183 The Wasp Woman ( 1959 )

A  lesser  Roger  Corman  item  this  one, which  rips  off  The  Fly  without  coming  close  in  terms of  compelling  drama. The  naff  costume  has  to  be  seen  to  be  beieved.

Janice  Starlin is  the  head  of  a  cosmetics  firm  whose  profits  are  falling  because  she  herself  is  visibly  ageing. An  answer to  her prayers comes from  mad  scientist  Dr  Zinthrop ( |Michael  Mark ) who  claims  to  be  able  to  reverse  the  ageing  process using  enzymes  derived  from  wasps. When  Janice  overdoses  on  the  serum  she  turns  into  a  murderous  wasp-like  creature.

Susan  Cabot  ( as  Janice  Starlin )

Sex : No

Death : Falls  to  her death  from  a  window

This  was  Susan's  final  film  role. She  was  born  Harriet  Shapiro  and  raised  in  eight  different  foster  homes. She  was  mainly  seen  in  B  Westerns. She  was  romantically  linked  to  King  Hussein  of  Jordan. Susan  fell  prey  to  mental  health  issues  later  in  life  and  was  eventually  killed  by  her  dwarf  son  Timothy  Roman  with  a  barbel. Roman  had  his  own  issues  and  was  convicted  of  involuntary  manslaughter.

Barboura  Morris  ( as  Mary  Denison )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Barbara  was  a  class  mate  of  Roger  Corman's  at  the  Stumptown  stock  company  and  became  a  regular  in  his  pictures. She  died  of  a  stroke  in  1975  aged  43  although  she  had  also  been  battling  cancer  for  some  time.

Carolyn  Hughes  ( as  Jean  Carson )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Carolyn  was  a  bit  part  actress  with  just  a  handful  of  credits down  to  the  mid-sixties. She  is  best  known  as  the  first  wife  ( 1951-55 )  of  George  C  Scott.

Lynn  Cartwright  ( as  Maureen  Reardon )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Lynn  owed  her  long  but  un-starry  career  to  her  50-year  marriage  to  actor /writer  Leo  Gordon. Her  last  appearance  was  in  1992's  A  League  Of  Their Own.  She  never  got  over  his  death  in  2000  and  died  suffering  from  dementia  in  2004  aged  76.

182 Monster on the Campus ( 1959 )

This  is  a  routine  mad  scientist  B-movie , watchable  but  indifferently  acted  and  very  predictable.

Donald  Blake  ( Arthur  Franz ) a  science  lecturer. takes  delivery  of  a  coelacanth  which  has  been  preserved  by   radiation. Careless  handling  of  it  infects  him  so  that  he  temporarily  becomes  a  murderous  ape-like  ancestor. The  police  are  baffled  etc.

Joanna  Moore  ( as  Madeline  Howard )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Joanna  was  originally  Dorothy  Cook  from  Georgia.  This  was  near  the  beginning  of  her  film  career  but  she  was  more  active  on  television  from  the  late  fifties  to  the  mid-seventies. She  was  married  to  Ryan  O  Neal  from  1963  to  1967  and  is  the  mother  of  Tatum  O  Neal. After  their  divorce  she  had  drugs  and  alcohol  problems  which  wrecked  her  career  and  cost  her  custody  of  their  kids. She  died  of  lung  cancer  in  1997  aged  63.

Nancy  Walters  ( as  Sylvia  Lockwood )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

This  was  the  fashion  model's  first  film  appearance. She  was  a  lightweight  actress  best  remembered  for  her  role  in  Blue  Hawaii. She  quit  acting  in  the  late  sixties  to  work  as  a  Christian  minister. She  died  of  pancreatic  cancer  in  2009  aged  76.

Helen  Westcott  ( as  Molly  Riordan )

Sex : No

Death : Strangled  by  the  monster

Helen  was  originally  Myrthas  Hickman  from  L.A. She  was  a  former  child  actress  who'd  gone  on  to  star  opposite  Gregory  Peck  in  The  Gunfighter  ( 1950 ). The  best  days  of  her  film  career  were  behind  her  but  she  was  active  in TV  until  the  late  seventies. She  died  of  cancer  in  1998  aged  70.

181 The Hideous Sun Demon ( 1959 )

This  sci-fi/ horror  film  was  made  by  actor  Robert  Clarke  from  the  proceeds  of  a  previous  film . He  played  the  main  character  and  cast  and  crew  were  mainly  his  friends. The  limited  budget  does  show  particularly  in  the  low  sound  quality  but  I've  seen  a  lot  worse  than  this.

Clarke  is  Gil  McKenna  a  scientist  who  is  accidentally  exposed  to  radiation  in  his  lab. Though  he  seems  to  recover, exposure  to  sunlight  now  turns  him  into  a  reptilian  creature  who  gets more  violent  with  each  transformation. Gil  tries  to  maintain  a  nocturnal  existence  but  it  becomes  impossible.

Patricia  Manning  (  as  Ann  Russell )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Patricia  was  an   aspiring  actress  who  went  on  to  some  minor  parts  and  TV  work. She  faded  from  view  in  the  mid-sixties.

Nan  Peterson  ( as  Trudy ) 

Sex :  Trudy  has  sex  on  the  beach  with  Gil  ( offscreen ). Fantastic  cleavage

Death : Survives

The  voluptuous  Nan  was  a  swimwear  model  making  her  acting  debut. She too  had  a  string  of   TV  appearances  and  the  odd  film  up  to  the  mid-sixties. She  is  now  79.

Xandra  Conkling  ( as  Suzy )

Sex : n/a

Death : Survives

Xandra  was  Clarke's  neice . This  was  her  only  film. She's  now  66  and  lives  in  Arizona.

180 The Tingler ( 1959 )

This  is  another  gimmick-y  William  Castle  effort  with  a  truly  bizarre  storyline  that  predicates David  Cronenberg  in  its  body  horror  themes. It's  entertaining with  a   great  central  performance  from  Vincent  Price  but  it  does  leave  most  of  its  plotlines  unresolved.

Price  plays  Dr  Warren  Chapin, a  biologist  who  does  autopsies  on  executed  criminals  but  whose  real  interest  is  in  the  physiological  effects  of  fear. He  is  married  to  Isabel, a  cruel  nymphomaniac  who  makes  life  a  misery  for  both  him  and  her  sister  Lucy  who  is  engaged  to  his  young  assistant. One  of  his  autopsies  is  gatecrashed  by  a  meek  relative  of  the  deceased  Ollie  Higgins  ( Philip  Coolidge ). They  become  friends. Warren  muses  on  his  theory  that  the  spinal  injuries  on  the  executees  might  be  caused  by  a  parasite  that  grows  at  times  of  extreme  fear  but  is  vanquished  by  the  release  of  a  scream.  Ollie  introduces  him  to  his  wife, a  deaf  mute. This  exchange  becomes  a  matter  of  life  and  death.

Patricia  Cutts ( as  Isabel  Chapin )

Sex :  Offscreen  with  multiple  lovers. Nice  cleavage

Death : Presumably  survives  despite  much  foreshadowing

Patricia  was  a  British  actress  active  since  the  late  forties. She  had  a  minor  part  in  North  By  North  West . In  1958  she  had  been  arrested  and  briefly  jailed  in  Hollywood  for  a  hit  and  run  felony  but  the  charges  were  later  dismissed. She  returned  to  England  and  had  just  started  playing  Blanche  Hunt  in  Coronation  Street  when  she  died  of  a  drugs  overdose  in  1974 aged  48.

Pamela  Lincoln  (  as  Lucy  Stevens )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Pamela  was  married  to  co-star  Daryl Hickman  in  real  life  and  soon  dropped  out  of  acting  but  she  made  sporadic  appearances  up  until  the  early  eighties. She  is  now  79.

179 The Mummy ( 1959 )

Another  Hammer  here  with  a  fairly  faithful  remake  of  The  Mummy. It's  OK  if  a  touch  on  the  long  side.

Peter  Cushing  is  John  Banning  an  archaeologist  whose  father  discovers  the  lost  tomb  of  a  Princess  Arkana. He becomes  mad  almost  immediately  and  a  sinister   Egyptian  follows  the  party  back  to  England  with  a  rather  large  pal  ( Christopher  Lee )  formerly  a  high  priest  ( who , oddly,  understands  English ) , to  wreak  revenge  on  the  desecrators.

