The Wasp Woman (1959)
An aging cosmetics-company founder secretly tests an experimental youth serum distilled from wasp royal jelly, and it does turn back the clock — until she starts transforming into a murderous wasp-headed creature that stalks her own employees after dark.
The Wasp Woman was shot fast and cheap for Roger Corman’s own outfit, the Filmgroup, the kind of week-and-a-half quickie that built Corman’s reputation as king of the drive-in monster picture. Beneath the rubber wasp-head effects sits a sly jab at the beauty industry’s obsession with reversing age, and that mix of cheapness and satire has kept the film a durable fixture of Corman’s cult catalog.
Background
The Wasp Woman is a 1959 horror film directed by Roger Corman and made quickly on a small budget through his company, the Filmgroup. The production was a typical Corman drive-in picture of the period, shot fast and cheap, and it helped build his reputation for low-budget monster films. Susan Cabot plays the aging founder of a cosmetics company who tests an experimental youth serum. The serum is distilled from wasp royal jelly, and the film’s premise places the cosmetics business at the center of its story. The film runs about seventy-three minutes and has remained a durable part of Corman’s cult catalog.
What to watch for
Look for the transformation effects, which rely on a rubber wasp-head mask and simple makeup, and for the way the laboratory and office sets are used as places of experiment and fear. The satire of the beauty industry’s obsession with youth shows up in the company’s ambitions and in the founder’s desperate pursuit of the serum. The film’s structure is a monster movie with a clear moral: the serum works until it does not. Modest production values make the creature’s attacks feel stagey, which is part of the film’s appeal for fans of the genre. Notice how the film mixes cheap effects with a sly commentary on vanity.
