The Wasp Woman (1959)

As promised another review from a movie pack. This time the honor goes to another Roger Corman movie, the king of bee movies (lame pun), The Wasp Woman also know as The Bee Girl from Sci-Fi Classics 50 Movie Pack. While this movie also got a remake it is a lot less popular then little shop of horrors (read my review).

• Year of release: 1960
• Director: Roger Corman
• Genre: Comedy, Horror
• IMDB Page

Janice Starlin, played by Susan Cabot whom we know from euh virtually nothing, is the owner of a large international cosmetic company. Not only the owner but also the face of the company and its marketing campain, but when sales starts to drop she has to admit that it is because she is getting old.

What do you mean I'm getting ugly?

She lost her good looks and well thats all that matters in a woman (at least back than). Luckly we are introduced to our mad scientist Dr. Eric Zinthrop, played by Michael Mark from from Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe), who isn't all that mad this time around (what a twist!). He found a way to reverse the aging process by extracting enzymes from the royal jelly of wasp queens. After receiving a letter from him Janice contacts him, desperate that she is to try anything. Dr. Eric Zinthrop performs his magic and makes an old guinea pig into a young white rat (I guess they didn't have to budget to get a young guinea pig?). Starlin agrees to pay for his reseach on one condition, that she can serve as a human subject. And what do you know, it works, day after day miss Starlin gets younger, and like all young people she has no patience anymore. So instead of listening to the advice of Zinthrop she breaks into his office and gets herself extra doses of the potion.

The guard looks like a mix between Hardy and Indiana Jones.

Now Zinthrop himself has noticed some strange things with his other non-human test creatures and goes out to warn her in person, when what do you know he gets run over by a car! After a lot of trouble Janice manges to find him and is able to take care of him herself by letting him recover in her own company. Janice continues to excessively use the potions that Zinthrop made, and in just a single weekend she has gotten about twenty years younger but there are some nasty side-effects she turns into a murderous queen wasp (actually just herself with a wasp mask and a black sweater).

Look at my all young and beautiful again.

Our lovely killer were-wasp kills 3 people before Zinthrop (who only just got better) kills here with acid (the exact same thing I use to kill bees and wasps around the house).

Looks legit

And thus ends this parable with the message that you have to be glad with what you have instead of turning into a killer wasp queen (or something like that).
It's obvious that Corman was inspired by the success that "The Fly" has gotten not long before this one. Not only does somebody also transform into an insect, take a loot at the movie poster, the "monster" looks nothing like this (quite the opposite actually with a wasp head and a human body). Maybe they first wanted to get the monster like this but the extreme low budget (It's a Corman film what did you expect) made them change their minds.

No! I'm allergic.

The bad costume is really a shame, especially if you compare it with the fly and the production is quite underwhelming. Not only that but it takes a long time before we see the monster and things start to get more interesting. If it wasn't for the low budget I am sure this movie would be one of the more memorable flicks, the story is quite original, the scientist does not force his guinea pig but it's the other way around. It's the woman who is to greedy to return to her former beauty that thrives the plot, and if you think about it, it is our society itself that makes our protagonist into our antagonist.
All in all a fun movie to watch, but it could be so much more.

Score: 6.5/10

Note: I haven't seen the remake yet but I ought to check it out.
Again the print on the sci-fi box is the same that can be found online and is quite bad. It is way to dark, making it sometimes very difficult to follow the more action based scenes. It's a shame but it is nothing less than I expected.

The Little Shop of Horrors (1960)

What better way to kickstart this blog then to review a movie from the 50 horror classics pack that is such a little obscure and bad flick that even mst3k wouldn't touch it? (note: mst3k was never available for watching here in Belgium, I don't have the foggiest idea what they did or did not made fun at.)

Well that would be a good idea but instead I'll review the original Little Shop Of Horrors.

• Year of release: 1960
• Director: Roger Corman
• Genre: Comedy, Horror
• IMDB Page

Let's be honest, this movie would not ring a lot of bells if it wasn't for the musical that was based upon this story, eventually resolving into the 1986 famous version. It might be a good idea to compare both movies in this review. Well no, I will save that for when I review the musical version (if ever). The story starts with our main persona, Seymour Krelboyne (Jonathan Haze) working as a clumsy helper in a flower store. The store isn't doing very well but we do get to see some regular customers who represent everything that works with the humor of this movie. First we have Mrs. Siddie Shiva, and old annoying lady who has to buy flowers everyday because a new relative has just died. Another regular is Burson Fouch who buys flowers as a snack or as a dinner, the funny part is that nobody seems to find it that strange.

I always get the shitty roles.

Seymour is so clumsy however that his greedy boss Gravis Mushnick (Mel Welles) wants to fire him. Luckily we have our love interest of the movie Audrey Fulquard who together with flower eating Burson convinces his boss to give him another shot by showing his new breed of plant, a cross-bred from a butterwort and a Venus Flytrap (a buttertrap?). The plant, titled Audrey Junior (get it?), does not gather much attention at first but when our "hero" accidentally drops some of his own blood on it, the plant start growing. After feeding the plant with as much blood as he can miss, Seymour takes a walk to think what he will do next. In frustration he randomly throws a rock which lands on probably the most lucky man in the world who then falls into the tracks right before an incoming train. Since this man is dead anyway, Seymour decides to at least have some use out of him and feeds him to the plant.

let me take a look into this giant man-eating plant.

This first accidents leads to many people disappearing by Seymoure (he is not really a murderer, but accidents happen right?).
The greedy boss finds out that the plants feeds on humans but when he wants to put an end to it, he finds out how many people are visiting his shop looking at this marvelous eight wonder of the world (or so it seems) and he decided that the plant can stay as long as he gets his profit.
The world is shocked however when the plant blooms and the faces of all the people it has eaten are shown in the flowers. I won't give the ending away but it is quite dark and fits right in with the overall feel of the movie.

Heeere's Johnny!

This movie is known for two facts (besides the musical). First that it was shot in two days making this whole thing quite impressive and two that Jack Nicholson started his career with a small part in this flick.
This has to be viewed as the dark comedy with some horror influences, not as a serious horror movie, and you know what? It works, the humor doesn't come from jokes or slapstick but it comes from the story and the characters creating a whole overall feel of enjoyment. The story also plays out more like a parody of horror movies of that time than an actually horror movie. The acting is great with a special mention for Nicholsons sadomasochist persona who gives us a great dentist scene.

It does have some small problems though, the love interest scenes feel forced and undermine the overall darkness of the humor and even by 1960 standards the special effects feel and look shoddy (junior was probably made by the local kindergarten with Papier-mâché).

This is where the term flower power actually came from.

The print on the "Horror Classics 50 Movie Pack" is more or less the same as the one that can be streamed from archive.org, so even-though it is not the best quality you can get, it does not diminish the overall enjoyment of this movie.

So in conclusion: It is not a horror movie, it's a dark comedy and a great one at that.

Score: 7.5/10


Edit on 15/02/2010: I have bought a digitally remastered edition (colored) and it's definitely a great improvement. Try to track it down!