When I was a child, and "The Wasp Woman" used to be shown on Channel 7's 4;30 Movie, I would always confuse Susan Cabot, with Gloria Talbott. Both looked the same type, both reigned during the Fifties, and the plot of this film is extremely close to a film Gloria was in--"The Leech Woman." However, this film is less insightful, and more campy, than the other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Even with her Fifties glamour and bullet bra looks, Gloria was very lucky to avoid this one!!!!!!!!!!!!
"The Wasp Woman"--oh, my God!!!!!!!!!!!!! Susan Cabot plays fading fashion entrepreneur Janice Starlin, a Fifties version of Anna Wintour, though Anna has never gone to the lengths that Susan does here. She has some scientific associates who are working with her to extract jelly from the Queen Wasp--who only murders males--that can work as an anti-aging remedy. Guess what happens??????
After 16 years of being the cover symbol of her company, Janice is aging. She is no longer the glamour girl she once was--and no young thing is going to take HER place!!!!!!!!!! So, she gets some of this wasp jelly stuff and injects it into her. Sure enough, she is restored to beauty--but only for a short time. After that, she turns into a woman with the face, claws and predatory nature of a Queen Wasp, which means she has to go out and kill a man, to transform herself back again. And so it continues!!!!!!!!!!!
Until, of course, Janice is found out, tracked down, and killed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And a good thing, too! I mean, just look at that face! Who would go out with that????????? This is one chick who does not want to see herself in a mirror. Even the Leech Woman looked more presentable--just a withered old crone!!!!!!!!!!!! But this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"The WASP Woman," is such fun, darlings!!!!!!!!! But, bear in mind, it is not about a Protestant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This was the second horror movie I ever saw as a wee tot, roused from sweet slumber by a mother who hated to watch "weirdos" by herself (mother had a knack for inventing her own slang). "Wasp Woman" followed on the heels of "Horror Hotel," so they're forever linked in my mind.
ReplyDeleteDecades later, I became a connoisseur of Susan Cabot: the lady made an astonishing variety of camp classics. Her holy trinity was "Wasp Woman", "Sorority Girl" and "Saga Of The Viking Women."
Sadly, these obliterated her truly excellent character work in a handful of more serious films. She had great promise and was up for some classic roles in her prime, but was self-sabotaged by undiagnosed mental illness (bipolar, OCD). Susan died young and forgotten, bludgeoned to death by her teen son (who she literally drove insane ala Norma Bates).
She holds a special place in my heart.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen this in ages! We should watch this one together! Even as a kid, I thought it was a riot!