The Wasp Woman (1959)

A scientist develops a youth formula for a cosmetics queen from jelly taken from queen wasps, failing to anticipate the typical horrible side effects.

Directors:

Roger Corman, Jack Hill (uncredited)

Writers:

Leo Gordon (screenplay), Kinta Zertuche (story)

Stars:

Susan Cabot, Anthony Eisley, Barboura Morris

Cast

Complete credited 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	...	First Delivery Man
Lani Mars	...	Nurse
Philip Barry	...	Second Delivery Man (as Phillip Barry)

Storyline

Janice Starlin, the owner of a cosmetics firm, sees that her fading beauty is not only causing waves in her personal life but causing some prestige problems for her also-fading business. She becomes an easy mark for a pseudo-scientist, Eric Zinthrop, who claims to have developed a serum from the enzymes of wasps that will turn aging skin to youthful-looking skin. The second-best thing to a time machine. She, without any hesitation, agrees to be the first human to try the Zinthro injections. But, as her beauty returns, her secretary, Mary Dennison, and her advertising executive, Bill Lane, notices she is also having a personality change and it isn't for the better, albeit she was no Miss Congegeniality to begin with. Then, Zinthrop gets hit by an automobile, for plot-development purposes, and is somewhat incapacitated and not in any shape to be whipping up any new batches of Zinthrop's Wasp Enzyme Injection Serum and, without her enzyme injections, Janice turns into a wasp-like woman ...

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Plot Keywords:

wasp | cult director | cult film | psychotronic film | psychotronic | 

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Taglines:

A beautiful woman by day - a lusting queen wasp by night.

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 October 1959 (USA)

Also Known As:

Wasp Woman

Filming Locations:

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Film Group Feature, Santa Cruz Productions Inc.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

63 min 74 min (TV)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Even though the copyright of this movie is 1959, there is clearly at least one part this movie that was filmed in 1964 or later. When the private investigator gets the address in "Manhattan" for the elderly "Bee guy" Eric Zinthrop, he calls "Jerry" and tells him to get right on it. The movie then cuts to a young guy in an office and then without any dialogue, he and another guy drive around in search of Zinthrop. As they do, they pass several 1961-64 Chevrolets. This is especially evident when they pull up to the "Ambulance Entrance" and Jerry gets out of the car. There is a 1964 white Chevrolet Impala (three tail lights per side) parked on the right side of the scene. From the appearance of this portion of the film versus the rest of the movie, this part was evidentally added at a later date.

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Goofs

When the cat pounces on the Doctor from on top of the fridge, it is obvious that it was thrown onto him.

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Quotes

Arthur Cooper: I'd stay away from wasps if i were you, Mrs. Starlin. Socially the queen wasp is on the level with a Black Widow spider. They're both carnivorous, they paralyze their victims and then take their time devouring them alive. And they kill their mates in the same way, too. Strictly a one-sided romance.

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Alternate Versions

When the film was sold to television in 1962 it featured additional footage featuring Michael Mark that was not in the original theatrical release.

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Connections

Featured in Cinemassacre's Monster Madness: The Wasp Woman (2015)

User Reviews

Classic R. Corman with unique Ms. Cabot!

One of Roger Corman's better directorial efforts about reversing the aging process to sell cosmetics in the early 60's! Susan Cabot, the lead, finished her film career with this one before returning to the theatre in New York after many films in the 50's. Unfortunately, she was bludgeoned to death by her dwarf son sometime in the 80's which ended her promising career. She was a serious actress with a terrible final act.

A definite 6 out of 10. Best performance = Susan Cabot. Worst performance = Anthony (Fred) Eisley - the "actor" who always managed to reach the pinnacle of Blandness in every film he made in the 60's. Dr. Zin in his spotted pajamas reminds me of someone's Uncle Luigi. An under-rated low budget flick which hits a nerve (cosmetics, pshaw). This is on DVD. Seek it out!