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Attack of the Murder Hornets documentary shares exclusive, disturbing clip

You've heard the buzz for murder hornets, the movie, now watch a horrifying scene. This time, it's personal.

Leslie Katz Former Culture Editor
Leslie Katz led a team that explored the intersection of tech and culture, plus all manner of awe-inspiring science, from space to AI and archaeology. When she's not smithing words, she's probably playing online word games, tending to her garden or referring to herself in the third person.
Credentials
  • Third place film critic, 2021 LA Press Club National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards
Leslie Katz
2 min read
hornet

In the new Discovery Plus documentary Attack of the Murder Hornets, beekeeper Ted McFall makes the horrifying discovery that his bees have been wiped out en masse. 

Discovery Plus video screenshot by Leslie Katz/CNET

As if 2020 wasn't terrifying enough, we had murder hornets to contend with. You may've suppressed all memories of the homicidal Asian giant hornets that made their way to North America last year, but a new documentary's about to send them buzzing through your brain again. 

Attack of the Murder Hornets, coming to Discovery Plus on Saturday, Feb. 20, chronicles the hunt to prevent a US invasion of the horrifying pest, which measures up to 2 inches long and likes to decapitate bees for sport (a single hornet can behead 20 bees a minute, and a small group can destroy a hive of 30,000 bees in an hour and a half). Multiple stings from the insect can be fatal, and the hornets kill up to 50 people a year in Japan alone. 

How do you take down an apex-predator with a sting strong enough to kill a human? That's the central question of the film from director Michael Paul Stephenson (Best Worst Movie, The American Scream). The movie combines slasher and 1950s creature-feature tropes as it tracks a team of determined beekeepers, scientists and government workers racing to find and destroy the Asian giant hornets before they become a widespread dangerous threat. 

Spoiler alert: In October, the Washington State Department of Agriculture obliterated the first murder hornet nest found in the US. The nest was the size of a basketball and contained almost 100 hornets.  

See a tense exclusive clip for Attack of the Murder Hornets below, complete with foreboding music that underscores images of a poor beekeeper who discovers tens of thousands of his beloved bees beheaded by "nature's serial killer." Then try your best not to have nightmares tonight. 

Watch this: In chilling movie about murder hornets, a scene of slaughter

To watch Attack of the Murder Hornets, you'll need a subscription to Discovery Plus, with plans starting at $4.99 a month. The service is currently offering a free seven-day trial.