The plot of this film has the head of a cosmetics firm trying out a new formula formed from the jelly of a queen wasp. The make-up actually makes the woman younger, but has the horrible side effect in that it turns the woman into a killer human wasp.

Oh what a silly film this is. Its also a great deal of fun. The story is wildly silly, there's a monster that looks ridiculous, and enough skill behind the camera to produce just the right amount of tension to keep you watching. It all combines to form a perfectly charming little movie.

Good, but far from great, the Wasp Woman gets its classic status from the fact that the film used to be in permanent rotation on late night horror TV. I can't tell you how many times my mind was warped by this little gem over the years. It seemed it was always on and pretty much everyone I knew saw it over and over again. It became a joke of sorts as the quintessential "bad movie", its bug eyed monster in tights was exactly the sort of monster you didn't want to see in a movie.

Highly recommended to those who want to see a what horror films used to be like at the height of the drive- in era, or to those who just want something to keep themselves distract on a dark and stormy night.

An eccentric scientist loves wasps--in fact, he's obsessed with them. He thinks that by using wasp royal jelly he can reverse the effects of aging in humans. A cosmetics firm hires him and the head of the company tries it out on herself! Then, not unexpectedly for this sort of film, she becomes a part-time giant wasp mutant and begins sucking the blood of her co-workers and then eating them!!

This is a super-low budget film from Roger Corman. The film begins with a closeup of bees and the film ends with the same shot--though the film is about wasps! Then, late in the film, a lady is dressed as a half-human/half-wasp--complete with antennae and bug eyes--like some sort of very cheap Halloween costume. In addition, throughout the film you'll hear some of the worst background music--especially that highly annoying piece played on the glockenspiel. It might just be that the music was so annoying that this is why she went on a killing spree! These are just a few of the touches that distinguish this as a schlocky horror film that is sure to bring a lot more laughter than chills. In fact, because it stinks so badly but really doesn't take itself so seriously, it's really a must-see film for fans of bad cinema.

Susan Cabot in her last feature film got the role that forever she would be identified with, the ultra-camp Roger Corman feature, The Wasp Woman. Watching the film my mind went to what Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway were in The Devil Wears Prada. Surely Cabot's character was a harbinger of what Streep did in that film.

Meryl might well have seen what Susan did in The Wasp Woman. Cabot is the self made millionaire owner of a cosmetics company and in a world where she sells beauty, her's is fading. It doesn't make for a pleasant working atmosphere. Cabot is just like what Streep was to work with in The Devil Wears Prada.

But I'm not sure Streep would have fallen for what Cabot did when a scientist played by Michael Mark. Disgraced and fired for his work with a beekeeping outfit, Mark thinks he's hit upon the secret of a youthful appearance, some concoction he's made with enzyme of a queen wasp. And Cabot's an easy mark.

Playing the Anne Hathaway part is Barboura Morris who was a friend of Roger Corman's and she appeared in several of his films. Anthony Eisley is Morris's interest and another concerned staffer of Cabot's and he would shortly have his career role in television's Hawaiian Eye, one of Warner Brothers hip television detective series. Though looking at the level of acting in this film, I can't see how Jack Warner would ever have hired Eisley.

Everyone's slumbers through their roles with the exception of Cabot who attacks the part with bravado because she knows how bad this is. And sad to say she probably understands this might be her screen epitaph.