THE WASP WOMAN (1959)

[The Burgomaster]

This falls into the category of "useless movies that never should have been made."  And I (being very foolish) bought the damned DVD.  Luckily, it only cost $5.00.

For starters, the movie is only 73 minutes long, and THE DAMNED MONSTER DOESN'T SHOW UP UNTIL 52 MINUTES INTO THE MOVIE!  

The plot is very familiar: the owner of a cosmetics firm begins taking wasp enzyme injections to restore her youth.  After taking too many injections, she turns into a stupid looking monster with a wasp head.  The monster is on screen for a total of about 5 minutes (maybe less).  The rest of the movie is one boring scene after another of people in the cosmetics company talking to each other about advertising campaigns and stuff.  This movie is GREAT if you have insomnia.  SHAME ON YOU, ROGER CORMAN!!!!!

[trekgeezer]

This was one of the moivies that Corman remade for Showtime a few years back. I think she showed up a little earlier in it.

[dean]

Saw this in the bargain bin at my newsagent for $5:00 with many others.  Considered buying it but then decided that I should save my money.

From what I've heard just then, I'm annoyed I missed it [funnily enough]

Maybe it's the talk of the cosmetics...

I certainly hope not.

[AndyC]

I got this on a DVD with Attack of the Giant Leeches, which on its own was more than worth the low price.

[Scott]

I like THE WASP WOMAN. Especially the buzzing sound when she appears and that wasp head is way to funny.

[Derf]

I'll have to agree on this one. I found this movie to be quite boring overall. I got it as part of a 50 sci-fi movie set from Deep Discount DVD, so I didn't spend much on it (less than 50 cents), but it still left a lot to be desired. Perhaps I've just seen too many "I'll do anything to stay young" movies to fully appreciate the subtleties of "Wasp Woman," but there are other, better examples of the genre out there.

[Scott]

Yea, we were talking about that in a previous post about other stories regarding youth like WASP WOMAN, NIGHTMARE CASTLE, THE AWFUL DOCTOR ORLOFF, and COUNTESS DRACULA.

[i luv dolma]

Jim Wynorski's version was perfect. THE WASP WOMAN(1995) is the kind of Corman film I like, and what he is best known for.

I own the original version, but I've never watched it...Its a long story.

[Mitch McAfee]

*******For anyone living in Australia...a word of warning********

The Region 4 release of THE WASP WOMAN on the Hollyweird/Payless Entertainment label is by far the very worst print of a film I've ever ever seen. It's like they found a 10th generation VHS dub, pulled the tape out of the plastic casing & dragged it behind a truck down a gravel road, then transferred it to DVD with an old tube camera.

There are moments in the film that it's just impossible to see what is happening on screen because of the amount of dirt/scratches/crap. Little wonder why this DVD is being sold for $5.

And having said all of that, THE WASP WOMAN is a typical Corman low budget yak fest of a film, who's poster artwork is by far more interesting than the actual movie :)

[Dave Munger]

I think this is one of those ones where they made another movie at the same time, one where a guy had a crocodile head. The other one's supposed to be way better, aside from the rubber crocodile head.

[The Burgomaster]

Mitch McAfee wrote:

"The Region 4 release of THE WASP WOMAN on the Hollyweird/Payless Entertainment label is by far the very worst print of a film I've ever ever seen. It's like they found a 10th generation VHS dub, pulled the tape out of the plastic casing & dragged it behind a truck down a gravel road, then transferred it to DVD with an old tube camera."

For those of you living here in the U.S.: never fear!  The Alpha DVD has decent video and audio quality . . . much better than you would probably expect for $5.00.  It isn't perfect, but I'd say it's equal to a good quality VHS tape.  The picture isn't 100% sharp, but it isn't scratchy either.

[peter johnson]

Wahh . . . .
I love this movie -- sorry nobody else seems to get it -- I mean, it's a great BAD movie!!  I find lots of entertainment value in it --
For example, I just love the highly VISIBLE ZIPPER on the back of the wasp-head mask!
My wife and I laughed at this all the way through -- really dug it.  I would hope that those here who haven't seen it do give it a chance -- it might just be their cup of tea -- This IS badmovies.org, after all . . .
peter johnson/denny crane

[Ozzymandias]

You mention the boring stuff about the ad agency, but remember at the time this was made people were obsessed with the allure of Madison Avenue. Movies and TV shows were set in ad agencies because it was considered the "in" thing.

[Yaddo42]

Got it on a 4 movies/2 DVD cheapo set along with "A Bucket of Blood", "The Terror", and "Little Shop of Horrors" for $5.50 from The Sinister Bin of Sam Walton. Not the cheapest deal of us all, that would be Derf. Worth it if nothing else just for the other films in the set. Picture quality is low, the pixelization when I use the zoom feature looks like the Yul Brenner POV shots from "Westworld". But for that prices on that many films I wasn't expecting much going in.