumb.

 Jame Gumb (Played by: Ted Levine), in Silence Of The Lambs, an award winning movie based on the novel by Thomas Harris!

Now Jame Gumb, is the name of the main villain from, 'Silence Of The Lambs'... He is actually an amalgam of a bunch of serial killer cases that the FBI worked on over the years... Now as for the movie... Well this movie is actually a big screen adaption of the novel that was written by: Thomas Harris!

At number 3: Hannibal Lecter.

Brian Cox was the first person to play, 'Hannibal Lecter'... the lead villain from Thomas Harris's novels!

You might be wondering why I am doing this, I mean Hannibal Lecter is sort of the hidden evil throughout Thomas Harris's novels: 'Red Dragon,' 'Silence Of The Lambs' & 'Hannibal' as well as the movies and the TV series that is based on the novels... But the truth is, is that Hannibal Lecter maybe one of the most famous horror movie villains of all time, and probably the most famous horror movie villain that used to be exclusively based in the pages of novels!

At number 2: Candyman.

Candyman (Played by: Tony Todd) was the main character in the movie series, 'Candyman'... Candyman started off as one of stories written by Clive Barker in the novel, 'The Books Of Blood'!

Now unfortunately it does seem as this series for the most part has not survived outside of it's second sequel, but Candyman... A movie that helped catapult, 'Tony Todd' (Final Destination), in to cult status, was a movie character that saw his start in a short story that was written by: Clive Barker called, 'The Forbidden'!

At number 1: Pinhead.

Pinhead (Played by: Doug Bradley) maybe a legendary horror movie villain, but he started off in the pages of books written by: Clive Barker!

There are a lot more out there then I am mentioning here, but the truth is, is that, 'Pinhead', a character that was portrayed on screen by horror movie legend, 'Doug Bradley', maybe the most famous of the lot to have made it from the pages of a book to the big screen that has ever come out... You see, Pinhead got his start in the pages of Clive Barker's novel, 'The Hellbound Heart'!

Again, there is a lot more out there as well, but these are some that I believe to be some of the most famous to have made it to the big screen!

Ed Gein And His Connection To Modern Movie Serial Killers

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="520"] Ed Gein... This guy was a truly evil monster in life, but in death, was some of the greatest inspiration for serial killers in some of the most famous horror movies of all time![/caption]

For those of you who don't know who Ed Gein was... The truth is, is Ed Gein was a monster who in Wisconsin in the 1950s had killed a few people, but because of the tragic circumstances that led up to him become the monster that he would end up becoming, has in some respects become the model for a lot of the serial killers in movies as well as in novels for the second half of the 20th century...
A couple of examples of this being:

1. The Sawyer family's remoteness, cannibalism, as well as wearing human body parts is said to have been inspired by the fact that Ed Gein lived out on a remote farm in the middle of no-where, eat human flesh, as well as sometimes wearing body parts from some of the dead people he dug up...

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400"] This truly prolific horror movie villain was in some part inspired by who Ed Gein was and what he did.[/caption]

2. Another example of this is, 'Jame Gumb' from, 'The Silence Of The Lambs'... Now the truth is, is that with this book and to some extent, the movie itself, the serial killers, 'Hannibal Lecter,' and, 'Buffalo Bill' are an amalgam of a lot of the serial killers from the various bit of filling that has been done on these creeps, on up to people like, 'Ted Bundy'... But there is a little bit of Gein in both Lecter and Buffalo Bill... In how Lecter was a cannibal, and also in how Buffalo Bill used to skin his victims...

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Both of these horror movie villains both had a little bit of Ed Gein in them...[/caption]

3. And last but certainly not least, when Robert Bloch did his seminal novel, 'Psycho', he actually based the character of, 'Norman Bates' loosely, but still directly on, 'Ed Gein'!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320"] The character of, 'Norman Bates' as characterized from the most famous scene from, 'Psycho' was loosely, but still directly based on Ed Gein...[/caption]

And boy did he... I would definitely say that it is wrong to immortalize a serial killer in any fashion that paints them in any form of positive light, but the truth is, is that this is exactly to a greater or lesser extent what Robert Bloch did... And I have to admit that where in I have never read the novel (I really want to...) I have seen the movies and they are freaking awesome... Despite the fact that unfortunately it looks like, 'Ed Gein', will live on forever in, 'Norman Bates'!

