The Wasp Woman

October. 30,1959      NR
Rating:
4.8
Trailer Synopsis Cast

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.

Susan Cabot as  Janice Starlin
Anthony Eisley as  Bill Lane
Michael Mark as  Dr. Eric Zinthrop
Barboura Morris as  Mary Dennison
Frank Gerstle as  Les Hellman
Bruno VeSota as  Night Watchman
Roy Gordon as  Paul Thompson
Lynn Cartwright as  Maureen Reardon
Frank Wolff as  First Delivery Man
Roger Corman as  Hospital Doctor

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Reviews

MusicChat
1959/10/30

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

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Abbigail Bush
1959/10/31

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

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Keeley Coleman
1959/11/01

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

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Nicole
1959/11/02

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

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buckikris
1959/11/03

Janice Starling Industries is a cosmetics company formed by Janice Starling( Susan Cabot), in her early twenties. Now in her forties she has noticed her company sales have fallen. In the board meeting she explains that sales have fallen 14.5 % since the last fiscal quarter. A couple of board members Arthur Cooper( William Roerick) & Bill Lane ( Anthony Eisley) tell her that the company needs something new. A new spokeswoman perhaps, because users have lost faith in her brand. Starling Cosmetics represent youthfulness, but when buyer she Janice now her appearance is no longer youthful. According to Lane and Cooper the buyer feels like they have been cheated. When Janice hears this she realizes she needs to do something, before her company loses anymore money. One of Janice's secretaries, Mary( Barbara Morris) informs her a Dr. Zinthrop( Michael Roerick) is there to see her. Before Zinthrop's appointment she needs to talk with Arthur.She calls Arthur in to ask him about Wasp Jelly. She wants his opinion on the enzymes extracted from the wasp; and what they might do to preserve beauty. She is looking for that wonder product of youth, a so called miracle beauty cream. She brings in Mr. Zinthrop, where he shows her a formula that makes animals young again. When she sees this she can't believe it. Janice insists that she become his first human test subject. Zinthrop is nothing more than a con-artist and mad scientist. She is excited he he agrees and works out a contract with him. When Bill Lane comes in he talks to Mary, one of her secretaries. He wants Mary to spy on her; because he believes Zinthrop is dangerous.The next morning Janice comes in and finds Zinthrop working in the lab. He has decided it's time to give her her first injection. He injects her with the wasp enzyme, and this is the first in a series of injections. Mary is snooping around her desk and notices something. It is a check from Starling Industries to Zinthrop for wasp enzymes. While Mary is doing her P.I. work, Janice is undergoing her treatments. When Zinthorp looks at her, he tells her she looks 5 years younger. In the meantime Mary meets up with Arthur and Lane for Lunch. She explains whats going on in the office, and believe Janice is being taken. The three of them believe what he is doing is dangerous; but finding a way to break the news to her will be difficult. When Janice hears the news from Zinthrop she starts to seek into to the lab and inject herself.The next morning when Janice arrives for work, her other secretary Maureen notices a massive change in her appearance. Maureen can't believe it, Janice looks 25 years younger. Janice is so enthused by this she can't wait to tell Zinthrop what his treatments have done.Zinthrop returns to his lab and notices an awful reaction from the enzymes have changed his cat into something vicious. He realizes that he needs to stop his reckless experiments. When he leaves he is accidentally struck by a car. By this time Janice has notices some strange effects, but brushes them off at first. Then Janice's finds out the Mary has been spying on her. She realizes Mary has been talking to Lane and Cooper about Zinthrop. The Janice finds out Zinthorp has been in critical condition from being hit by a car. She tell Cooper he can run the Lab while Zinthorp is recovering. That night Cooper finds Zinthorp's work, his papers, and he is fascinated. That night in the lab Cooper is attacked by Janice. She has turms into a Wasp Woman due to this treatment. It is something she cannot control, anytime she can turn into a killer wasp. She kills Cooper, the nightwatchman, and Zinthorpe's nurse. Janice is now fully transformed into a Wasp. When Lane and Mary discover Zinthorpe, he tells Lane not to let Janice take anymore injections. He discovered a bad reaction with his cat, that turned it into a vicious monster.Janice finds out that Mary and Lane are still in the building. Mary goes to look for her, unaware of her transformations. When Lane finds out Mary has gone to look for Janice alone. Lane and Zinthorpe rush up to the lab only to find out Janice is fully transformed. A fight ensues with Lane fighting Janice off and Zinthorps throwing acid on her, eventually killing her.In conclusion, it's not a bad film. It is one of those classic 50's Sy-Fy films that's kind of cheesy, but fun.

