The 1950s and 1960s saw the evolution of a very particular type of monster movie. Filmmakers created stories that provided cautionary tales against the dangers of man's hubris, greed and vanity. These were movies with a morale and they got their point across...
...with terrible acting, awful special effects and groan-inducing production values.
Their may not be a better example of the genre than 1959's The Wasp Woman. Two characters are set up for a fall. Our scientist who ignores the warnings of other scientists that his ideas are crazy. And our beautiful cosmetic company CEO whose fading beauty and profits make her desperate.
Our mad scientist Zinthrop works for a honey farm, but he has this notion that introducing wasps to the bee colony may allow him to produce a miracle compound. His boss tries to talk him down before firing him. Just to solidify the crazy, Zinthrop starts talking to his wasps.
Meanwhile Janice Starlin has assembled the best minds at her cosmetic company to find a solution for the falling profits. One of her underlings speaks up. Starlin has always been the face of the company. As the wrinkles have set in, the revenues have dropped. The room is shocked at the suggestion, but Starlin agrees. People trusted her products to make them look youthful because of her looks. And those looks are fading.
Enter Zinthrop. He offers to use his wasp jelly to produce a serum that will reverse the aging process. Starlin is dubious, but when she sees the process demonstrated on a couple of cats, she agrees to fund his work.
Zinthrop begins working in secret and the rest of Starlin's firm becomes suspicious. When Zithrop readies the first batch of the serum, Starlin insists that she be the first test subject.
And it works. The lines begin to disappear. Colleagues comment that she looks ten years younger. All is well in the cosmetic giant world.
Well, not quite. One of Starlin's colleagues disappears. Then, the night watchmen is gone.
Could there be side effects to the serum? And could they include turning the subject into a half wasp creature that feeds on human blood?
We are in Corman world so of course you know the answer. Considering we are dealing with the schlock master, the acting and directing here are pretty good. Susan Cabot in particular is great as Starlin. She's not the one note megalomaniac a lot of people playing these roles go for. You see conflict. Before she meets Zinthrop, she seems to have accepted her aging. Greed and vanity only come into play once she sees the possibilities.
Still it's Corman. We know the smart guy is smart because he smokes a pipe. We know the two young lovers will be critical to solving the mystery. And we know the baddie will ultimately be a woman running around in a wasp mask.
They take the Jaws approach to that reveal. We only see Starlin as the wasp woman at the end and it helps ramp up the tension. Of course the reveal is disappointing, but it's also campy as hell.
The Wasp Woman is a great entry into the world of schlocky monster b-movies. It has a message it beats you over the head with, some unintentionally funny acting and a plot that touches on universal themes. Oh, and it has a guy with a pipe.
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