Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1972) User Reviews (64)

a cleverly subverted fairytale

[ThrownMuse · 7/10 · 16 January 2005]

From the opening scene, it is obvious that Rosie Forrest (aka Auntie Roo) is completely insane. She lives alone in a magnificent mansion in 1920s England and will never get over the death of her young daughter. In an attempt to fill this void, Auntie Roo has an annual Christmas party for a few of the best behaved children from the local orphanage. This year, a misbehaving brother and sister stowaway in the trunk of the car and join the party. Auntie Roo starts to believe the girl is her daughter, while the boy is convinced Auntie Roo is a witch. Mayhem ensues.

This is a clever, creepy, and amusing subversion of the "Hansel and Gretel" fairytale that puts forth the notion that the wicked witch might not be inherently evil or even malintentioned--just severely insane! Some of the scares are cheesy, a few of the child actors are awful (the lead girl looks and acts like she was sniffing glue during the entire production!), and it is a bit disconcerting to sit through yet another movie where Shelley Winters sings and dances like a freak. But overall, this is an underrated sick little fairytale. My Rating: 7/10

A fun cult flick.

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 22 October 2018]

Shelley Winters is given some rich opportunities here to emote and otherwise tear into the scenery. In the role of Mrs. Forrest, a.k.a. "Auntie Roo", she provides a nice place for orphaned children to spend their Christmas holidays. But incorrigible child Christopher Coombs (Mark Lester) is convinced that she's like the witch in the "Hansel and Gretel" story, and kidnaps kids in order to fatten them up and eat them.

While clearly Mrs. Forrest has gone off the deep end, you do feel sympathy for her. She certainly can't accept or deal with the death of her own child, and she's taken advantage of by a conniving butler (Michael Gothard) and medium (the great Ralph Richardson). Some viewers are sure to be suspicious of the bratty Christopher, and doubt the possibility of Mrs. Forrest being an actual "witch".

Overall, the movie is a fun, if not exemplary, effort for Curtis Harrington, who'd also collaborated with Winters on "What's the Matter with Helen?". They make a good team, in this tale (concocted by David D. Osborn, and scripted by Robert Blees and Hammer scribe Jimmy Sangster) intended as a twisted modern version of "Hansel and Gretel". It establishes a tone right away with its pre-credits sequence, where Mrs. Forrest sings a lullaby to a corpse.

Lester and adorable Chloe Franks are good as the brother and sister targeted by our unbalanced protagonist, with Gothard, Richardson, lovely Judy Cornwell, Lionel Jeffries, Hugh Griffith, and Rosalie Crutchley providing excellent support.

The opening credits sequence comes complete with over the top music by Kenneth V. Jones, adding to the fairy tale feel of the material. And since it takes place during the Christmas holidays, some viewers may want to make it part of their Yuletide viewing tradition.

Seven out of 10.

Certainly Not the Gingerbread Man!

[BaronBl00d · 5/10 · 13 July 2005]

I had the fortunate circumstance to see this double-billed as a very young child with Bava'a Baron Blood. Some of the scenes remained in my mind - particularly the creepy figure of Shelley Winters. I recently set out to see the film again some 30 years later. I remembered more than I thought I had, and the film came back to me in large part. This is not a bad film nor a good film. As another reviewer noted, it is a pleasant, harmless time-waster - for those of us who enjoy "wasting" time on such things. Mark Lester and Chloe Franks play two orphans at an orphanage. Franks has an uncanny resemblance to the dead daughter of the orphanage's greatest patroness and benefactress, Shelley Winters. Winters is so good to the kiddies that every year she invites them to her sumptuous home at Christmas for yuletide fun. She has virtually no interest in Lester but soon has the keenest of hearts for the young Franks as her dead daughter's look-a-like. Well, Lester is a growing teen rebelling, Winters decays into some form of madness, a cast of stalwart British character actors such as Sir Ralph Richardson, Hugh Griffith, and Lionel Jeffries ably aid the story, and that story degenerates/diffuses into some sinister tale not unlike Hansel and Gretel. Well, the movie has a poor story overall - but Winter's fine performance albeit over-the-top to be sure does add emotional depth to it. Director Curtis Harrington is very able behind the camera if not dazzling.

A Refreshing Take On The Hansel & Gretel Story

[mozmike · 29 December 2002]

Who Slew Auntie Roo is still one of the most cleverly constructed films of the 70s.

An interesting and fascinating take on the Hansel and Gretel story.

Mrs. Forrest (Shelley Winters) is a rich widow who had been married to a successful British Magician. He died leaving her his fortune and creepy mansion called "Forrest Grange" Their little 7 year old daughter Katherine died after falling off a banister that she was sliding down.

The film opens with Auntie Roo as she is called by the orphans singing a lullabye to what appears to be a child in a cradle. Auntie Roo quietly steals out after we think the child is asleep. The camera slowly pans to the cradle only to reveal a rotted corpse of a child in a nightgown. This sets the scenario for the film.

Auntie Roo is obviously an eccentric. She has constant seances in an attempt to communicate with her dead daughter. Of course her psychic is in cahoots with the servants who stage the seances.

It is now time for Aunt Roo's annual Christmas Party where 10 lucky children from the local orphanage are selected to attend an overnight holiday party at Forrest Grange. Christopher and Katy Coombs, a brother and sister are not selected, but stow away in the back of the car. Auntie Roo sees a resemblance in Katy to her dead daughter Katherine...and of course the movie takes off from here. The children see Auntie Roo as the witch in Hansel and Gretel...and Forrest Grange is the Gingerbread House. I won't give away any more of the plot, but the psychological games between the children and Auntie Roo as their terror mounts makes for an extremely entertaining film.

Aside from Shelley Winter's bravura performance, there are also strong contributions from Sir Ralph Richardson as her psychic; Rosemary Crutchley as the director of the orphanage, Mark Lester (of Oliver fame) as Christopher. The art and set direction are marvelous along with excellent camera work and lighting.

This film makes for a different and offbeat Christmas movie or just a plain "fun" movie to watch anytime!

One Resourceful Kid

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 15 February 2013]

No doubt that Shelley Winters assumed the title role in Whoever Slew Auntie Roo for a chance to really chew the scenery. That's what's great about films like Whoever Slew Auntie Roo, you can overact to the max and no one will criticize you.

By all appearances Shelley is a kindly old widow, an American transplanted to the United Kingdom of the Roaring Twenties and she opens her house once a year to a select group of children from a nearby school. In reality all I can say is she's a woman with issues. She lost her own daughter in a tragic accident and tries to communicate with her through a medium played deliciously by Ralph Richardson.

Mark Lester and Chloe Franks are a pair of misbehaving kids from the school who are brother and sister. They don't get invited to Shelley's place but stowaway in the trunk of the car that brings the others. That's when Shelley fixates on young Chloe who reminds her of her daughter. She kidnaps Chloe and Lester takes it upon himself to rescue her.

The story is a loosely told tongue and cheek version of the Grimm brothers Hansel And Gretel so if you remember the tale from your childhood, you've got some approximate idea of what happens to Winters. Lester turns out to be quite the resourceful kid.

Also take note of Lionel Jeffries as the local police inspector and Hugh Griffith as the local butcher who wants payment for services owed and won't take no for an answer from Winters.

There's also a bit of similarity with American Gothic classic Night Of The Hunter in how the kids outwit Winters the way they outwitted Robert Mitchum in that film.

Fans of Shelley Winters should enjoy this.

Hansel And Gretel, Updated

[boblipton · 6/10 · 8 June 2019]

Shelley Winters is the rich, fat widow of a stage magician. Her daughter died when a child, sliding down the banister. Nowadays, she has children from a local orphanage in for Christmas eve, where she treats them to a dinner, a reading of "A Visit From St. Nicholas" and gifts. When Chloe Franks sees her looking at the mummified corpse of her daughter, Miss Winters keeps her and her brother, Mark Lester, prisoner in an eccentric modern-dress version of "Hansel and Gretel."

Director Curtis Harrington has assembled an interesting cast, including Ralph Richardson, Lionel Jeffries and Hugh Griffith in this Hammer-Films-style horror story; Jimmy Sangster is one of the writers. It all hangs together well enough even though this is not the sort of movie I typically enjoy. Miss Winters was still near the beginning of herthe final phase phase of her career, when she played a lot of eccentrics, and pretty restrained for the role. It's Mark Lester who is the real monster of the show.

Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?

[Scarecrow-88 · 7/10 · 2 May 2007]

Rosie Forrest(Shelley Winters), as the film presents in the opening singing to her daughter who is a rotted corpse, is pretty mad you could say. The mansion she lives in was obviously constructed at her late magician husband's command since the daughter's room is so well hidden within secret passageways, if(..and when)the police were to search for someone(or two, to be precise)it's nearly impossible unless you know the right button to push and the specific door to enter. We are presented with two orphans, Christopher and Katy(Mark Lester and Chloe Franks)notorious for their constant attempts at running away and misbehaving(they give their "den-mother" the silent treatment out of protest for having to return to the orphanage). 10 children, the kindest of the orphanage, are selected to spend Christmas with Rosie, and Christopher & Katy are NOT on that list. Yet, they take it upon themselves to hide in the luggage cart of the carriage anyway and are invited into the bosom of Rosie. Rosie often sees a corrupt con-artist, Mr. Benton(Ralph Richardson)who pretends to be a medium who can contact her late daughter Katherine. A child's voice claiming to be Katherine is actually the maid conspiring with the butler scamming cash from Rosie when Benton separates their cut. Albie(Michael Gothard)presents himself quite the loyal butler attending to Rosie's every need until that right moment when he can get a big payday through some sort of blackmail. Albie knows Rosie is bonkers and buys his time. That time may've arrived in the luggage cart for Christopher believes Rosie is a witch and that he and Katy are to be stuffed in an oven and eaten when she's gets a chance(Christopher compares their situation to the dark fairy tale, Hansel and Gretel..an aspect the film tries in every way to exploit throughout even using Christopher's narration parlaying excerpts from the story). What does happen is that Rosie sees Katherine in Katy and really wishes for her to stay..without Christopher who becomes Rosie's arch nemesis. Both scheme against one another as Christopher finds the room where the dead daughter is locked away and sees Rosie singing to her. The final thirty or so minutes is Christopher trying to rescue Katy(..and himself)from the clutches of Rosie who keeps the entire house locked away. Katy is kept locked away in Katherine's old room while Rosie forces Christopher to assist her in everyday chores once Albie and the maid exit the premises with a nice fat check through blackmail(Albie threatens to expose Katy's whereabouts when Rosie informs the orphanage that she must've disappeared). The ending is quite twisted..if you have an understanding of the dark fairy tale mentioned throughout, then you might have an inkling what I'm talking about.

I'll be honest, this is really a sick little number. It exploits a mentally woman for comedy using the death of a daughter as the catalyst. It also is quite disturbing as a misunderstanding through the paranoid mind of a boy leads to a horrible tragedy. Even more so twisted is that Christopher understands where Rosie keeps her expensive jewelry and steals it, burying them in a hole within this teddy bear Katy insists on getting(it was Katherine's). If you want me to tell the truth the boy protagonist isn't the kindest, most pleasant kid in the world..anything but. He's just a smaller version of Albie. But, poor Rosie is used by everyone in the film. Everyone preys on her mental weaknesses. The really crazy part is this film plays Rosie's madness for snickers. I think this film works best for those with a macabre sense of humor. Not for all tastes, that's for sure.

Ghoulish terror film with an updated twist on the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 5 February 2022]

A thrilling and suspenseful flick with great performance from veteran actress Shelley Winters playing a madwoman who lures two children into her evil clutches . A demented and disturbing widow who hides a deadly secret which she will do anything to keep buried and along the way she lures unsuspecting children into her mansion resulting in bizarre consequences . As Auntie Roo : Shelley Winters is a kindly American widow who gives them a lavish Christmas party each year in her mansion, as there appears Christopher : Mark Lester and Katy : Chloe Franks , then things go awry .. She's Taking a stab at Motherhood!.Have You Ever Held a Skeleton in Your Arms?.Say goodnight to Auntie Roo, kiddies. It's dead time!.Nightmares come true in the house of Auntie Roo. The hand that rocks the cradle has no flesh on it!

This is a horrific tale with thrills , chills , plot twists and portentous interpretations . Features Shelley Winters as reclusive , odd widow mistaken for the fairy tale's children eating by one of the orphans at he annual Christmas party with dire consequences. Main and support cast are frankly top-notch . As Shelley Winters is terrific as the suspect widow , she is excellently accompanied by an awesome cast such as : Ralph Richardson , Lionel Jeffries , Hugh Griffith, Rosalie Crutchley , Pat Heywood , Judy Cornwell , Michael Gothard , and two kiddies , Mark Lester and Chloe Franks are very good , as well . Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1972) belongs to a sub-genre developed in the Sixties and Seventies , dealing with deranged widows or unsettling spinsters , middle-age or elderly women who often commit grisly killings , whose main representatives were Robert Aldrich with his big hit "What ever happened to Baby Jane ?" Stars Bette Davis , Joan Crawford, "Hush ...Hush Sweet Charlotte" stars Olivia De Havilland , Bette Davis and Curtis Harrington with "Whoever slew Auntiee Roo ?" Stars Shelley Winters , "What's the matter with Helen ?" Stars Debbie Reynolds , Shelley Winters , "The Killing Kind" with Ann Sothern . ¨What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?¨ with Geraldine Page , Ruth Gordon, Rosemary Forsyth , ¨Ruby¨by Curtsi harrington with Piper Laurie , Stuart Whitman and "Games" with Simone Signoret.

It packs an adequate cinematography by Desmond Dickinson , as well as moving and intriguing musical score by Kenneth V. Jones .Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1972) well produced by James H. Nicholson , Samuel Z. Arkoff was competently directed by Curtis Harrington providing tension and suspense enough . Curtis Harrington was a good craftsman in B-territory . In 1961 he made a strong and impressive feature-film debut with the nicely moody and quirky Night tide (1961) with Dennis Hooper. His follow-up features were a pleasingly diverse , idiosyncratic and often entertaining bunch , and included the delightfully campy Shelley Winters vehicles as Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1972) , What's the Matter with Helen? (1971) ,the perverse The Killing Kind (1973) and the immensely fun Ruby (1977). Moreover , Harrington directed a handful of solid and satisfying made-for-TV offerings: The cat (1973), Killer bees (1974), The Dead Don't Die (1975) and the terror animal Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell (1978) , as well as TV episodes from The Twilight Zone, The Colby , Dynasty , Wonder woman , Hotel , among others . Rating : 6.5/10. Decent and notable horror picture .

Wasted Potential

[bensonmum2 · 4/10 · 13 August 2005]

• Auntie Roo is crazy. The opening scenes leave little to the imagination as to her mental state. The movie begins with Auntie Roo singing a lullaby to a little girl. As she finishes her song, the camera goes to a close-up of the child sleeping in bed. But there is no child. Only the mummified remains of what was once Auntie Roo's daughter.

• Before I saw the movie, I had thought and hoped that with Shelly Winters playing the crazy Auntie Roo the movie would be a fun watch. But it doesn't live up to its potential. My biggest problem with Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? is that it never goes far enough in showing how mad Auntie Roo is. It's as if Auntie Roo's madness is allowed to reach a certain point and the director pulls it back in. That's not to say there aren't some moments of fun to be had watching the crazy Auntie Roo racing around the house in her morning clothes, complete with black veil. But there aren't enough of these moments. The only thing that might have saved Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? would have been to allow things to go over the top and into the realm of camp and absurdity. As it is, it's all too tame and rather dull.

• Another thing that might have helped the movie would have been to reveal just how insane Auntie Roo is later in the movie. Unfortunately, we see Auntie Roo at her most batty right from the beginning. Once you've seen Auntie Roo put the mummified body of her child to bed, you aren't really shocked at some of the other things she's capable of. Saving the revelation to end would have created the opportunity for more surprises and tension throughout the movie.

Hansel and Gretel

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 2 January 2021]

In England, in the beginning of the Twentieth Century, the American millionaire Mrs. Forrest (Shelley Winters) welcomes ten orphans from the local orphanage to spend the Christmas night with her. Mrs. Forrest misses her daughter Katherine, who died in a silly accident, and is exploited by the charlatan Mr. Benton (Ralph Richardson), her butler and her housekeeper in fake séances. When the sibling orphans Christopher Coombs (Mark Lester) and Katy Coombs (Chloe Franks) are not selected to go to the party, they sneak out to Mrs. Forrest's home and she welcomes them. She feels a great attraction for Katy, who resembles Katherine, but Christopher suspects that the widow is a witch.

"Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?" is a great horror movie, with the fable of "Hansel and Gretel" in the mind of an innocent orphan. The plot and characters are well-developed and with excellent cast. The dark conclusion is excellent. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Fábula Macabra" ("Macabre Fable")

Note: On 24 March 2023, I saw this film again.

Strange, slow thriller.

[gridoon · 5/10 · 29 August 2002]

Well, the title sounds intriguing, and "Hansel and Gretel" has always been one of my very favorite fairy tales, but this is a slow-moving, lackluster thriller, with only a few suspenseful scenes (one of those, however, with a kid trying to reach a key before Shelley Winters returns to the room, is perfectly executed). Aside from Winters' over-the-top acting, all the other performances - including the kids - are very good. (**)

Shelley Winters is fantastic in this Great British Classic!

[arrival · 10/10 · 10 May 2005]

Probably Shelley Winters' greatest Movie - though I suspect many would disagree.

Many viewers delight in name-calling 'Aunt Roo' as 'nuts' 'crazy' 'evil' etc., but many fail to see the sad and pathetic side to this unfortunate character.

Aunt Roo (played marvellously by the wonderful Shelley Winters) is clearly traumatised by the tragic death of her only child. Left widowed in an isolated mansion to live all by herself, she is taken advantage of, and her 'damaged' mind from the trauma of her loss is cruelly and sadistically abused by her staff who pretend to be her dead daughter come back during false seances.

Many viewers ignore her staff who bleed her white. Despite showing loads of kindnesses to orphaned children, she is further still abused by two of the most ungrateful among them. Consequently, 'Aunt Roo' transforms from just being traumatised to mentally disturbed, and the tragic end to the movie ensues.

I guess this story just goes to prove how cruel society and people can be to traumatised people without trying to understand them, just because they are adults. If the roles of this film were reversed, everyone's sympathy would still lie with the children...

Shelley Winters' performance still brings tears to my eyes when she cries and yearns for her dead child, only to find out she's been made a fool of - enough to drive anyone insane!

A fabulous Movie, and a fabulous story. It's often likened to Hansel And Gretel, but I think it's far more complicated than that - poor 'Aunt Roo'!

Shelley Winters hams it up to good effect in this psychological horror

[Colbridge · 6/10 · 6 December 2021]

This is a little gem of a horror film that I only recently discovered almost 50 years after it's initial release. Shelley Winters plays a deranged widow who hosts Christmas parties for orphaned children in her countryside mansion in England, however she keeps the mummified remains of her dead daughter locked up in the attic after a traumatic accident that occurred years earlier.

When one particular girl turns up at a party and reminds her of her daughter she becomes obsessed and decides to lock her up in the attic as well, so it's left to her brother played by Mark Lester in a similar role he played in Oliver! (1968), to rescue her after the authorities refuse to believe him.

With a good supporting cast of Ralph Richardson, Judy Cornwall, Lionel Jeffries, Hugh Griffith and Michael Gothard under the assured direction of American director Curtis Harrington this is a neat psychological thriller with moments of horror in a loose adaptation of Hansel and Gretel that is both fun and unsettling. Winters hams it up to good effect when she needs to, going from jovial to psychotic at a moments notice, but also chooses to play her character as a lonely and pathetic figure.

Penned by Hammer Films regular Jimmy Sangster this AIP US co-production with British company Hemdale is another entry in the so-called psycho-biddy sub-genre that began with What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). I detected moments in this film that could have inspired Spielberg to make Poltergiest (1982) and did the moment when Shelley Winters pokes her head through the broken door panel near the end give Stanley Kubrick his 'Here's Johnny' moment?