Now as for Ed Gein... Ed Gein was practically in love with his mother, and the two of them had a very unnaturally close bond in their tiny farm, out in the middle of no where, till well after his father and brother passed away (the later of which it has been suspected that Ed Gein murdered...)

After his mother died he decided that he wanted a sex change and began exhuming the bodies of dead women to make himself a, 'Woman Suit'... From there he would also go on to kill women as well...

Now Norman Bates was very similar, except different and here is what I mean:

1. Norman Bates, he lived at a creepy Motel that was out in the middle of nowhere (unlike Ed Gein who lived on a farm...)

2. Norman lived out at that creerpy Motel and shared a dangerously unnatural bond with his mother, until he killed her, (Ed Gein shared an unnatural bond with his mother but never killed her...)

3. After Norman Bates killed his mother, he slowly became her, (After his mother died, Ed Gein wanted to become a woman...)

In the end, I think Ed Gein was the absolute embodiment of a monster, but being a fan of, Novels, Movies & History, I found this stuff to be kind of interesting (despite being extremely disturbing,) and I thought that you guys might as well!

http://youtu.be/y9klJA1JMbM

http://youtu.be/Vs3981DoINw

http://youtu.be/lQKs169Sl0I

A Couple Of Reasons Why, 'The Book Is Always Better Than The Movie'

[caption id="attachment_1803" align="aligncenter" width="407"] Game Of Thrones... This may be a TV Show based on a novel... but trust me when I say that the rule still applies![/caption]

I was talking with a buddy of mine recently about, 'Game Of Thrones' in both the book and TV series... And I got to telling him basically about the fact that, 'The book is almost always better than the movie...' (Before I go on, I should say that this metaphor is applicable to TV as well,) either way I really got to thinking... Well why is that? And this is what I could come up with:

1. In movies oft times filmmakers tend to take creative liberties with the the casting for a specific role, (an example is that in the original novel, 'Psycho' which was written by, 'Robert Bloch', Norman Bates is a bald pudgy guy... In the movie he was played by Anthony Perkins (Edge Of Sanity) who as it turns out was a tall skinny guy with a full head of hair... Another example of this is that in the original novel, 'The Stand' by: Stephen King, one of the prominent characters by the name of, 'Harold Lauder' is a fat pimply faced kid that is infatuated with, 'Franne Goldsmith', in the movie, 'Harold Lauder' is played by: Corin Nemic (Sand Sharks), who is thin... (although in the movie he is still pimply faced...)

2. Another thing is the time frame that most filmmakers have to work with in regards to the story... What I mean by this is  that most novels tend to take place over days, months, or even years (although in, 'Gerald's Game' the story is a detailed example of a women who is held after a particularly rough sexual event kills her husband, while she is handcuffed to the bed...) And so I got to imagine that, that has to be at least one of the reasons why they take certain creative liberties with the story line... A great example of this is the movie, Queen Of The Damned (2002)....

[caption id="attachment_1804" align="aligncenter" width="450"] Queen Of The Damned... A great movie, but an even better book![/caption]

Now Queen Of The Damned, took other creative liberties between the movie and the book (considering the fact that this movie is based on the book, 'Queen Of the Damned' and, 'The Vampire Lestat'), but the book itself takes place over centuries, and so while they heavily accented certain elements of the present day as seen from the original novels, they seemed to primarily focus on, 'Lestat' and how he became introduced to, 'Enkil' and, 'Akasha'...

All of that is good, the problem is, is if they had done it right, that particular movie would never have had to gloss over a lot of the rich tapestry that Anne Rice painted in the books for what would have been considered to be the present... And I think that because of the timeline for trying to fit 2 particularly meaty books in to an 1:40 minute movie was just plainly impossible!

And then last but certainly not least, there is another reason that I think that the book is better then the movie... And that is when certain movies try to take artistic liberties with the big screen adaption that they are trying to do... I mean Hollywood was a little bit more like that in the 90s and beyond but it is still happening all of the time! Now I don't mean taking artistic liberties with a novel to make the story fit in to a 2 hour movie...

No I am talking about when they just start cutting out, or adding in elements to the movie that had never been part of the original novel!

I found that when this is done, not only does it change the vision of what the author had originally intended, but I also have found that when I have later started reading the novel, that the way the author had written the novel the way it had originally been intended was actually better!

In the end, I am not saying that all big screen adaptions suck, as a matter of fact, I have that I have really liked a lot of them... But in the end, what I mentioned above is: 'A Couple Of Reasons Why, 'The Book Is Always Better Than The Movie'!

http://youtu.be/y9klJA1JMbM

http://youtu.be/qsMp2pZK-Cw

http://youtu.be/2Gu9HtN05sc

Ed Gein... Movies He Inspired!

