The Hive is a “home invasion” thriller with sci-fi elements from writer and director Jared Allmond. The film, which released to VOD sites in late October of 2023, is Allmond’s debut feature. Allmond’s prior horror credits come from writing and directing teaser trailers for three of the mazes at Knott’s Scary Farm’s 2017 Halloween season event. The trailers for those particular mazes (“Pumpkin Eater”, “Dark Ride”, and “Trick or Treat: Lights Out”) are still available to watch on YouTube, and while they may have served to whet the appetite for those particular “spook house” experiences, each is far too short and underdeveloped to get much of a sense of how Allmond would handle a full length film.

The Hive stars Timothy Haug (Attack of the Southern Fried Zombies, 2023’s Murder Syndicate), who also co-produced the film, and Christie Griffin (her feature film debut) as Albie and Penny, a married couple preparing for a romantic evening out as an attempt to re-ignite their clearly sputtering marriage. Things start off poorly before the couple even leave their home. Penny attempts to flirtatiously show off the cute (but not what I would call “sexy”) new dress that she’ll be wearing that evening. Albie, more consumed by the film script that he’s long been laboring on, barely even notices her. The night worsens when a flat tire leads to another argument and even more resentment being aired.

Upon returning home, they are shocked to find another couple inside. Albie confronts the man (actor and puppeteer Miles Taber, who provided the voice of “Izzy the Piranha Plant” on Nintendo’s now-defunct “The Play Nintendo Show” YouTube series), pushing and poking at him before finally throwing a punch that only connects with the foyer wall. Albie and Penny then attempt to call 911, but are shocked yet again when the dispatcher calls the other man’s cell phone to verify the situation. Albie once more attempts to approach the man, but is stopped when the stranger produces both a gun and a badge.

With no ideas of how to handle the situation, Albie and Penny reluctantly leave the property. They spend some time driving around, attempting to think up a plan. This leads to more disagreements, which only leads to more arguments, further exposing the massive fault line that this relationship was built upon. It becomes quickly and painfully (for the viewer) obvious that whatever spark first ignited this relationship has long since burned out and that these two should no longer be married, nor should they have ever gotten married in the first place. The fact that these two have children of their own (or “little brats” as Albie once refers to them) only serves to make their situation sadder… or it would if both of them weren’t so God-damned insufferable. However, in order to fully expose the crumbling facade of these characters’ life together, it must also spend a decent amount of time on their petty issues and insecurities. Again, as they are both quite unlikeable, you’ll probably wish that it hadn’t.

Eventually, they make their way to the nearby home of Penny’s sister, Kimmy (Whitney Reade, in what appears to be a debut role). Although it is alluded to that Kimmy and Albie have had their share of disagreements in the past, she welcomes the young couple into her home with open arms. After listening to their tale, Kimmy advises the couple to return home and to attempt to record video of the intruders in the act. While Penny remains somewhat nervous and unconvinced, Albie is fully onboard with the idea, and rushes the couple back home. The couple witnesses some bizarre behavior from the intruders, but nothing that matches the weirdness yet to come. It isn’t long before both Albie and Penny are subdued by the assailants. Penny awakes to find herself in the basement, her hands bound. Meanwhile, Albie finds himself tied to their bedpost. Of course, it does take a third of the film’s runtime to even get to this point.

The nameless intruders, who have a sinister over-politeness to everything they say, take turns interrogating the couple. They seem to be seeking information in regard to what they keep referring to as a “central intelligence network”. Naturally, our married couple have no clue what the fuck these strangers are talking about. However, believing them to be withholding information, the intruders torture the couple by poking them in the chest, which seems to radiate an energy that causes immense pain upon contact. Soon, the intruders even begin to offer the couple whatever their hearts desire in exchange for the information they seek, but Albie and Penny remain clueless.

The interrogation continues on for a while, but as our couple know nothing about what it is that their abductors are actually seeking, little of plot significance is revealed other than the fact that this other couple were the home’s previous occupants. Along the way, the female intruder (Julianne Ruck, whose previous film credits are all for sound design/mixing) also discloses that Albie, Penny, and their children have been closely observed for some undefined timeframe. The peculiar mannerisms of the invaders soon begin to reveal the true nature of their identities. Unfortunately, a promotional email that I received from the distributors’ PR team just prior to the film’s release gave away much more information than it probably should have, spoiling what rightfully should have been the film’s biggest surprise.

At just over an hour into the film, Albie and Penny manage to find a way to start fighting back. Well, it’s actually Albie who does most of the fighting, displaying more of his true nature, which sadly is nothing more than a magnification of what we’ve already experienced from him up to this point. As the character is already quite unlikable, this manifestation in behavior and attitude may only serve to show that he’s just as bad, if not worse, than those impinging on his freedoms and well-being. While I don’t consider the revelation of the intruders’ true identities and motive to be much of a genuine surprise, again, I would’ve preferred to go into the movie not knowing what was lying ahead. All that said, The Hive does takes on a somewhat more humorous, but still quite dark, tone from this point that may confuse and, dare I say, alienate some viewers. Personally, it may be my favorite segment of the film.

There is not much in the line of visual or make-up effects on display throughout the film, which may be for the best as the story does not need or rely on such things. What little make-up that is on display is handled suitably enough. While it probably won’t draw much in the line of rabid accolades, it’s also not lackluster enough to be distracting. It’s also worth noting that while the film is not what I would call “music heavy”, the few songs that are featured are pretty bad (IMO), often sounding like a throwaway track from the soundtrack to a late 1980’s teen comedy. Instead of Pretty In Pink, here we get “Horrendous in …” What color starts with H??

Overall, The Hive is quite dialogue heavy and extremely light on anything resembling action. Quite honestly, it’s probably far too “talky” for some audiences as little of note actually happens until late in the film, playing out as not a “whodunit?”, but instead as more of a “whydunit?”. That said, I’ve been known to enjoy more than a few of these low-action, “slow burn” films (The Alpha Incident, anyone?), so I actually found The Hive to be quite enjoyable, at least for a one-time watch. Knowing what mysteries it has to reveal, it is fairly easy for me to recommend the film, but I just don’t see it being something that I invest multiple rewatches in. Performances are respectable throughout, with Taber being both charismatic and ill-intentioned at once and Haug doing a commendable job of making you hate him.

The Hive is available to rent on Amazon Prime and Vudu or is free to watch (as of the time of this writing) on either Tubi or Plex.

Hibiscus! Hibiscus starts with H!