Amy Sedaris and Paul Dinello (Strangers With Candy) are set to tackle a modern reboot of The Wasp Woman, the 1959 sci-fi horror from legendary director and producer Roger Corman, per an exclusive scoop from Variety.
Dinello is set to write and direct the film, with Sedaris starring as the titular buzzy lady Janice Starlin, the founder of a cosmetics company who attempts to reverse the aging process using experimental enzymes derived from queen wasps, with disastrous results.
Susan Cabot, Anthony Eisley, Michael Mark, and Barboura Morris starred in Corman's black-and-white original, which inspired two later reimaginings – the 1988 horror Rejuvenatrix and the 1995 television film The Wasp Woman, starring Jennifer Rubin.
Speaking with Variety, Dinello dished on the pair's involvement with the new The Wasp Woman, which is described as a “comedic” take, and how Shout! Studios got involved too:
Mark Roberts, who’s a friend of mine and produced the Strangers With Candy movie, called me and said Shout! was a fan of ours. He said they own the catalog to Roger Corman, who I love. They asked, “Would you read the synopses and see if anything jumps out?” A lot of that stuff is like Attack of the Crab Monsters and that sort of ’50s feel. It didn’t really jump out.
But when I read the synopsis to Wasp Woman, it has elements of ’50s sci-fi, which I like. But it also has this very modern story about this former model, a supercharged businesswoman who’s dealing with aging and is willing to take a fringe product to try to salvage her looks or give her youth. When I read it, I did, I immediately thought, “This is perfect for Amy.”
Beauty standard-based body horror has, of course, been a hot horror topic over the last few years, with Coralie Fargeat's Oscar-winning The Substance and Emilie Blichfeldt's nauseating fairytale The Ugly Stepsister leading the charge. Look out for more on The Wasp Woman as we get it and for more, here's all the monster movies we're looking forward to in 2026.