Shame it's not better

[adriangr · 4/10 · 11 March 2015]

"Auntie Roo" is marketed a a "crazy old dame" movie, but it's very confusing in it's intentions. Here we have Shelley Winters playing a batty old lady with a large mansion, who likes to invite children across for parties to ease her loneliness. Unfortunately two of the children get a bit nosey and Auntie Roo's dark secrets come tumbling out.

What's wrong here is that the plot doesn't really give the viewer any clearly defined direction. The film uses the Hansel and Gretel fable as a parallel, and the constant reference to this subject matter does get a bit silly. Auntie Roo is not the witch that the children think she is, in fact the children terrorise her more than she does them. Maybe that was the twist that they were going for but I don't know if the story is supposed to paint the poor, misguided Roo as the villain, or the annoying children.

It's all over the place. Who are you supposed to like? Nobody? Shelley Winters does a good job of acting here, but sadly the two children (Mark Lester and Chloe Franks) do not. I can't imagine anyone coming away at the end of this film feeling satisfied.

Good, old-fashioned horror movie

[Little_Loie · 19 August 1999]

Shelley Winters' character is sad, pathetic, scary, and warped in this movie...and she plays it to the hilt. A broad take-off on the old "Hansel and Gretel" fairytale, this movie is pure 70's.

If you like your horror films without a lot of gore and with a lot of suspense, see "Who Slew Auntie Roo?" It's worth your time.

Hansel and Gretel Auntie Roo style

[Mister-Creeper · 7/10 · 13 July 2013]

Shelley Winters plays the heartbroken and distraught widow Mrs. Forrest (Auntie Roo to all the kiddies), who also lost her daughter in an unfortunate accident. I haven't watched very many of her films, but so far this is my favorite and she plays the role of Auntie Roo very well. We see her kind and caring side, who loves children and gives graciously to many of the local orphans during Christmas when she invites them to her mansion for fun, food, candy, presents and a sleepover. But, Auntie Roo also has a dark side and it slowly begins to take over.

It seems as though Auntie Roo doesn't want to let go of her loved ones. And reminiscent of Hansel and Gretel, Auntie Roo seems to also have an appetite for children, which turns out to be very bad for an orphaned brother and sister. They are held captive and fattened up as Auntie Roo prepares what may very well be their last meal...

7 out of 10

Guilt on the Gingerbread

[richardchatten · 6/10 · 30 August 2022]

The title suggests Robert Aldrich but it's actually a fairy tale set at Christmas in the 1920s resembling Hansel & Gretel crossed with 'Psycho' and 'The Amazing Mr Blunden' (whose director is actually in the cast), with Shelly Winters as as crazy old woman keeping a mummified corpse in her bedroom and preying on a pair of orphans one of whom is Oliver Twist himself.

American-International imported an American director and star to blighty, but while it includes a few of the fanciful touches one expects from Curtis Harrington - like a teddy bear being guillotined - his direction is overall rather perfunctory.

The cast includes Michael Gothard resembling Klaus Kinski as a very saturnine butler, and also boasts a most unlikely additional dialogue credit for Gavin Lambert.

Overall enjoyable

[zhivago97 · 6/10 · 20 June 2021]

Overall enjoyable, great cast and yes Mark Lester is once again an orphan looking for a forever home. I think some things are lost in translation (I.e., British vs American English), including, unfortunately one of the final and pivotal scenes. But it's still an enjoyable movie that made me laugh.

A DEAD time story to keep you awake!

[Stevieboy666 · 6/10 · 12 March 2022]

Every Christmas Eve eccentric American Auntie Roo invites some children from the local orphanage to stay at her large English country mansion. She's a real oddball, she keeps the decomposed corpse of her dead daughter in the child's bedroom and hosts (fake) seances to contact her. She also kidnaps one young orphan girl because of the similarity to her daughter. The girl's brother comes to the rescue. The movie is a good example of horror meets fairy tale, in this instance it is "Hansel and Gretel" The cast is very good, Hollywood starlet Shelley Winters gives a fine performance as Roo but all of the parts are played well. I have this on an old British VHS tape and it has a rated 18 sticker on it, seems a bit harsh. Apart from two scenes, the first with the aforementioned corpse plus a creepy segment involving some stage magician's props, the movie is not scary. It is a good looking film, ideal for Festive Season late night viewing, but it shouldn't keep you awake, despite what the video tagline says! AKA Who Slew Auntie Roo?

