The Wasp Woman (1959)

The head of a major cosmetics company experiments on herself with a youth formula made from royal jelly extracted from wasps, but the formula's side effects have deadly consequences.

Director:

Roger Corman

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 | mad scientist | 

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Taglines:

Horror Of The Winged Menace !

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Leo Gordon, credited with the screenplay, was married to Lynn Cartwright, who plays the receptionist.

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Goofs

Although the detectives supposedly are looking for Mr. Zinthrop in Manhattan, their car has California plates, the skyline behind them obviously is that of Los Angeles as it has only low rise buildings and lots of open space rather than the tall and crowded buildings of Manhattan, and they pass at least three date palm trees that could never survive and grow in the cold New York winters.

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Quotes

First Delivery Man: Hi, pretty puss! You know where, um... Miss Starlin's office is?
Maureen Reardon: [aloof] Suite number one.
First Delivery Man: [giggles] La-di-dah! The Duchess of Flatbush, herself.
Maureen Reardon: How'd you like to have this phone wrapped around your ear? Wiseguy.
First Delivery Man: That's more like it, sister.
[to his colleague]
First Delivery Man: Suite number one.

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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

Referenced in Best of the Worst: The Vindicator, Cyber Tracker, Robot Jox, and R.O.T.O.R. (2013)

User Reviews

Good stuff from Roger Corman

THE WASP WOMAN is certainly not a film to be taken very seriously as it details the hideous and unexpected transformation of a woman looking for the fountain of youth into a rather nasty flesh-eating monster instead...an unforeseen side effect of Dr. Zinthrop's wasp enzyme treatments. The common be wary of science theme is certainly in full force here and it does feel comfortable in this low budget environment.

The best thing about this film is it has a great pace as it keeps moving along nicely and is consistently entertaining. The worst is the low budget look of the monster and the awful music.

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:

Santa Cruz Productions Inc.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

63 min 74 min (TV)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1