The Wasp Woman is Low
Tech, Impossible and Ridiculous - I Love It!
The weaknesses inThe
Wasp Woman are the very elements that make this the perfect
horror movie for a rainy Sunday afternoon.
Written
by The Horror Czar (BHM Editor Don
Sumner) December 11, 2007
Release:
1960 Directed by: Roger Corman Written by: Leo Gordon and Kinta Zertuche
Starring:
Susan Cabot as Janice Starlin Fred Eisley as Bill Lane Barboura Morris as Mary Dennison William Roerick as Arthur Cooper Michael Mark as Eric Zinthrop
Roger Corman has had a very prolific B-movie career that
includes either writing, directing, producing or acting in (sometimes
all of the above) dozens of films including The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), Chopping Mall (1986) and
a special thanks from Quinten Tarantino for Death Proof
(2007). Corman also produced, directed and played a small acting role
in The Wasp Woman.
The Wasp Woman follows the desperate saga of Janice
Starlin (Susan Cabot), the founder of a successful cosmetics company.
The secret to her company’s success is that Janice is not
just the CEO but also a client, and provides all of the modeling shots
for advertising and publicity. Unfortunately the years are beginning to
show on Janice’s face and sales are faltering.
Dr. Zinthrop may have the answer to all Ms. Starlin’s
problems. He has been experimenting with enzyme extracts from wasps and
discovered that a serum made of wasp goop, when injected in small
animals, reverses the clock and makes them appear younger. Well, not
just “appear” younger, but actually revert to
infancy as grown cats become fluffy kittens right before your eyes.
Janice
Starlin, seemingly unconcerned about the possibility of becoming a girl
of four unable to run a company at all, decides to subsidize Dr.
Zinthrop’s research with one condition – she gets
to be the test subject. You know the title of this movie, so I
don’t have to tell you that the “youth
serum” has some shocking side effects.
This is the stereotype of a B-movie that is really silly and dumb. The effects
are…well, what effects? I think there was a set of mini
angel wings strapped on a “wasp-cat” and a black
bodysuit with pipe cleaner antennae and “eyes” that
look like those strainers found in your kitchen drain to create the
waspy woman, and that’s about it for effects. The acting, on
the other hand, is actually not bad considering this is an old, low
budget and cheesy B-movie from 1960.
Obvious
weaknesses aside, I LOVE The Wasp Woman. Like the
smell of chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven, this movie brings
on a feeling of comfortable nostalgia. I am transported back to Sunday
afternoons as a child, wrapped up in a blanket on the couch with rain
pouring down outside, watching old horror on TV. The movies I saw years
ago on TV remain some of my favorite movies to this day, not because of
the films’ inherent genius but because the memories of
watching them are so perfect. Perhaps you have these memories too
– and if so then The Wasp Woman is
guaranteed to bring them all flooding back for 73 wonderful minutes. Questions
or comments about The Wasp Woman? Contact us!
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(1960), 
(1986) and
a special thanks from Quinten Tarantino for 
