I’ve been
doing these Fab Fifties Friday posts for a while now and I realized that Roger
Corman has only appeared once! For such a prolific filmmaker that seems weird. With
that in mind I thought it was about time to take a look at another of his flicks.
The Wasp
Woman is a cautionary tale of vanity and the dangers of science run amok!
Janice Starlin is a successful business woman who runs a cosmetics company. The
movie starts off with a meeting where she is discussing declining sales with
the board of directors. They point out that the problems started when she
stopped advertising the products herself. In an ironic twist it seems that the
only person concerned about her getting older is Janice. This makes her an easy
target for a scientist named Zinthrop who shows up with a miracle cure. His
idea? Using the royal jelly from a queen wasp to reverse the aging process!
Do I need
to tell you how horribly this goes wrong? Well I’m going to. Things go sideways
when Zinthrop is in an accident and Starlin starts using a concentrated version
of the formula because she is impatient to see the results. This has the side
effect of turning her into a wasp woman that paralyzes and eats her victims.
Seriously they never find any of the bodies so she must be munching them down…
but yet keeps her girlish figure! If you have ever seen a monster movie you
know this doesn’t end well.
The Wasp
Woman is an excellent example of why Roger Corman was a successful filmmaker.
The story is simple, but well thought out. There is a formula to these things
and they normally involve a flawed character that engages in dangerous behavior
leading to bad things happening. Here we have Starlin struggling with her
internal issues and grasping onto the research of Zinthrop as a cure all. What
makes Corman so much better at this is that his script makes Starlin a
sympathetic character. She could have been vain and unlikeable, but they take
the time to show her vulnerability and desperation. This makes for a more
balanced character that engages the audience. Far too many filmmakers
considered movies like this fodder for the drive-in crowd, but Corman is trying
to make a movie with real characters and it shows.
Being a
complete nerd, I noticed and appreciated how the filmmakers cut corners without
making it too noticeable. Pay attention and you will notice how few locations
there are as they clearly shot most of this on a couple of sets. There is an
effort made to make the same walls look different, but it is clear what they
were up to. When they do venture outside it is either stock footage or new
footage shot without sound to save money. None of this hurts the story at all
and I’m not complaining. I like pointing it out because I’ve seen it done
horribly by other filmmakers, but Corman is one of those guys that knows how to
make it work.
Since this is a
monster movie, we have to talk creature effects. For a low budget horror flick
from the late fifties I was satisfied with what we get. It is clearly just the
actress wearing a mask and gloves, but they are nice looking. As much as I dig
the rubber suit craziness that we get elsewhere not every movie has the budget
for that sort of thing. The kills are all offscreen and we don’t really see any
bodies. But that is typical of a movie from the fifties.
I love
this movie. Cheaply made and cheesy as hell, even by Corman standards, The Wasp
Woman knows what it is and is the best version of that. I’ve said this before
and will say it here again. Not everything needs to be art, sometimes being fun
is good enough. I highly recommend this gem from one of the greatest and most
prolific independent filmmakers of all time.
Note: Instead of a trailer I've linked the entire movie above.
© Copyright 2019 John Shatzer