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Leofwine_draca
1959/11/04

An entertaining, if not exactly good, quickie from exploitation king Roger Corman at the tail-end of the 1950s, and one which has a nice concept behind it: an anti-ageing serum made from wasp jelly has the unfortunate side-effect of turning its user into a hideous monster periodically. Like a lot of Corman's early efforts, the director cuts corners by using only a couple of sets and redressing them and padding out the fairly minimal action with lots of talk and dialogue. Despite the padding, the movie is well-paced and offers up what fans want on a poverty-row budget: screaming heroines, a (briefly) rampaging monster, and a heroic leading character.The set-up of the story is quite interesting and features a nice supporting turn from Michael Mark as the eccentric scientist, Eric Zinthrop (gotta love those weird-sounding names in Corman's films). Susan Cabot handles the leading role of the inherently good woman turned bad through the side-effects of the wrinkle cream she uses and gives a commanding turn; in fact most of the cast are pretty good, as per usual for Corman, and put in solid if not remarkable performances. The only exception being the laughable comic-relief janitor and Barboura Morris' irritating secretary-in-distress. Here, the leading man is played by later exploitation stalwart Anthony Eisley, looking very young and fresh-faced compared to ten years later on in his career.The creature of the title is barely seen and perhaps this is thankful, because Corman's budget obviously didn't stretch to much in the way of make-up effects - the creation is simply a woman with a joke-shop fright mask on! Still, it's pretty funny. Although the themes, fashions, and characters have dated like in pretty much every '50s contemporary-set movie, THE WASP WOMAN is lively and entertaining fare which overcomes its budget limitations and is pretty good, if you view it kindly as I did. A cheesy remake with one-time screen queen Bobbie Bresee in the leading role was made in 1987, called METAMORPHOSIS for its video release in the UK.

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poe-48833
1959/11/05

One of the bolder episodes of THE OUTER LIMITS (the original black and white series) was ZZZ..., in which a hive of bees transform one of their own into a Human whose Sensuality verges on the Supernatural (a shot of the star probing a flower with the tip of her tongue was enough to keep most of us awake at night). Many episodes of THE OUTER LIMITS seemed to take their cue from the pre-Code Horror comics of the 1950s as well as the low budget Horror and Sci-Fi movies of the '50s and '60s. THE WASP WOMAN would appear to be one of those Creature Features that may (or may not) have inspired the producers of THE OUTER LIMITS. Regardless, THE WASP WOMAN isn't a bad movie for a low budget Quickie: it's well done, given its limitations, and a former friend of mine once told me that it scared the daylights out of him when he was a kid. You can't ask for more than that.

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SanteeFats
1959/11/06

This movie is really long on plot development and relationships. The acting wasn't really that bad but the whole film was lame. You have the board member, the one with some science background, running around with a pipe in his mouth most of the time. I guess that was to make him seem smarter. You have the female company owner in search of youth. Some side show secretaries that really are not germane to the movie at all. It takes a long time for this film to get to the so called horror part. When it gets there it is bad, bad, bad. The owner has been taking royal jelly injections from queen wasps. So guess what she turns in to a hybrid human/wasp. Kills a few people and gets killed in the end. Not a good movie.

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