10 Awesome Movie Effects That Aren't What You Think

1. A Mouthful Of Bees - Candyman

What You Thought

Cult 1992 horror flick Candyman features many disturbing sequences, least not the appearance of the titular urban legend (Tony Todd) with a mouthful of bees, reflecting the fact that his human self was murdered by a lynch mob, who smeared him with honey and let bees sting him to death.

The visual of Todd's mouth full of bees is deeply unsettling, and despite the film's low budget, one assumes there's some sort of optical effect or trickery going on here.

The bees clearly weren't CGI, but animatronics, perhaps?

The Actual Effect

Shockingly, the bees are 100% real - and to be totally clear, Tony Todd indeed agreed to fill his mouth with bees.

The bees were bred specifically for the production, and being just 12 hours old at the time of shooting, their undeveloped stingers made them decidedly less dangerous to both Todd and co-star Virginia Madsen, who meanwhile had the bees plastered over her face.

In fact, the only real special effect in the entire scene was Todd being given a dental dam to put in his mouth, in order to prevent the bees from stinging his throat.

Otherwise, it was nothing more than smearing some pheromone on his face, opening his mouth wide and trying to remain calm.

For his enthusiasm, though, Todd managed to negotiate an agreement where he'd be paid an extra $1,000 for every sting he suffered. The actor ended up being stung a whopping 23 times, adding quite the well-earned bonus to his paycheck.