I hate wasps!

A lot of that is because I’ve never been stung by a wasp so I have no idea whether or not I’m allergic.  Considering that I’m allergic to almost everything else, it just seems likely that I would be allergic to wasps as well.

Another reason why I dislike wasps is that, opposed to hard-working honey bees, wasps just look evil.  They fly straight at you.  They get tangled in your hair.  They try to build their nests right next to your air conditioning unit.  They’re the worst!

1957’s Monster From Green Hell is all about evil wasps.  A group of scientists, working with the space program, come up with the brilliant idea of sending wasps into space.  When the wasp rocket crashes back to Africa, it leads to giant wasps and paralyzed victims.  Can the scientists who created the problem fix things?  Or will nature have to take care of itself?

Watch and find out!  This film is one of many “giant monster’ films to come out of the 50s but it’s perhaps more interesting as an examination of the fears of what would happen when mankind finally went into space.  Today, we take space exploration for granted.  In 1957, it was very exotic and, I imagine to some, very frightening.

One final note: Barbara Turner, the female lead in this film, is also the mother of actress Jennifer Jason Leigh.