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The Wasp Woman 1959
The Wasp Woman is a 1959 American science fiction horror film that has attained cult status over the years. It was a double-bill with Beast From Haunted Cave 1959, both directed by Roger Corman. The film’s central figure is the head of a cosmetics empire, Susan Cabot (In her final film) who plays Janice Starlin, whose fear of aging leads to her obsession with finding a serum that will restore her youth and beauty.
Janice Starlin, the tightly wound cosmetics tycoon, and former model, finds herself grappling with the harsh reality that her fading beauty is not only wreaking havoc with her love life but also casting a shadow on her once-powerful career. Starlin has always been the beautiful face behind her products and her business has fallen victim to competition lately, the decline of her business is due to newer, more innovative competitors. “Not even Janice Starlin can remain a glamour girl forever.”
At Janice Starlin Enterprises the signs of aging are affecting her appearance and her performance.
Arthur Cooper I’d stay away from wasps if I were you, Miss Starlin. Socially the queen wasp is on the level with a Black Widow spider. They kill their mates in the same way too! They’re both carnivorous, they paralyze their victims and then take their time devouring them alive. And they kill their mates in the same way, too. Strictly a one-sided romance.
She falls prey to Dr. Eric Zinthrop (Michael Mark), an eccentric self-proclaimed scientist peddling a miracle serum derived from the wasp enzymes, promising to reverse the aging process and restore youthful radiance.
Dr. Zinthrop has developed an experimental serum derived from the royal jelly of the queen wasps, which he believes can reverse the aging process. Janice becomes his test subject and begins taking the serum. Initially, the treatment appears to be a miraculous success, restoring her youth and vitality.
Janice eagerly volunteers as the first human guinea pig for Zinthrop’s experimental injections However, as her physical beauty makes a triumphant return, her secretary, Mary Dennison (Barboura Morris), and her advertising executive Bill Lane (Anthony Eisley) notice a change in her personality, though before taking the injections she wasn’t the nicest, warmest person in the world. Bill and Mary begin to notice the change in Janice’s personality.
Bill Lane, You’re as bad as she is! Oh, women!
Mary Dennison Men! Every time you search for an answer, you always come up with women. You’re not getting out of this one so easily. I’d like to know why you think Zinthrop really hasn’t got something.
Bill Lane Well, you can call it male intuition if you like… except there’s something about this whole business that doesn’t smell right… a private laboratory! A secret experiment! Zinthrop himself! The only thing missing is a genie with a lamp!
Now the transformation from within is turning her into something worse and fate doesn’t look kindly upon her vanity. Zinthrop gets hit by a car he becomes unable to work on his experimental wasp serum anymore. Against Zinthrop’s advice, she proceeds to inject herself with the serum.
With the source of her revitalization cut off, Janice develops a taste for blood and begins to prey on others to maintain her youthful appearance. the transformation takes a startling turn rendering her a creature with wasp-like attributes and a temperament fiercer than a winged little menace with an angry stinger. The metamorphosis leads to dire consequences, as several unfortunate individuals soon discover when they cross paths with the now-menacing Janice who has transformed into a killer wasp-like woman.
There is a dark and unintended side effect: Janice’s transformation into a hideous human-wasp hybrid. As she continues to use the serum, her behavior becomes increasingly erratic and aggressive. For instance, she kills and eats her research and development man Arthur Cooper (William Roerick). Then she kills the night watchman, and then a nurse, devouring her victims whole. Eventually, she tries to slaughter her secretary Mary. Ultimately she is pushed out the window by her ad man Bill Lane.
Of course, the moral is one of contradictions: Women need to retain their youth and beauty to be relevant but when they aspire for this goal they are seen as vain, pathetic, and dangerous.
tidbits:
Susan Cabot’s character plays a woman who takes wasp “royal jelly enzyme” to stay younger. In real life, Cabot suffered from mental illness. She reportedly tried to treat it with human growth hormone, which her son took for dwarfism, but it may have exacerbated her illness. Her son later killed her, reportedly in self-defense after she attacked him during a mental breakdown.
Leo Gordon credited with the screenplay, was married to Lynn Cartwright who plays the receptionist.
