The Disaster Blogathon – The Swarm (1978)

This is my second of 3 submissions for the The Disaster Blogathon being run by J-Dub over at Dubism and Quiggy of The Midnite Drive-In

Tnx for letting me take part!

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“We’ve been fighting a losing battle against the insects for fifteen years, but I never thought I’d see the final face-off in my lifetime. And I never dreamed, that it would turn out to be the bees. They’ve always been our friend. ” – Brad Crane

Number of Times Seen – 1 (9 Jun 2020)

Brief Synopsis – When a swarm of bees attack a military installation, the soldiers and the civilians in a nearby town must find a way to stop this deadly threat.

My Take on it – Most people, myself included, don’t watch disaster movies because they are thought provoking drama, but rather for the crazy scenarios and death defying situations that the characters are placed in.

This film is no exception to that and it sports one of the most amazing ensemble casts of a film in this genre.

Henry Fonda, Richard Widmark, Fred MacMurray, Michael Caine, Richard Chamberlain and Katherine Ross are just a few of the star studded cast that help make this so much fun to watch.

The story tho is quite silly and makes very little sense because it constantly contradicts itself along the way.

This makes it so much more difficult to actually take seriously in any manner.

They tell this story in a very sloppy and disorganized way that very little makes sense and this takes so much away from being able to enjoy it.

The fact that the current world situation has allowed us to see disaster movies in a very different and fresh light helps things a bit but unfortunately not enough in order to make this film more interesting and enjoyable to watch unfold.

Some of the characters are developed well enough, but even in an ensemble film like this one, too many familiar faces are left with underdeveloped story lines that hurts things too much since there is so much more potential for these characters and their situations than to just be used as canon fodder which is a bit of a shame.

Bottom Line – Amazing cast and a fun disaster film, but it all comes across far too silly the whole way through that one can’t take it seriously at all.  The story itself is told in a very sloppy way that takes away so much from things.  The overall premise is actually one that can be seen through fresh eyes based on the world situation yet doesn’t seem to work well enough nevertheless.  For an ensemble film, some of the characters are developed well enough while others that seem to have much potential are glossed over which ends up making these familiar faces pure canon fodder which is a bit of a shame.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Producer/director Irwin Allen was so disheartened by the amount of money he lost on this movie that he forbade any of his employees to ever mention it again. He even cut short an interview when a question was asked about it. (From IMDB)

Rating – Razzie Worthy (3/10)

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