The Wasp Woman (1959)

No not a WASP  (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) Woman, though she's probably one of those, but a Wasp Woman. Roger Corman directs (and cameos briefly as a doctor) this movie about the quest for youth and beauty, and the undesirable side effects of too much wasp royal jelly. Michael Mark is Eric Zinthrop an eccentric scientist (is there any other kind in movies like these) hired by a cosmetics company to do research into the use of the royal jelly of honey bee's in beauty products. But Zinthrop is less interested in bee's and more interested in wasps, so a functionary from the cosmetics company fires him. In that Zinthrop's research shows that the royal jelly of wasps can actually, miraculously, incredulously, reverse the ageing process, though no one of course believes him, the good doctor ops to visit the president of the company and prove his worth.

The president of the Janice Starlin Cosmetics Company is perhaps predictably Janice Starlin (the ill fated actress Susan Cabot, who in the 1980's was beaten to death by her dwarf son). Starling started the company in her early twenties and for 16 years was the face of the business appearing in all its advertisements. That was up until a few months previous, when having now entered middle age Starlin consented to let younger models appear in her adverts. Unfortunately the company has now fallen on hard times, something a (kiss ass) board members tells her is because consumers felt comfortable with her face always on the advertisements, and are turning away now that that comfort is gone. When Dr. Zinthrop shows up,  Starlin in desperation agrees to see what he has to show her. He convinces her of the royal jelly power by turning guinea pigs into rats through injection, I guess guinea pigs are just old rats. Anyway now Ms. Starlin is convinced that wasp royal jelly treatments will be the salvation of her company, and sets Dr. Z up in a lab to perfect his treatment, and insists that she be his first human test subject, all the while keeping these developments largely secret from her employees, several of whom begin to see Dr. Zinthrop as a crack-pot or confidence man.

Well  the wasp royal jelly beauty treatments make Ms. Starlin look nearly twenty years younger (i.e. no more fake age wrinkle make-up), but as you've no doubt gathered from the title has the unfortunate side effect of turning her, on occasion, into a Wasp Woman. Starlin will get a bad headache, turn into the wasp women, kill someone, dispose of the body, and then return to normal, not quite remembering what she did. Unfortunately again for Ms. Starlin Dr. Zinthrop is hit by a car and laid up in bed, unable due to his concussion to remember to tell everyone the important secret he discovered shortly before wandering traumatized into traffic. Yes of course, to much wasp royal jelly is liable to turn a lady into a wasp women. This is of course a rather cheap movie, love the sets and the acting. Not quite engrossing enough to be a guilty pleasure, but competent enough to be watchable. Good to see for your B movie film literacy. *1/2