The 1964 colorized version has an added 11 minutes where the scientist is fired from his job as beekeeper for testing on wasps instead of bees, which ends up the plot of the movie since he winds up working for Susan Cabot. In the original B&W version, the movie begins with a meeting where Cabot discusses her business failing with underlings… then meets the same doctor in the next scene, where the audience sees him for the first time as well.
Barboura Morris co-starred in one of director Roger Corman’s A Bucket of Blood, where she also played the good girl.
Opening credits feature bees, not wasps.
Michael Mark was certainly no stranger to horror movie fans, having appeared in numerous Universal classics, including four Frankenstein films, “The Black Cat,” “Tower of London” and “The Mummy’s Hand,” as well as other studios’ chillers (e.g., “Mad Love,” “The Black Room” and “The Face Behind the Mask”)
The Witches Mirror 1962
I plan on doing a major feature on Urueta’s body of work, and the incredibly atmospheric contributions he made to the Mexican Macabre genre of horror films.
A Masterpiece of the Mexican Horror Movement! The Witch’s Mirror 1962 (Original title: El espejo de la brujais) is one of the landmark films of the Mexi-horror genre that infuses gothic imagery with a poetic horror story filled with madness, obsession, and gothic horror director by the prolific Chano Urueta. Apparently, the production created a very profitable horror film at the box office, which satisfied even the most elite Mexican critics, after having proven their grasp of what makes an impactful Gothic horror film. The Witches Mirror is a feverish mixture of Alfred Hitchcock’s adaptation of DeMaurier’s Rebecca, and Franju’s Eyes Without a Face.
from The Reinterpretation of Terror: Cine Matografica ABSA and Mexican Gothic by Jose Luis Ortega Torres 2023”The talent of {writer} the still young Carlos Enrique Taboada wickedly ltwists the plot of The Witches Mirror, a dark entity causes a terrible and selfish evil to punish another equally malevolent one, the exercise of an abhorrent science. Trapped between these forces are two young and beautiful women, both doomed to function as irraparable collateral damage.’‘
Housemaid Isabela Corona plays a witch Sara is troubled by her godchild’s abusive husband. In order to protect her godchild Elena (Dina de Marco) from her cruel cheating husband (Armando Calvo), an unethical plastic surgeon. She is warned by her enchanted mirror revealing glimpses of the past and the spirit world which she uses to carry out her wicked deeds. The magic in the mirror tells her that he will murder Elena. But the sinister presence that lurks in the reflection is a malevolent force.
Sara’s incantation fails and as predicted Eduardo poisons Elena’s milk, and then winds up taking a new wife Deborah (Rosita Arenas). Eduardo begins to further his descent into malevolence and obsession with restoring her beautiful face.
Read my tribute to Rosita Arenas Here in my Brides of Horror: Scream Queens of the 1960s
Sara is in contact with Elena’s spirit who is out for revenge. When she materializes in the enchanted mirror, so shocked by her ghostly presence, Eduardo knocks over a lamp with burning oil onto Deborah’s face and disfigures her. As a plastic surgeon he seeks to restore his wife’s beauty by experimenting with other young girl’s skin (two years before Georg Franju explored this theme with his grotesque yet poetic Eyes Without a Face 1960 ) but Elena still has a fierce desire for revenge, she haunts him with her nightmarish rage.
This is a beautiful film of the nine Mexican horror films produced by the actor Abel Salazar during the early 1950s through to 1963 (El monstruo resucitado/The Resurrected Monster (1953), El vampiro/The Vampire (1957), El ataúd del Vampiro/The Vampire’s Coffin (1958), El hombre y el monstruo/ The Man and the Monster 1959, El mundo de los vampiros/The World of the Vampires (1961), El espejo de la bruja/The Witch’s Mirror (1962), El baron del terror/ The Brainiac 1962 (my personal favorite) La cabeza viviente/The Living Head (1963) and the beautifully gothic La maldición de la Llorona/The Curse of the Crying Woman 1963 (another favorite of mine),
The Witch’s Mirror is perhaps his most Gothic vision of Chano Urueta’s work influenced by the burgeoning subgenera of European Gothic and Folklorish tableaus. The Italian Gothics, Ricardo Freda’s The Horrible Dr. Hichcock 1962 starring Barbara Steele, the French surgical horrors like Franju’s Les yeux sans visage / Eyes Without a Face 1960, and L’Horrible Docteur Orloff/ The Awful Doctor Orloff 1962, and The Hands of Orlac.
George Stahl Jr.’s striking photography creates a moody atmosphere, not to mention the impressive gothic set designs by Javier Torres Torija. And there are some unsettling elements surrounding Eduardo’s grisly surgeries weaved within the eerie supernatural happenings.
The darkened spaces are set within a sprawling, ominous mansion that serves as the backdrop for much of the story. This mansion is filled with dimly lit, grandiose rooms, long hallways, and hidden chambers. Its architecture and decor are reminiscent of traditional gothic mansions often seen in classic horror films, contributing to the film’s unsettling atmosphere.
The central element of the film, the enchanted mirror, is a quintessential gothic trope. Mirrors are often used in gothic literature and cinema to symbolize duality, self-reflection, and the supernatural. In this case, the mirror serves as a conduit to the spirit world and reveals disturbing glimpses of the past, enhancing the film’s eerie ambiance, the otherworldly dread, and the threat of Eduardo’s stark medical horrors.
Wrestling Women vs. The Aztec Mummy 1964
The Wrestling Women vs. The Aztec Mummy is a 1964 Mexican luchadoras (women wrestling) film directed by René Cardona. It’s the adventures of a trio of Mexican wrestling superheroines: Lorena Velaázquez as Loreta aka Gloria Venus, Elizabeth Campbell as Golden Rubi, and Maria Eugenia San Martin as Chela the Flame.
The mummy Xochitl and her lover Tezomoc can turn into a snake or a bat. Loreta, Golden Ruby, and Chela join forces to battle the evil Prince Fujiyata (Ramón Burgarini) and his Judo wrestlers. Tezomoc is the benevolent mummy who fights alongside the women wrestlers who were edited in from Doctor of Doom in 1963.
Willard 1971
Willard 1971 is a classic example of the emergence of the early 1970s American horror film directed by Daniel Mann. When a socially awkward and isolated young man named Willard Stiles, portrayed by Bruce Davison, develops a peculiar and unsettling relationship with rats all hell breaks loose. The film was remade in 2003 starring Crispin Glover.
Willard’s life takes a dark turn when he is mistreated and abused by his overbearing boss, Mr. Martin, played by Ernest Borgnine. Seeking solace and companionship, Willard befriends a group of rats living in his basement. He develops a strong and strange connection with these rats and discovers that he can communicate and train them to do his bidding.
As Willard’s bond with the rats deepens, he uses them to exact revenge on those who have wronged him, including his tormentor, Mr. Martin. However, his newfound power and obsession with the rats begin to spiral out of control, leading to a series of disturbing and tragic events.
Willard is a character-driven horror film that explores themes of isolation, revenge, and the blurred lines between humanity and the intelligent animal kingdom. Bruce Davison’s performance as Willard Stiles brings a complex and sympathetic portrayal of the character who is simultaneously socially awkward and sympathetic. Davidson a uniquely complex actor’s portrayal is regarded as a highlight of the film because of his outstanding ability to convey, loneliness, frustration, and the need to feel connected. It is this vulnerability that enables him to be a relatable figure despite his unconventional actions.
One of the things that work best aside from the strong performances and the emotional depth of the cast is its claustrophobic, eerie atmosphere and unsettling depiction of the connection between the protagonist and his rodent companions. The film’s success led to a sequel, Ben, which continued the story of the rat-human relationship.
Ernest Borgnine plays Mr. Martin, Willard’s overbearing and antagonistic boss. His portrayal of Mr. Martin is memorable for its abject cruelty as a domineering authority figure. He’s a character the audience loves to hate, and you cheer for the rats when it’s time for his comeuppance. Mr. Martin’s mistreatment of Willard serves as a catalyst for the events of the film. His actions drive Willard to seek revenge when he summons the army of his loyal rat friends. Full disclosure: I had an amazing pet rat named Gunther whom I loved dearly. She was a good companion and even my cats got along with her. I dread cruelty to rats in horror films.
Welcome to Arrow Beach 1974
Welcome to Arrow Beach also known as “Tender Flesh,” is a brutal exploitation horror film from 1974. An American psychological thriller directed by actor Laurence Harvey. The film is known for its dark and unsettling themes and boasts a great cast of ’70s actors including Stuart Whitman (Read my tribute to Whitman HERE:), and John Ireland.
Ghostly-eyed Meg Foster plays Robbin Stanley a free-spirited hippie wandering on a California beach and seduced by a Korean War veteran to come stay at his secluded mansion nearby with his sister Joanna. Robbin soon begins to suspect that the mansion is hiding a disturbing and violent secret.
Laurence Harvey’s character is a disturbed man named Jason Henry. Henry is a Vietnam War veteran who is suffering from severe psychological trauma.
Beauty from the 1970s, Joanna Pettet, and a particular favorite actress of mine from that decade portrays Grace, Jason Henry’s sister. While on vacation at the remote Arrow Beach. takes pity on Henry when she realizes the extent of his mental illness and agrees to help him find his way back to society. Little does she know that Henry’s instability runs deeper than she could have imagined.
Haunted by his experiences in the war, which have left him emotionally scarred, and unhinged, he has become a murderous cannibal. Soon she discovers the disturbing and violent nature of Henry’s condition, and her own safety becomes increasingly threatening.
Welcome to Arrow Beach uses Henry’s character to shed light on the harrowing and long-lasting effects of war trauma on veterans, illustrating how such experiences can lead to PTSD’s profound psychological trauma and suffering.
Meg Foster is an American actress known for her distinctive features, including striking blue eyes, which have made her a memorable presence in film and television. She has had a diverse and extensive career, with notable roles in various genres. Here are some aspects of Meg Foster’s acting, often praised for her intense and focused performances.
She has appeared in horror films like “Masters of the Universe” (1987), where she portrayed the villainous Evil-Lyn, as well as dramas like “The Osterman Weekend” (1983) and her collaboration in 2012 with Rob Zombie and his outer violent and grotesque The Lords of Salem. She has earned the right to be called one of the reigning contemporaries of Scream Queen for her appearances in a slew of horror films including the most recent horror film The Accursed and Hellblazers in 2022, There’s No Such Thing as Vampires 2019, Jeepers Creepers 3 in 2017, 31 in 2016, Stepfather II Make Room For Daddy and Relentless 1989, They Live 198, and The Wind 1986.
Joanna Pettet’s character is also subjected to a nightmarish and psychologically challenging situation.
Pettet’s character, Joanna, is initially depicted as compassionate and caring. She takes pity and protectiveness for her mentally disturbed brother.
Joanna Pettet is a British-American actress who had a notable career in film and television during the 1960s and 1970s. With her incredibly unique and striking look, she began as a fashion model, before she made the transition to acting. She made her film debut in 1964 with a small role in the British drama The Third Secret.
But her breakthrough gained Pettet significant attention for her role in the 1966 film The Group, (a guilty pleasure of mine in what would be considered a ‘women’s picture’ based on the best-selling novel by Mary McCarthy. Her performance as Kay, who is subjected to spousal abuse and gaslighting by husband Larry Hagman. She is just one of the ensemble cast of incredible actors garnering her critical acclaim and establishing her as a rising talent. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Joanna Pettet appeared in a series of notable films, including “Robbery” (1967), “The Night of the Generals” (1967), and “The Evil” (1978). She ventured into television appearing in the haunting episode of Night Gallery – The Girl With the Hungry Eyes directed by John Badham.
Without Warning 1980
Without Warning is a 1980 science fiction horror film that has a certain compelling low-budget aura that emerged in the earlier horror science hybrids of the early 1980s. The film is directed by Greydon Clark and features two great actors, Jack Palance and Martin Landau who would go on to appear together in the black comedy horror film Alone in the Dark in 1982 directed by Jack Sholder. I was supposed to interview him a few years ago, but we lost touch. I really need to make that happen.
In a peaceful and remote forested area, where a group of campers and vacationers find themselves terrorized by a deadly extraterrestrial creature. This alien being is equipped with a variety of lethal weapons, including razor-sharp discs and tentacles that it uses to hunt and kill humans.
As the group of unsuspecting individuals tries to survive and evade the relentless alien predator, they must band together and find a way to fight back against this otherworldly menace.