The Wasp Woman

This was part of a series of Showtime produced remakes of Roger Corman classics. I don't know if the world was clamoring for a remake of WASP WOMAN but we got it. Jennifer Rubin stars as the owner of a cosmetics company who starts to depend on the experimental work of an discredited doctor (Daniel J. Travanti) in order to maintain her youth. Hey, that is the exact same plot as CATWOMAN! Only this cost about $84 million less. Director Jim Wynorski fares well enough with this entry in his extensive filmography. The movie is filled with bad acting (most notably from Rubin), cheesy effects and bad dialogue. But it moves fast enough, contains plenty of nudity (courtesy of Maria Ford) and features some B-acting greats (Gerrit Graham, Jay Richardson). And, at the very least, you get to see Emmy award winner Travanti get attacked by a big wasp that used to be his pet cat.

Being a fan of Coman's original creation from 1959 I had a hard time stomaching this remake. Sure the original film has its flaws like most Coman films with its dragged out dialog and quite boring mid-plot but it sure had charm which is something this film lacks. Everything ain't bad though and even if Wynorski fills out the majority of the plot with boring sex scenes there's one thing that this remake does better than the original and that the actual wasp woman. I'm not talking about Jennifer Rubin who just like a wasp couldn't act her way out of a paper bag; I'm talking about the transformed version of her. In the original film it was basically just Susan Cabot running around in a black spandex suit. This time Cormans studio actually put some dollars into creating a monster which is far far from believable but nevertheless quite creepy (almost at least). Sure it's stale and quite weird in some scenes but thinking of the budget and the year it was shot the only alternative would have been CGI-effects and we all know how that went in Dinosaur Island.

The story follows Cormans classic to the book with some exceptions but even so I can't help but asking myself what went wrong along the way. The whole film feels like a dragged out episode from Tales of the crypt. A show that I love but there was a reason why these episodes never went full-length.

Leaving this film behind in my Wynorskivaganza marathon (which never became a marathon because of work and other stuff to do) I am left with an empty feeling since it didn't really deliver where Wynorski often delivers. The sexy parts of the film are far from sexy, it lacks any humor like some of his other work and that creative cord that was still intact in his earlier films is long gone. In many ways it reminded me about his remake of Not of this earth. An movie that somehow survived a complete trashing thanks to its original story, which it copied from a 50's flick.

The wasp costume design was excellent, but the acting, plot changes and action sequences are pretty cringy.

The Wasp Woman (1995)

I was up late one night, and The Wasp Woman was on TV. It was from Roger Corman, so I thought why not. It wasn't exactly a waste of time, and was entertaining. It is about a lady who is beginning to get to old to model for her skincare company, so she resorts to Dr. Zinthorp, who has a creation made of wasp DNA that reverses the aging process. She tests it on herself, and it begins to have some crazy side effects. The monster effects are cheesy and cheap, but it isn't too bad of a movie. I give it a 7 out of 10.

Here's another pretty faithful redo of the 1960 Roger Corman camp classic. The story is still fun but I prefer the original. Jennifer Rubin (who knows she's in a B-movie, and acts accordingly) is Janice Starlin, owner and "the face" of Starlin Cosmetics. She's also approaching middle age and her job modeling her own product is threatened when company execs bring in sexy, blonde Caitlin (Maria Ford) to take her place. An experimental youth serum created using wasp hormones by Dr. Zinthrop (Daniel J. Travanti) is taken by Janice and restores her beauty, but there's a price to pay as she periodically transforms into a giant, murderous wasp (with cleavage!). This never aspires to be more than a cheesy exploitation movie and works in its own realm; if your apt to rent a movie called WASP WOMAN in the first place you shouldn't be too disappointed with this. Plus, whoever designed the wasp/monster costume has a terrific sense of humor. It's hilarious! Same goes for a memorable death scene featuring Gerrit Graham that the makers of the 1960 version wouldn't have even conceived filming! Corman served as executive producer.