Unless you are an extreme horror movie fan or some one who does research on serial killers, then I doubt you would have heard of Ed Gein...

Well first of Ed Gein is one of the worst serial killers there is, yet he is also one of the most prolific serial killers in history... Why is that? Well besides the fact that he murdered only 2 people, and besides the fact that Ed Gein was more or less obsessed with his mother, he was also known to have made furniture and what not out of human body parts, as well as also having been known to have started making a woman costume out of human skin, to arrange some strange rituals... And yet he was a nice guy that lived as a hermit out in the middle of no where... Sound familiar?

It should, you see, one of the biggest contributions that Ed Gein contributed to the world, is what he contributed to the horror movie genre!

[caption id="attachment_1415" align="aligncenter" width="520"] Ed Gein, after the truth about hos gruesome life came to be known![/caption]

The first of these movies is, Psycho (1960), you see this movie was based on the book by author Robert Bloch who based his story mostly on Ed Gein's case, in that Psycho told the story of a reclusive young man by the name of, 'Norman Bates', who lived out at his mostly empty Motel, and who was obsessed with his overly possessive mother, and how after he kills a woman one night, the world that he had created for himself, had started spiraling out of control!

[caption id="attachment_1416" align="aligncenter" width="597"] Anthony Perkins as, 'Norman Bates' in Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 masterpiece, 'Psycho' (1960)[/caption]

The next one that I thought that I would mention here is, Three On A Meathook (1974). Now this is another movie that is loosely based on the story of Ed Gein, with the exception that it appears that the mother is no longer in the picture, and the father appears to become obsessed with the son, when the son starts pulling away!

[caption id="attachment_1417" align="aligncenter" width="600"] A scene from, Three On A Meat Hook (1974)![/caption]

And another one that I thought that I would mention here (One of the first movies that maybe the first most closest adaptions of the old Ed Gein story), a movie that I found to be a lot of fun, (and if you are huge B Horror fan I think you might to), that movie is, Deranged: Confessions Of A Necrophile (1974). This movie tells the story about how after the death of the mother that he loved so dearly, that this old hermit farmer, becomes a grave robber and murderer, and even goes so far to try and keep and preserve his mother's corpse!

[caption id="attachment_1418" align="aligncenter" width="600"] This guy is taking the term, 'getting a new look,' a little to far!'[/caption]

The next movie that I thought that I would say is more closely based on the story of Ed Gein is not so much a movie as it is a character in a movie, and that is the character of, 'Jame (Buffalo Bill) Gumb' (Played by: Ted Levine) from the award winning movie, Silence Of The Lambs (1991), a movie which has FBI trainee, 'Clarice Starling' (Played by: Jodie Foster) and how she enlisted the help of a captured serial killer in an effort to capture a serial killer by the name of, 'Buffalo Bill' a loner, that is kidnapping women in an effort to make a woman suit out of the women that he has murdered... And has gotten the FBI's attention when his latest kidnapping victim is the daughter of U.S. Senator!

[caption id="attachment_1419" align="aligncenter" width="604"] Ted Levine as, 'Jame (Buffalo Bill) Gumb' in, 'Silence Of The Lambs' (1991)![/caption]

The last one that I wanted to mention here is, Ed Gein: D.D.S. (2013). Now this movie hasn't been released yet, but this movie will tell the story of how a witches coven will resurrect Ed Gein using an old haunted dental chair that had been taken from the Hospital that he spent the last years of his life at.

[caption id="attachment_1421" align="aligncenter" width="450"] Ed Gein will be resurescted later this year to have some more fun in, 'Ed Gein: D.D.S.' (2013)[/caption]

And then of course there are the movies that are actually bio-pics of Ed Gein and his story, included in this is:

1. Ed Gein (2000), a movie which stars, Steve Railsback (Disturbing Behavior) as Gein.

2. Ed Gein: The Ghoul Of Plainfield (2004) a documentary on Gein himself.

3. Ed Gein: The Butcher Of Plainfield (2007) a horror movie that stars, Kane Hodder (Jason X)

4. Ed Gein: The Musical (2010) a movie which stars Dan Davies (West Of The Thunder)

The last area that I thought that I would mention here are just a few movies that took some element of Ed Gein and what he did for their film:

1. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) used Gein as the inspiration for, 'Leatherface', as well as the fact that Leatherface and his creepy family are on a creepy out of the way farm that is decorated with furniture that was made from Human remains.

