‘Once upon a hive…’
Royal Jelly is a 2021 American horror film about a teen being groomed so that she can be turned into a queen bee!
Written, produced and directed by (Fighting Belle). The Integral Motion Pictures production stars Elizabeth McCoy, Sherry Lattanzi, Fiona McQuinn and Jonas Chartock.
Plot:
When Aster, a reclusive high school bee enthusiast, is taken under the wing of a mysterious mentor named Tresa, everything Aster loves is shattered.
Snatched away to Tresa’s remote, nightmarish apiary, Aster finds herself captive to Tresa’s grotesque plan–being groomed as a diseased hive’s next queen. Aster must find the strength within to exterminate Tresa and her godforsaken brood to survive…
Reviews:
“If I told you the first thing I looked up after seeing Royal Jelly was ‘do bees have fangs? I think that might help you decide whether to watch this movie or not (there’s no definite answer here by the way but the Royal Jelly filmmakers have different ideas). There are way too many low budget horror movies that feel like made for daytime TV movies with added gore or violence. Royal Jelly has a bit of that but also some bizarre ideas thrown in too.” Nerdly
“What promises to be a transformational tale of feminist rage fails to deliver on either front. With ambition too big for its budget, the effects are weak at best and barely make sense with the narrative. Scenes of Aster making honey are fascinating and beautifully shot, but shaky camera work and clumsy directing lead to a disjointed story that never finds its footing. The effects that do work are quite tasteless.” Rue Morgue
“Royal Jelly is a horror movie with great potential and an original concept, which is not effectively executed in the finished product. There are some nice little nods to past horror films and some well-directed set pieces, yet a more polished script and grounded performances from its cast may have given this flick the genuine fear factor it was aiming for.” UK Film Review
” …it takes too long to get to the horror and then plays everything straight no matter how ridiculous the film gets. If they had only gotten to the point sooner and then let the occupants of the hive loose for the final act it could have been an enjoyably cheesy film. Instead, it’s a dull and annoyingly stupid film with an extremely frustrating ending.” Voices from the Balcony
“Royal Jelly takes the high school outcast and put them in a world different from the typical revenge plot. An excellent performance from leads Elizabeth McCoy and Sherry Lattanzi drive the film that’s first slow-paced, then goes insane in the final fifteen minutes. Not a bad film at all.” World Film Geek
Release date:
Uncork’d Entertainment will release Royal Jelly on September 14, 2021.
Cast and characters:
Elizabeth McCoy … Aster
Sherry Lattanzi … Tresa
Fiona McQuinn … Tremaine
Jonas Chartock … Jody
Tim Tanner … Teacher
Lory Tom Thompson Sr. … Drone
G. Tremain Merrell … Teacher
Raylen Ladner … Drew
Jesse Hartsog … Colton
Nicole Prunty … Ana
Jake McCoy … David
Laya Riser … Student
Jonathan Dahl … Student
Lewis Rogers … Teacher
Corey Luttrell … Teacher
Ayla Miller … Regalis
Diana Sue … Worker
Lucas T. Matchett … Henry
Technical details:
95 minutes
2.35: 1
Fun facts:
In 1999, director Sean Riley wrote the script for Royal Jelly whilst working as a production assistant on “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?” filmed in the Mississippi Delta.
Royal Jelly the movie, is not inspired by or related to, the short story by Roald Dahl or its adaptation for the British TV series Tales of the Unexpected. The title is purely coincidental and is simply the term for a honey bee secretion produced by glands of the hypopharynx in “nurse” honey bees, which is fed to all larvae in the colony but fed in especially large quantities to the future queen bee, in her “queen cell” in the beehive.
Related:
The Wasp Woman (1995)
The Wasp Woman (1959)
Trailer:
