Movie · 1978 · Science Fiction, Horror · 1h 56m · PG · English
Curator score: 0.3/10 (15K ratings)
Monsters by the millions - and they're all for real!
Overview
Scientist Dr. Bradford Crane and army general Thalius Slater join forces to fight an almost invisible enemy threatening America; killer bees that have deadly venom and attack without reason. Disaster movie-master Irwin Allen's film contains spectacular special effects, including a train crash caused by the eponymous swarm.
Ratings
Curator score: 0.3/10
IMDb: 4.5/10
Letterboxd: 2.30/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 9%
Metacritic: 30
TMDB: 5.0/10
Director
Irwin Allen
Production
Warner Bros. Pictures
Cast
Michael Caine, Katharine Ross, Richard Widmark, Richard Chamberlain, Olivia de Havilland, Ben Johnson, Lee Grant, José Ferrer, Patty Duke, Slim Pickens, Bradford Dillman, Fred MacMurray, Henry Fonda, Cameron Mitchell, Christian Juttner, Morgan Paull, Alejandro Rey, Don 'Red' Barry, Elizabeth Rogers, Doria Cook-Nelson
Curator Review
Verdict
A notorious disaster-movie oddity: bloated, absurd, and often dull, but also packed with big-cast spectacle, earnest 1970s seriousness, and enough ridiculous bee chaos to fascinate the right viewer.
Best for
fans of so-bad-it’s-interesting disaster movies
viewers who enjoy star-studded 1970s studio excess
cult-film completists
people amused by earnest nonsense and camp
Skip if
you want tight pacing or genuine suspense
you dislike long, repetitive disaster-movie setups
you need polished effects or coherent tone
you’re not in the mood for campy incompetence
Overview
The Swarm is one of those expensive 1970s studio disasters that feels both overstuffed and undercooked at the same time. Irwin Allen stages the material with total seriousness, which only makes the absurdity of killer bees attacking America more entertaining in hindsight. The result is less a thriller than a monument to excess, with a huge cast, endless exposition, and a few genuinely memorable spectacle beats buried in all the dead air.
Worth noting
What makes it worth a look, if you’re the right kind of viewer, is the scale of the failure. The movie keeps insisting on its own importance while the premise grows more ridiculous by the minute, and that tension creates a peculiar cult appeal. It’s not scary, and it’s rarely exciting, but it is astonishingly committed to being a major disaster epic about bees.
Bottom line
For most viewers, though, the runtime and sluggish structure are the real stings. The film’s best moments are the ones that tip into pure absurdity, while the rest is a parade of solemn dialogue, wasted talent, and repetitive crisis management. As a curiosity, it’s memorable; as a movie, it’s a slog.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Karsten (1★) · 319 likes
Endless…
russman (1★) · 229 likes
Taking a B movie a little too literal.
Yves Bouwen (4★) · 167 likes
Michael Caine calls The Swarm the worst film he was ever in. Because it was a box office bomb, producer and director Irwin Allen - the master of disaster - forbade anyone who came near to him to speak of it ever again. In my humble opinion it is the only movie he should have been talking about. The Swarm is a disaster, all right. The number of once Hollywood greats that humiliate themselves in this is just dazzling. Richard… more Michael Caine calls The Swarm the worst film he was ever in. Because it was a box office bomb, producer and director Irwin Allen - the master of disaster - forbade anyone who came near to him to speak of it ever again. In my humble opinion it is the only movie he should have been talking about. The Swarm is a disaster, all right. The number of once Hollywood greats that humiliate themselves in this is just dazzling. Richard… more
Matt Singer (1★) · 122 likes
Look, I’m not a smart man. I mean, clearly I am not; I have chosen to rewatch The Swarm a second time despite the fact that it is surely one of the dumbest movies Hollywood produced in the 1970s.
But even I, a noted dummy, would think twice before putting The Swarm out on home video in its 155-minute cut (which was created for its initial laserdisc release), when there’s also the 116-minute theatrical cut. Why would you force people… more
Dave Edwards (1★) · 100 likes
I never knew I could be(e) so bored during a film containing: 1. Killer bee swarms taking out a helicopter and blowing up a top-secret nuclear military base
2. After being stung, multiple characters suffer hallucinations where they see a giant bee
And yet, here I am. As Kevin Garnett once so passionately stated, anything is possible. At least I’m not alone. All seven of the Oscar winning actors cast in The Swarm seem bored too. Especially Micheal… more