To me, this movie is perfection.

Let's be realistic.

Fantastic!

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Poor Janice Starlin (Susan Cabot- WAR OF THE SATELLITES). In spite of being the head of a cosmetics empire, she finds her company's sales plummeting, when she commits the unforgivable sin of getting older! Looking almost forty, Ms. Starlin must face the facts of her own plunge into the abyss of middle age! But wait! It just so happens that a certain beekeeper / scientist, named Dr. Zinthrop has been experimenting w/ the rejuvenating effects of royal jelly from queen wasps. His beekeeping buddies are perplexed to say the least! So much so, that Zinthrop is banished from his bevy of beehives. Serendipity intervenes, and Zinthrop sets up shop in Starlin's building. Soon enough, he's whipped up a batch of his secret formula. In no time, Janice is no longer her old self, but there's something amiss. Something buzz-y and homicidal! THE WASP WOMAN is one of schlock omni-god, Roger Corman's greatest contributions! EXTRA POINTS: For the fuzzy wasp mask and gloves that go w/ whatever Janice wears! Watch for Bruno VeSota (ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES) as the night watchman, Frank Gerstle (THE ATOMIC BRAIN) as a detective, Frank Wolff (BEAST FROM HAUNTED CAVE) as a delivery man, and Corman himself as a doctor!...

I'm writing this in 2018. I'm a Roger Corman fan but somehow I missed this one. Turner Classics showed it today and I started watching it but missed the opening credits. Partway into the movie I recognized some of the music, it reminded me of the jazz score in Corman's Little Shop of Horrors, and as various things happened in Wasp Woman I started to think that this just had to be a Roger Corman movie. I was too hooked to check then, but after the movie ended I looked it up and, sure enough, Roger Corman directed. I really liked this movie. The acting was very good and convincing, the story was interesting, the suspense mounted, and there just the right amount of humor (another Roger Corman specialty). Sure, the wasp monster was a little hokey, but even that was well done. I felt sorry for the woman trying to save her youth, and her company, the eccentric scientist was perfect, and I enjoyed the two romantic leads, especially Barboura Morris. A very entertaining movie.

The first time I saw a Roger Corman movie I swore I would never watch another one but for some reason I can't seem to avoid them.I chose this movie based solely on the title, which seemed far too average to be a Corman title.I guess this was one of his earlier works and the hard to see black and white is Corman's best friend.The plot summary is wrong.A scientist develops the "youth formula",not the cosmetics queen.We don't see the wasp woman until the last half hour and it's just a woman in a crappy mask.The camera shakes wildly so you can't see how truly lame she is.If you saw the cover before you watched this,you will be even more disappointed. On top of all the bad stuff,at 73 minutes this movies is 25 minutes too long.How can that be?Corman spends countless minutes on driving and walking scenes that have no dialogue or purpose,as usual. Don't watch this movie.

1958 gave us a little movie called "The Fly". Filmed in Cinemascope and color, this movie mixing science and the world's most hated insect (no disrespect to cockroaches) went on to be one of 58's ten top money- making movies. Roger Corman, never one to shy away from riding the coattails of someone else's success, decided to rewrite "The Fly" in the simplest possible terms a year later in 1959. Hoping for some of the money "The Fly" brought in, Corman's solution was to switch out the male protagonist for a female, change the science to suit a woman's vanity, and most importantly, change insects. "Waspish" as a term, is usually aimed at a woman who is remote and has a sharp tongue. Susan Cabot (in her last film appearance) does stinging justice to her character, Janice Starlin, the CEO and founder of a cosmetic corporation.Miss Starlin is getting older and the usual beauty treatments aren't keeping her fresh. Therefore, she aids and abets a scientist working with "royal wasp jelly" as an ingredient for keeping you youthful and wrinkle-free. The gunk works, but has a nasty side effect: Starlin becomes a wasp woman when provoked. She's provoked a number of times in this short movie, "stinging" her provokers to death. We never see this delightful action, unfortunately. People die, and so does the CEO once it's discovered she has an aversion to Raid. "The Wasp Woman" has some interesting ideas for a late 50s drive-in flick. A female corporate head, using insect productivity and raw material from those insects as a profit-making substance. Naturally, Corman has to get in some shocks, but they come too late in the movie to do much good. While the iconic poster for this flick promised much, the budget couldn't give up the gigantic insect-woman stinging a man to death on a pile of skulls. American International called the poster an "artistic representation" knowing full well no such monster appeared on screen. The bug gal when eventually revealed, has drink coasters for eyes, pipe cleaner antennae, and oven mitts for hands. She's kept in the shadows, buzzing her displeasure until doing something to kill her victims.While a bigger budget would have helped the visuals here, the cast of Corman regulars give up respectable acting. There are no wasps seen at all here, the opening titles of swarming insects are bees, stock footage used a few times during this movie's short running time. Originally paired on a double bill with "Beast From Haunted Cave", another poster triumph by AIP's in-house illustrator Albert Kallis which sadly, showed something that the movie didn't have. Enraged patrons flocked to get their money back when the poster come-on didn't appear on screen, but canny Corman kept the monsters hidden until at least half the picture was over. You couldn't get a refund if you stayed too long. Roger, as always, laughed all the way to the bank.