Main Cast: Susan Cabot, Barboura Morris, William Roerick
Release Year: 1959
Country: US
Run Time: 84 minutes
MPAA Rating: NR
Plot
This goofy but entertaining horror cheapie from producer-director Roger Corman and company involves the efforts of a questionable scientist working for cosmetics magnate Susan Cabot, who is developing a new rejuvenating beauty cream derived from an enzyme secreted by wasps, intended to make women look eternally youthful. A vain woman obsessed with restoring her lost beauty, Cabot insists on being the first test subject. The solution proves remarkably effective at first, transforming her into a sultry raven-haired vixen...until she begins to take on the predatory traits of a giant female wasp, setting out on a nocturnal killing spree. Originally double-billed with The Beast from Haunted Cave, this cheesy monster mash inspired the less-amusing Leech Woman and was later remade for 1980s audiences (i.e., with a higher sex-and-gore quotient) as Evil Spawn. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
Review
Considering the strange and terrible fate of the lead actress -- Susan Cabot apparently lived her own nightmare and was eventually killed by her increasingly browbeaten son -- The Wasp Woman takes on an added poignancy that obviously wasn't intended by the film's cheapskate producer-director, Roger Corman. Here is yet another creature flick hampered by a ludicrous monster costume -- nothing more than a Halloween mask, really -- not quite as bad as it could have been but not very good either. Cabot herself does well enough as the youth-obsessed heroine/villainess and the film does attempt to address both the increasing paranoia regarding aging and science run amok. But the cheesy special effects (if you can call a rubber mask and a couple of claws "special effects") and lack of any kind of budget betray the good intentions. Typical of Corman, the supporting roles are well cast (including the stunning Lynn Cartwright as a Brooklyn-accented secretary) and an attempt to turn modern office life into a sort of Grand Guignol melodrama works at least part of the way. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
Daniel Haller - Art Director, Roger Corman - Director, Carlos Lodato - Editor, Fred Katz - Composer (Music Score), Jack Bohrer - Production Designer, Harry Neumann - Cinematographer, Roger Corman - Producer, Leo Gordon - Screenwriter
The Wasp Woman (Also known by the title The Bee Girl and Insect Woman) is a science fiction movie directed by Roger Corman which was completed in 1959 (though most audiences didn't see the film until the official release on February 12, 1960). To pad out the running time when the film was released to television two years later, a new prologue was added by director Jack Hill.
The founder and owner of a large cosmeticscompany, Janice Starlin (Susan Cabot), is disturbed when her firm's sales begin to drop after it becomes apparent to her customer base that she is aging. Scientist Eric Zinthrop (Michael Mark) has been able to extract enzymes from the royal jelly of the queenwasp that can reverse the aging process. Starlin agrees to fund further research, at great cost, provided she can serve as his human subject. Displeased with the slowness of the results she breaks into the scientist's laboratory after hours and injects herself with extra doses of the formula. Zinthrop becomes aware that some of the test creatures are becoming violent and goes to warn Janice but before he can reach anyone he gets into a car accident. He is thus temporarily missing and Janice goes through great trouble to find him, eventually managing and then transferring his care to herself. Janice continues her clandestine use of the serum and sheds twenty years' in a single weekend, but soon discovers that she is periodically transformed into a murderous queen wasp.
Director Corman was clearly influenced by Kurt Neumann's 1958 film The Fly. The Wasp Woman has the head and hands of a wasp but the body of a woman—exactly the opposite of the creature shown in the film's poster. In Jack Hill's prologue, we see a slightly mad Dr. Zinthrop fired from his job at a honey farm for experimenting with wasps.
Remake
In 1995, a remake of The Wasp Woman was produced for the Roger Corman Presents series. It was directed by Jim Wynorski, and stars Jennifer Rubin as Janice.
Whenever The Wasp Woman bit one of her victims, Cabot had to have a mouthful of chocolate syrup to pass for black-and-white blood
Trying to keep ahead of schedule, Corman tried to film the climactic action scene in one take
When Bill Lane throws a bottle of acid at The Wasp Woman in the final scene, the plan was that Cabot would drop behind a desk and someone would sprinkle some liquid smoke on her mask and then she would come back up. They accidentally put to much liquid smoke on her and by the time she crashed through the window the smoke had gone through the two air holes and into her lungs. Then someone worked out that she could not breath, so they managed to pull a bit of the mask off, along with some skin.
On April 6, 2008, Cinematic Titanic did a live riffing of the film to a sold-out audience, and was released on DVD on August 7, 2008.[1] Previously, cartoonist/internet humorist Josh Way had also riffed the film as part of his "Fun With Flicks" series.[2]
