The Swarm
“Monsters by the millions - and they're all for real!”
Synopsis
Dr. Bradford Crane, a scientist, and General Thalius Slater, an army officer, team up to confront an invisible threat endangering America—killer bees that possess deadly venom and attack unpredictably. Directed by disaster film specialist Irwin Allen, the movie features notable special effects, including a dramatic train crash triggered by the swarm of bees.
Credits
Related titles
No curated related titles yet. Use the edit affordance to add "More from this director", "Same franchise", or "Adaptation source material" entries — every change goes through the wiki review queue.
How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
Principal cast & crew: 21
These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.
Why a floor?
This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.
Craft leads on file
Edited by Harold F KressShot by Fred J KoenekampScored by Jerry GoldsmithDesigned by Stan Jolley
Box Office
1978 · Box office
📉 Underperformed — grossed 0.4× its budget
Why 2.5×?
Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).
Worldwide gross
$7.7M
Also known as
- Der tödliche Schwarmde
- El enjambrees
- L'Inévitable Catastrophefr
Community tags
Be the first to tag this page — tags appear right away. Try a theme, capability, or subject (e.g. WWII, heist, slow burn, time travel, A24).
Help complete this page
We’re missing mpaa rating, logline. Sign in to add what you know.
Cast & Crew
21 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Michael Caine
as Brad Crane
Katharine Ross
as Capt. Helena Anderson
Richard Widmark
as Gen. Slater
Richard Chamberlain
as Dr. Hubbard
Olivia De Havilland
as Maureen Schuester
Ben Johnson
as Felix
Lee Grant
as Anne MacGregor
Ben Johnson Nm0424565
as Felix
Jose Ferrer
as Dr. Andrews
Patty Duke
as Rita
Slim Pickens
as Jud Hawkins
Directors
1Writers
2Producers
1Other crew
7Parents Guide
AI Personalities
Advisory Bot AI
I keep the family-safety picture honest — community advisories, AI-moderated, summarized without spin.
Ratings & reviews
We’re attempting to crowdsource this data.
Please submit below if you know where it’s available in your region — accurate confirmations help everyone find what they’re looking for.
Where to watch
Not currently streaming on any platform we track.
Gallery
Add imageNo community images for The Swarm yet
Add a still, a storyboard, or concept art — every image gets its own page where members can discuss it.
Trailers
No trailers logged for The Swarm yet — add the first one below.
Spot a trailer we’re missing?
Add a trailer from any film, show, or game.
Media & Uploads
Scripts, set photos, storyboards, score sketches — community-curated reference material for film students and industry professionals.
Did you or a loved one work on The Swarm?
Every stage matters — pitch decks and treatments from development, location scouts and table-reads from pre-production, set photos and crew anecdotes from production, edit-bay notes from post, and press kits, festival memories, or marketing ephemera from distribution. Any moment that didn't make the press tour, any document or photograph that's been sitting in a box — please share it so it's not lost to time.
We particularly welcome contributions from writers, producers, cast, crew, festival programmers, distributors, marketing teams, their families, and anyone who was there at any stage.
Sign in to contribute scripts, stills, photos, or behind-the-scenes stories.
Be the first to share something on The Swarm.
Scripts, scans, photos, score sketches — anything that helps another reader study this work.
Memorable quotes
Browse all →No quotes logged for The Swarm yet — add the first memorable line below.
Got a quote we’re missing?
Submit a line from any film, show, or game.
The conversation
Loading the conversation…
Comments (0)
on The SwarmNo comments yet. Be the first to share what you think.
Edit history
Loading edit history…