Wasp Woman: Murder of a B-Movie Queen is an absorbing, three-part, Sundance Now, true-crime documentary that reveals the life and death of actress Susan Cabot, best known for her titular role in Roger Corman's insectoid classic.
Cabot, born Harriet Pearl Shapiro, was bludgeoned to death by her son, Timothy, a young man beset by dwarfism. To "remedy" his physicality, Cabot agreed to enter her son into a government program that subjected him to corpse-cell injections. (Yes, something akin to Wasp Woman's plot.) The results appear to have caused him more bad than good, at least from a behavioral perspective.
To reenact the circumstances that led to Cabot's murder (Timothy shattered her skull with a barbell), director Rubika Shaw, who cowrote with Ed Gibbs, invites a persuasive queue of individuals who offer opinions and reflections. Among those interviewed are Michael Roman (her ex-spouse), Laura Roman (her niece), Elizabeth Roman (her mother-in-law), Tom Weaver (historian/author) and Lona Baily (psychologist/author), with others on board to share poignant and profound insights. (Sean Young simulates Cabot's voice, parenthesizing the sequences.)
Cabot mingled with prominent figures during her heyday, including the aforementioned Corman, Sydney Pollack (her romantic partner for a time), Marlon Brando, Mamie Van Doren, Audie Murphy, Kathleen Hughes, Maxwell Arnow and Marilyn Monroe (with whom Cabot shared a comparable upbringing), augmented by a whirlwind tryst with King Hussein of Jordan, which ceased when Cabot's Russian-Jewish heritage came to light. Some presumed that Timothy was, in fact, Hussein's son.
The early part of the documentary covers Cabot's movie career, which includes westerns and exotic adventures, in addition to such Corman staples as The Wasp Woman (her obvious, synonymous role as the doomed Janice Starlin), Machine-Gun Kelly, Sorority Girl, War of the Satellites, The Viking Women and the Sea Serpent and Carnival Rock (in which she sang). The later part tackles her disputation with Timothy, conjuring comparisons to Sunset Boulevard, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and Grey Gardens.
Testimony from Timothy is, in fact, featured, per several, contre-jour moments. Claims as to what prompted his reprehensible deed are dissected, though the outcome's grisliness overpowers any and all conjecture.
To some, Cabot was made to appear the cause of her own demise (based on her reputed, overbearing nature). Despite exposing her quirks, the documentary never evades her love and care for Timothy or her immense yet often underappreciated talent.
As such, Shaw and Gibbs remain respectful to Cabot's legacy, so that her fans needn't fear a smear piece, but rather anticipate an examination of an extraordinary, hills-and-valleys life that (like other celebrity examples) fell to tragedy.
For those interested in the glamour and sorrow of Golden Hollywood, Wasp Woman: Murder of a B-Movie Queen is worth exploring and is accessible at AMC+.
