The Wasp Woman (1959)

User Rating:

3.7/10   

Director:

Roger Corman

Writers:

Leo Gordon (screenplay)
Kinta Zertuche (story)

Release Date:

2 November 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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

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 (Nova Scotia) (original rating) | Canada:G (Quebec) | 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:

The role of the Beekeeper played by Aron Kincaid was added after the film's initial release.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the Doctor makes the guinea pigs younger, the supposedly younger, smaller guinea pigs are in fact lab rats.

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:

Referenced in Serial Mom (1994)

Very entertaining Roger Corman quickie.

'The Wasp Woman' is one of Roger Corman's better monster movies (personally I prefer his biker, black comedy, gangster and psychedelic movies, but that's me). Susan Cabot stars as an ambitious head of a cosmetics firm. Being the public face of the company, she takes a downturn in sales as a personal criticism. So when a scientist experimenting with Royal Jelly, not just your average Royal Jelly, but some made from wasps, comes to her attention she hires him to experiment with its alleged anti-aging effects. Initial tests on assorted animal are so successful she begins to try the stuff herself, with impressive results. Only problem is that in her enthusiasm she forgot to see if there are any negative side effects, and by looking at the title of the movie, it's pretty obvious that there are! Herein lies the fun of this goofy movie. Sexy Cabot is good in this her final role. A bizarre footnote to her short career is her death in the mid-80s at the hands of her dwarf son. Amazing but true! But that strange event aside, the movie itself stands on its own merits. Nothing too ambitious, but an effective low budget trashy shocker that makes a great popcorn movie. By no means Corman's best work but very entertaining just the same.