The Wasp Woman [Blu-ray]

Director: Roger Corman Roger Corman

Overview

This goofy but entertaining horror cheapie from producer-director Roger Corman and company involves the efforts of a questionable scientist working for cosmetics magnate Susan Cabot, who is developing a new rejuvenating beauty cream derived from an enzyme secreted by wasps, intended to make women look eternally youthful. A vain woman obsessed with restoring her lost beauty, Cabot insists on being the first test subject. The solution proves remarkably effective at first, transforming her into a sultry raven-haired vixen...until she begins to take on the predatory traits of a giant female wasp, setting out on a nocturnal killing spree. Originally double-billed with The Beast from Haunted Cave, this cheesy monster mash inspired the less-amusing Leech Woman and was later remade for 1980s audiences (i.e., with a higher sex-and-gore quotient) as Evil Spawn.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/30/2018
UPC:	0826663190830
Original Release:	1959
Rating:	NR
Source:	Shout Factory
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[B&W]
Language:	English
Time:	1:03:00
Sales rank:	15,827

Special Features

New 2k scan of a fine grain print; Extended TV cut with 10 extra minutes; Audio Commentary with film historian/author Troy Howarth; Audio Commentary with film historian/author Tom Weaver; Theatrical Trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Susan Cabot	Janice Starlin
Fred Eisley	Bill Lane,Bill Lane
Barboura Morris	Mary Dennison
Michael Mark	Eric Zinthrop
Frank Gerstle	Les Hellman
William Roerick	Arthur Cooper
Bruno Ve Sota	Night Watchman
Frank Wolff	First Delivery Man
Fred [Anthony] Eisley	Actor
Jennifer Rubin	Actor
Lynn Cartwright	Maureen Reardon
Roy Gordon	Paul Thompson
Dick Miller	Actor
Fred Katz	Composer

Technical Credits

Leo Gordon

Roger Corman	Director,Producer
Leo Gordon	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Considering the strange and terrible fate of the lead actress -- Susan Cabot apparently lived her own nightmare and was eventually killed by her increasingly browbeaten son -- The Wasp Woman takes on an added poignancy that obviously wasn't intended by the film's cheapskate producer-director, Roger Corman. Here is yet another creature flick hampered by a ludicrous monster costume -- nothing more than a Halloween mask, really -- not quite as bad as it could have been but not very good either. Cabot herself does well enough as the youth-obsessed heroine/villainess and the film does attempt to address both the increasing paranoia regarding aging and science run amok. But the cheesy special effects (if you can call a rubber mask and a couple of claws "special effects") and lack of any kind of budget betray the good intentions. Typical of Corman, the supporting roles are well cast (including the stunning Lynn Cartwright as a Brooklyn-accented secretary) and an attempt to turn modern office life into a sort of Grand Guignol melodrama works at least part of the way.

All Movie Guide - Hans J. Wollstein