The Wasp Woman (1959)

Director:

Roger Corman

Writers:

Leo Gordon (screenplay)
Kinta Zertuche (story)

Release Date:

2 November 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Horror Of The Winged Menace !

Plot:

A cosmetics queen develops a youth formula from jelly taken from queen wasps. She fails to anticipate the typical hoary side- effects.

Plot Keywords:

Wasp | Enzyme | Cosmetics | Serum | Injection

Cast

Susan Cabot	...	Janice Starlin
Anthony Eisley	...	Bill Lane (as Fred Eisley)
Barboura Morris	...	Mary Dennison
William Roerick	...	Arthur Cooper
Michael Mark	...	Eric Zinthrop
Frank Gerstle	...	Les Hellman
Bruno VeSota	...	Night Watchman (as Bruno Ve Sota)
Roy Gordon	...	Paul Thompson
Carolyn Hughes	...	Jean Carson
Lynn Cartwright	...	Maureen Reardon
Frank Wolff	...	Man
Lani Mars	...	Secretary
Phillip Barry	...	Man

Also Known As:

Insect Woman
The Bee Girl
A Mulher Vespa (Brazil) [pt]
Die Wespenfrau (West Germany) [de]
La donna vespa (Italy) [it]
La mujer avispa (Spain) [es]
La mujer insecto (Venezuela) [es]

Runtime:

73 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) (DVD rating) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:G (Nova Scotia) (original rating) | USA:Approved | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | UK:PG (re-rating) (2004) | UK:X (original rating)

Company:

Film Group Feature

Trivia:

This was Susan Cabot's final movie.

Goofs:

Continuity: A male actor playing an employee attending the board meeting (seated on right), later appears as a delivery man.

Quotes:

Bill Lane: You're as bad as she is! Oh, women!
Mary Dennison: Men! Every time you search for an answer, you always come up with women. You're not getting out of this one so easily. I'd like to know why you think Zinthrop really hasn't got something.
Bill Lane: Well, you can call it male intuition if you like... except there's something about this whole business that doesn't smell right... a private laboratory! A secret experiment! Zinthrop himself! The only thing missing is a genie with a lamp!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Schlock! The Secret History of American Movies (2001)

Buzz off, you uncanny ladybug!

Like none of his other late 50's/early 60's horror & Sci-Fi tryouts (and there were quite a lot of them), "The Wasp Woman" truly proves that Roger Corman was, and still is, a very creative and versatile filmmaker! The plot of his ultra-low budget quickie is mundane and unbelievably predictable, yet the whole film is stuffed with ingenious little twists and elements that make the premise feel fresh and original nevertheless! There are very few directors out there, apart from Corman, able to achieve this! Susan Cabot, who starred in a handful of contemporary Corman productions, plays a businesswoman leading a prominent cosmetics company. She's unable to accept her own natural ageing process and righteously fears that her looks will bring down the monthly profits. When a scientist announces that he developed a rejuvenation liquid by extracting enzymes of ordinary wasps, Janice Starling immediately wants to commercialize it and test it on herself. The miraculous discovery is highly efficient, but when Janice injects herself with too much doses, she transforms into a murderous wasp overnight. "The Wasp Woman" is no more or no less than fun & undemanding Sci-Fi entertainment! The film has a good pace and there's the occasional suspenseful moment to enjoy. The monster-transformations and special effects are really tacky but what else did you expect considering the money that was involved? This charming little movie may not be very appealing to the younger generation of fans, but I warmly recommend it to admirers of classic science fiction. The rating here on IMDb is WAY too low!