2. Motel Hell (1980), used the whole creepy killer farmer element that lives almost entirely out in the middle of no where, and kills people!

3. Maniac (1980) a movie that used the fact that the killer in this movie had an abusive mother, and that is why he kills women he deemed, 'un-clean'.

4. Ed And His Dead Mother (1993) in this movie the lead character who is mourning the loss of his mother that he has lived his entire life with, dies and ultimately he has brought back to life!

5. Roadkill: The Last Days of John Martin (1994) tells the story of a crazy meat carver who lives on a farm by himself and goes out and kills people with car trouble for food... He also has an ornamental dead head.

6. House Of 1,000 Corpse (2003), now I suspect that when Rob Zombie was making this film, that he utilized the fact that Ed Gein would dress up in a woman suit and would dance in bizarre rituals at night as inspiration in this movie for the moment in the movie when the family dresses up (in real costumes) to sacrifice the remaining people that they had captured to, 'Doctor Satan'!

http://youtu.be/y9klJA1JMbM

http://youtu.be/04kk_XHyTvk

http://youtu.be/nSNJmvxNs80

http://youtu.be/lQKs169Sl0I

http://youtu.be/OzNOwnizMmg

http://youtu.be/nrhyZTNYdrU

http://youtu.be/mt9dFlDiC6k

http://youtu.be/Vs3981DoINw

http://youtu.be/k4AR3BgaCdA

http://youtu.be/btGEvamuaA4

Psycho (1960) - Movie Review

[caption id="attachment_415" align="alignright" width="350"] Official Score = 4 Devils[/caption]

In the 1950s in Wisconsin there was a serial killer by the name of, 'Ed Gein' who lived alone on a huge farm, and was more or less obsessed with his mother to the point where he started tipping over the edge when she died.

Then a few years after Gein's arrest, author Robert Bloch would go on to write a novel that was loosely based on the, 'Gein' case called, 'Psycho'.

Then in 1960, the true master of suspense, 'Alfred Hitchcock' (Rear Window) went on to make a little movie for Universal Pictures that would go on the become one of the most prolific movies in both the thriller genre and the horror genre, and that was based on Bloch's novel called, Psycho (1960)!

Written by: Joseph Stefano (Psycho 4: The Beginning) and Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock. Starring: Anthony Perkins (The Black hole), Vera Miles (The Searchers), John Gavin (Spartacus), Janet Leigh (Halloween: H20) and Martin Balsam (Cape Fear).

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="538"] One of the most famous shots in horror movie history... A shot with Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) as he looks up in to his mother's room![/caption]

Psycho tells the story of Marion Crane (Leigh) who comes across $40 thousand dollars one day when a person who is about to buy a house from the real estate company that she works for drops the cash on Marion's desk, and Marion's boss asks her to take it to the companies safety deposit box!

Now Marion has a boyfriend that she loves very much by the name of, 'Sam' who lives in Fairvale California (while Marion lives in Phoenix Arizona). Sam unfortunately due to his debts can't move in with Marion, and won't let Marion movie in with him (due to the fact that he more or less basically has a tiny room in the back of his shop!

So Marion decides to steal the $40 thousand and takes off for Fairvale to be with the man of her dreams and help pay off his debts!

After some fear of being caught by the California Highway Patrol, Marion decides to stop off at the local Bates Motel, where she meets the slightly odd but nice enough Motel Manager who lives with his mother, by the name of Norman Bates (Perkins).

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="450"] Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) asking a cold and lonely Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) if she would have dinner with him.[/caption]

Now after some slightly weird but mostly genial conversation and a dinner of sandwiches, with Norman, and discovers that she may have made a mistake in stealing that money. Marion heads off to her own room to get ready for bed, in preparation for heading back to Phoenix to face the music!

While she is in the shower, 'Mrs. Bates' decides to show her dislike for Marion by barging in to her room and murdering her in what would become one of the most famous shower murder scenes in movie history!

Well with Marion and the $40 thousand dollars missing, a Private Detective by the name of, 'Milton Arbogast' (Martin Balsam) is hired to find Marion and retrieve the money. While Marion's sister, 'Lila' (Miles) just wants to find her sister!

Now this movie truly is not only an iconic movie in the horror and thriller genres! But this movie is one of the most recognizable movies in the history of Cinema!

http://youtu.be/y9klJA1JMbM