Saturday, September 15, 2012

The Wasp Woman (1959)



Directors:  Roger Corman, Jack Hill
Cast:  Susan Cabot, Anthony Eisley, Michael Mark, Barboura Morris

Second of two horror movies on TCM tonight, the first being 1970's EQUINOX.

PLOT:  During a board meeting, Janice Starlin (Susan Cabot) learns that cosmetics sales have fallen dramatically, and the executives think that she is to blame.  Janice wants to use enzyme extracts from the royal jelly of the queen wasp to reverse the aging process.  Luckily, a scientist, Eric Zinthrop (Michael Mark), has found a way to do that.  Janice agrees to take a look at the process, but only if she can serve as his human subject.

Three weeks after she's injected, nothing has happened.  Janice becomes impatient, and, sneaking into the doctor's lab, injects herself with extra doses of the formula.  The next morning, Zinthrop notices that some test subjects are becoming violent.

One night, Arthur Cooper (William Roenick) enters the laboratory, only to be attacked by a humanoid wasp.  He rants about Janice being in danger and how she isn't human anymore, how she killed a girl and ate her remains.  Meanwhile, Janice's secretary, Mary Dennison (Barboura Morris) experiences Janice's transformation and is attacked.  Bill Lane (Anthony Eisley) and Cooper run to confront the wasp.  Bill and the wasp get it an epic fight.  Cooper, however, is the one who finally throws the bottle of acid at Wasp Janice, killing her.      

REVIEW:  This film has a Spider-Man-esque feel to it, which I thought was very ahead of its time.  The concept of a humanoid wasp running around amused the hell out of me, and this movie had some good attack scenes.  3 out of 5 stars.  

Trailer:


No comments:

Post a Comment