The Wasp Woman/Attack of the Giant Leeches

Two movies for 12 bucks, what's not to like? Wellll… Madacy's Killer Creature Double Feature line offers low-budget, public domain, horror twin bills, with previews of coming attractions and an intermission cartoon to help recreate the drive-in experience (minus the Buick and the backseat fumblings beneath the pink angora sweater). Roger Corman's 1960 The Wasp Woman has the dubious honor of being the lesser of two evils here, with its slow-moving tale of a cosmetics magnate (Susan Cabot) whose dosage-upping dependency on a longevity potion--made from the enzymes of a queen wasp--backfires, leaving her with a face that only an entomologist could love. While the film has its undeniable charms (I especially enjoyed watching the Mr. Wizard who created the fountain of youth elixir puffing away on a cigarette while holding forth on the potion's time-reversing benefits), the technical quality on this B-movie is strictly C-grade, with scratches, jumps, etc. The second film, Attack of the Giant Leeches is your basic Southern-white-trash-backwoods-swamp tale about adultery and Trial By Leeches (with the main attraction being the chest of starlet Yvette Vickers). Not a necessary purchase. (R. Pitman)