The Wasp Woman

As consumer-grade dreck for drive-ins, where watching movies was one of the lowest priorities on the list of possible entertainments, The Wasp Woman is ideal. It has an attractive concept that it puts on an appropriately alluring poster, which typically has nothing at all in common with the content of the film. However, watching this exercise in futility is rather a form of punishment. The premise, emerging from the then current topic of the positive effects of cosmetics made from bee products, establishes the collaboration of a mad scientist and the head of a cosmetics company who, like any woman who does not consider a career at home in the kitchen, will be punished for her greed by being turned into a monster as the consequence of using wasp-based cosmetic products. In practice, however, the metamorphosis promised by the poster doesn’t happen, and it is necessary to wait until the last ten minutes for the banal, blathering scenes to stop and for the lady in the insect mask to finally appear. (26/06/2016)

A simple sci-fi horror movie with a down-to-earth screenplay which, therefore, doesn’t slip into utter foolishness and does not offend the viewer. It takes time before the title character appears and, when she does, she doesn’t impress with her appearance, but the film has a soul, the recycled music by Fred Katz is pleasant and, in the end, the general feeling makes up for the low expectation. (31/05/2018)

Poster tagline: A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN BY DAY – A LUSTING QUEEN WASP BY NIGHT!!! The beginning, with really terrible image quality (the "hallmark" of the only two outdoor scenes in the film, there are no more), might put the viewer off, but the camera and the narrative improve rapidly as we enter the headquarters of the cosmetics company. The vast majority of the film takes place in four rooms – a conference room, a secretary's room, the office of the company's boss and a laboratory – which is enough for a simple story and you can only dream of some artistic narrative. Fortunately, Corman's approach is quite likeable; the whole story can be taken as a sarcastic poke at the desire of women to be eternally young and beautiful. The costume of the "wasp queen" (i.e. the monster created after injecting wasp serum into the blood of the CEO of a cosmetics company, who craves for an eternally rejuvenating serum) adds a flavour of unintentional parody to the final impression – it looks like a child's Halloween costume with bluebonnets, antennae and a black jumpsuit. Overall, it's not much of a ride, though perhaps unintentionally amusing, as the wasp monster doesn't appear until about 20 minutes before the end, but the likeable cast (especially the interesting Susan Cabot) and the tense jazz soundtrack enhance the overall impression. A better 2*. (16/02/2013)

The American film The Wasp Woman, directed and produced by Roger Corman, is a fine B-movie where you will really be looking forward to peering at the face of the wasp woman. And when that moment comes, it's great, and the mask is also great. The plot then suddenly becomes really rough, at least for its time. I could definitely watch a lot more of these awesome B-movies. (04/04/2019)