The Wasp Woman (1960) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Yet another classic from the King of B-movie directors - Roger Corman. In making this film, Corman was clearly influenced by Kurt Neumann's 1958 film The Fly. The Wasp Woman has the head and hands of a wasp but the body of a woman -- ironically, exactly the opposite of the creature shown in the film's poster. The founder and owner of a large cosmetics company, Janice Starlin (Susan Cabot), is disturbed when her firm's sales begin to drop after it becomes apparent to her customer base that she is aging. Scientist Eric Zinthrop (Michael Mark) has been able to extract enzymes from the royal jelly of the queen wasp that can reverse the aging process. Starlin agrees to fund further research, at great cost, provided she can serve as his human subject. Displeased with the slowness of the results, she breaks into the scientist's laboratory after hours and injects herself with extra doses of the formula. Zinthrop then becomes aware that some of the test creatures are becoming violent, and goes to warn Janice, but before he can reach anyone is in a car accident. He is thus temporarilly missing, and Janice goes through great trouble to find him, eventually managing, and then transfers his care to herself. She continues her clandestine use of the serum, ands as a result, she sheds twenty years' in a single weekend, but soon discovers that, she is periodically transformed into a murderous queen wasp. Directed by: Roger Corman |
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Did You Know?A number of noted film directors have worked with Corman, including Francis Ford Coppola, Joe Dante, Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, Peter Bogdanovich, Jonathan Demme, Donald G. Jackson, James Cameron, and John Sayles. Many have cited that Corman's influence taught them some of the ins and outs of filmmaking. In the extras for the DVD of The Terminator, director James Cameron refers to his work for Corman as, "I trained at the Roger Corman Film School." The British director Nicolas Roeg served as the cinematographer on The Masque of the Red Death. Actors who obtained their career breaks working for Corman are Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern, Michael McDonald, Dennis Hopper, Talia Shire, and Robert De Niro. Related FilmsThe Little Shop of Horrors |
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