The Wasp Woman
| The Wasp Woman | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by |
Roger Corman Jack Hill |
| Produced by | Roger Corman |
| Screenplay by | Leo Gordon |
| Story by | Kinta Zertuche |
| Starring |
Susan Cabot Anthony Eisley Michael Mark Barboura Morris |
| Music by | Fred Katz |
| Cinematography | Harry Neumann |
| Edited by | Carlo Lodato |
| Distributed by | Filmgroup |
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Release date
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Running time
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73 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $50,000 (estimated) |
The Wasp Woman (aka The Bee Girl and Insect Woman) is a 1959 American science fiction film produced and directed by Roger Corman (who also has a cameo role in the film, playing a doctor). It was originally released as a double feature with Beast from Haunted Cave. To pad out the running time when the film was released to television two years later, a new prologue was added to the film by director Jack Hill.
In Hill's prologue, a scientist, Dr. Eric Zinthrop (Michael Mark), is fired from his job at a honey farm for experimenting with wasps.
The founder and owner of a large cosmetics company, Janice Starlin (Susan Cabot), is disturbed when her firm's sales begin to drop after it becomes apparent to her customer base that she is aging. Zinthrop has been able to extract enzymes from the royal jelly of the queen wasp that can reverse the aging process. Janice agrees to fund further research, at great cost, provided she can serve as his human subject. Displeased with the slowness of the results, she breaks into the scientist's laboratory after hours and injects herself with extra doses of the formula. Zinthrop becomes aware that some of the test creatures are becoming violent and goes to warn Janice, but before he can reach anyone, he gets into a car accident. He is thus temporarily missing and Janice goes through great trouble to find him, eventually taking over his care.
Janice continues her clandestine use of the serum and sheds 20 years in a single weekend, but soon discovers that she is periodically transformed into a murderous, wasp-like creature. Eventually, Zinthrop throws a jar of carbolic acid at her face, and another character uses a chair to push her out of a window, killing her.
The Wasp Woman has the head and hands of a wasp but the body of a woman—exactly the opposite of the creature shown in the film's poster (which does not appear in the film).
The film was made for an estimate budget of $50,000.
In 1962, director Hill added 20 minutes to the film for its eventual television syndication release.
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Wikipedia