Movie Review: The Wasp Woman (1959)

Synopsis: A successful cosmetic company owner, Janice Starlin is informed sales are decreasing because she is the face of the company and her customers see her getting noticeably older. When the eccentric Dr. Eric Zinthrop shows he can reduce aging with a serum he created using royal jelly from a queen wasp, Janice agrees to fund his research on the condition she is used as one of his test subjects. The serum works and she is soon twenty years younger. However, the serum comes with an unexpected side effect, she periodically turns into a deadly wasp-like creature.

Who's in it? The movie stars Susan Cabot, Anthony Eisley, Michael Mark, Barboura Morris and William Reorick.

Review: I am a fan of most Roger Corman movies and when I came across The Wasp Woman on Amazon Prime, I decided to add it to my watch list as a result. Truthfully, it wasn't one of my favorites from the director, but I also didn't hate it.

The film is pretty much what you'd expect from a movie made on an estimated $50,000 budget (the equivalent of about $600,000 today according to the internet). The sets are basic, the Wasp Woman (Cabot) is clearly wearing a mask and there's not a whole lot of depth to any of the characters or the plot itself. 

Not to mention, the background music in this movie didn't seem to fit. It was upbeat, as though it was a comedy, when something a bit darker and moodier would have been more appropriate.

That said, I did like the premise. Janice (Cabot) isn't necessarily a bad person. She's just a woman who, despite her success at business, is being judged unfairly on her looks (something that is still relatable today) and takes a desperate measure to save her legacy. It wasn't her fault the scientist that sold her on the serum (Mark) didn't do enough research into the potential side effects until after it was too late.

In fact, the non-wasp version of Janice is actually quite likable. The movie could have taken a completely different route with her character and made her a greedy tyrant who berated employees and stole the formula. Instead, she is someone who seems to genuinely care about others, even going as far as providing medical care for Dr. Zinthrop when he gets injured. This made her transformation into a deadly creature even more tragic.

Also helping this movie is the mystery surrounding the serum itself. Since it is still in the testing stage, it's unclear if its effects are permanent or eventually wear off and, if it's the latter, what that means to the person who was injected with it. Unfortunately, thanks to the movie's short runtime (66 minutes), this wasn't explored as much as it could have been.

My only real complaint about the film is there wasn't enough wasp woman. As I mentioned, the movie is about an hour in length, but the wasp woman herself only appears in a small percentage of that, with most scenes kept very short. It's not much of a monster movie if the monster isn't on screen.

Final Opinion: There's nothing overly surprising about this movie, especially when compared to other films in this genre and time period. However, the main character was likable enough to give the film some real consequences, so I still found it interesting and entertaining.

My Grade: B-

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Here are some reviews of similar monster movies:

Movie Review: Frankenstein's Daughter (1958)

Movie Review: First Man into Space (1959)

Movie Review: The Neanderthal Man (1953)

Movie Review: How to Make a Monster (1958)