Yvonne  Furneaux ( as  Isobel  Banning  / Arkana )

Sex:  Looks  nice  in  a  nightdress

Death : From  plague  as  Arkana, Isobel  survives

Yvonne  was  an  Anglo-French  actress  (  originally  Elisabeth  Scarcherd ) who  appeared  in  films  on  both  sides  of  the  Channel. She  retired  in  the  early  seventies  ( bar  one  film  in  the  eighties ) and  now  lives  in  Switzerland. She  is  88.

178 The Man Who Could Cheat Death ( 1959 )

This  early  Hammer  offering  was   based   on   a   play and  does  suffer  a  bit  from  too  much  talk  and  not  enough  action  though  good  acting  keeps  it  watchable.

Anton  Diffring  plays  George  Bonnet, a  doctor  who  sculpts  women  as  a  hobby. But  he  has  a ghastly  secret; he  is  104  and  maintains his  youth  by  regular  transplants of  the  thyroid  glands  from  his  models. When his  old  partner, Professor  Weiss ( Arnold  Marle ) ,becomes  too  infirm  to  perform  the  operation  he  approaches  Dr  Gerard  ( Christopher  Lee ) the  new boyfriend  of  Janine  Dubois, a  model  he has  hitherto  spared.

Hazel  Court  ( as  Janine  Dubois )

Sex : Janine poses  topless  but  the  full  view  is  only  in  the  European  version

Death : Survives

Hazel  was  from  Sutton  Coldfield  and  started appearing in  British  films  as  a  teenager  in  the  mid-forties. She  made  her  name  as  a  horror  queen in  The  Curse  of  Frankenstein  then  moved  to  Hollywood  where  she  worked  extensively  with  Roger  Corman. She  retired in  the  mid-sixties on  marriage  to  actor  Don  Taylor  but  made  sporadic  appearances  in  the  eighties. Ironically, she  herself  sculpted..She  died  in  2008  aged  82.

Delphi  Lawrence  as  Margot

Sex : No

Death : Burns  to  death  in  the  fire  she  started 

Delphi  was  born  in  Hertfordshire  and  was  a  very  busy  actress  in  TV  and  B-movies  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic. She  retired  in  the  mid-seventies  and  died  in  2002  aged  70.

Gerda  Larsen  ( as  Street  girl )

Sex : No

Death : Killed  ( offscreen )  by  Bonnet

This  was  the  last  of  three  films  for  this  obscure  actress.

177 Horrors of the Black Museum ( 1959 )

This  is  a  an  Anglo-American  colour  feature  which  has  its  moments  but  is  marred  by  poor  acting  and  a  rather  campy  approach.

Michael  Gough  plays  Edmund  Bancroft, a   successful, misogynistic  crime  writer  who  seems  to  have  free  rein  to  pop into  Scotland  Yard  and  taunt  the  police  about  their  failure  to  catch  a  gruesomely  inventive  serial  killer. He  has  his  own  museum  to  rival  Scotland  Yard's  Black  Museum  and  it  gradually  becomes  clear  that he's  the  maniac  responsible.

June  Cunningham  (  as  Joan  Berkley )  

Sex : Joan  strips  down  to  a  black  bodice  but  there's  no  close-up

Death : Guillotined  in  bed  by  Bancroft's  accomplice  Rick

June  was  a  British  actress  and  this  was  the  biggest  role  of  her career. She  looks  older  than  her  24  years  here. She  retired  on  marrying  the  actor  Michael  Standing  in  1968. She  is  now  82.

Shirley  Anne  Field  ( as  Angela  Banks )

Sex : No

Death : Stabbed  in  the  chest  by  Rick

The  Bolton-born  actress  was  near  the  start  of  her  glittering  - and  ongoing  - career  here. Shirley  appeared  in  Hollywood  films in  the  sixties  and  the  US soap  Santa  Barbara  in  the  eighties  but  remains  based  in  the  UK. She  is  now  78.


Malou  Pantera  ( as  Peggy )

Sex :  Great  cleavage

Death : Survives

Malou   had  a  brief  career  providing  some  exotic  glamour in  small  roles  including  a  tiny  part  in  Dr  No.  She  dropped  out  of  view  in  the  late  sixties  and  is  now  86.

Dorinda  Stevens  ( as  Gail  Dunlap )

Sex : No

Death : Stabbed  through  the  eyes  by  booby-trapped  binoculars

 Dorinda's  role  here  is  small  but  high  impact  as  the  victim  of  the  first  ( onscreen )  and  grisliest  murder.