There's such a thing as too much Shelley Winters

[bregund · 3/10 · 4 June 2021]

I guess someone should have told this film's editor. I guess people in 1972 might have lined up to watch a Shelley Winters film billed as a horror, but by the time she performs a Christmastime burlesque show for a roomful of bored orphans, you'll be yawning as well. You have to see it to believe it, she looks like an overstuffed sausage. The skillful, edgy restraint she showed in Night of the Hunter, promising a career delivering top-notch performances, is long gone, replaced by a persistent and troublesome nagging undertone, as though the actress is the one directing the film...another actress who was probably told one too many times how good she was in NOTH and Lolita. This b-movie landed with a thud on my television last night, without having presented a single compelling or memorable scene, concept, performance, or story arc.

Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 28 May 2023]

Shelley Winters is super in this oddball horror. She ("Mrs. Forrest") invites ten young children into her mansion-cum-orphanage one Christmas - desperate to fill the void left by the death of her young daughter Katherine. Two children who did not get invited - "Katy" (Chloe Franks) and her brother "Christopher" (Mark Lester) decide that they are not going to be left out - but when the girl ends up locked in the attic, it falls to her brother to manage to convince everyone that his sister has been kidnapped, and that the old lady is not of particularly sound mind! A solid cast support the star here - Sir Ralph Richardson, Lionel Jeffries - in a straight (ash) role for a change, and the always engaging Hugh Griffith, but somehow once the film gets going I expected it to turn comedic. There just isn't any menace. Winters' performance is just scatty, never scary. Still, the ensemble delivers a reasonable script well enough and there are just about enough creepy goings on in the house to sustain it before an ending that i found rather sad.

Campy variation of children's fairy tale made for adults...and the drive-in crowd.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 5 August 2014]

A kindly widow turns out to be as nutty as the goodies she makes for her visiting children at Christmas time, and is unmasked by two run-aways she "takes in". Shelley Winters is all over the place here as she doesn't hold anything back in her desire to provide both laughs and chills. The problem is in the script because there is never any indication that she was anything more than a grieving mother who saw in Mark Lester's little sister a replacement for the daughter she lost in a freak accident. This changes the mood of the film once her huge mansion becomes Macadamia Manor.

In spite of character inconsistencies, the film remains engrossing, featuring cameo appearances by some of England's greatest character performers. An interesting historical note for film history is to see Lester ("Oliver!") sharing scenes with the little boy who played Tiny Tim in the musical version of "Scrooge". A truly gruesomely frightening ending may have kids with nightmares, so share it with them cautiously.

A Cult Classic

[Carrigon · 10/10 · 22 August 1999]

A great horror movie to watch at Christmas time. It has a creepy old mansion, great child actors. The plot centers around the disappearance of a child years before and some orphans who just happen to end up at the same mansion years later. Shelley Winters is great in this movie. It's really got a classic old british feel to this movie. Definitely a horror holiday classic, creepy, scary and fun to watch.

Shelley Winters's campy world

[lee_eisenberg · 6/10 · 17 April 2013]

Curtis Harrington had just directed Shelley Winters in the sinister "What's the Matter with Helen?", and so he brought her back for the equally sinister "Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?". Unlike the first movie, this one doesn't look at moral gray areas. Instead it goes straight for the jugular, riffing on Hansel and Gretel with Winters in the role of the witch (who in this case is simply a disturbed woman keeping her late daughter's skeleton preserved). It's a pretty fun movie, corny though it is. Easily better than the other movie in which Winters starred that year (the obnoxious "Poseidon Adventure").

So yes, can you hear your daughter's voice?

Hansel & Gretel revisited...sort of

[JasparLamarCrabb · 3/10 · 4 October 2014]

A not so great rift on the Hansel & Gretel story. Shelley Winters is a wealthy widow living in the English countryside. She keeps the corpse of her dead daughter in a coffin and sings it to sleep each night. After hosting a Christmas party for the local orphans, Winters kidnaps little Chloe Franks as a replacement daughter. Franks's brother (a post-Oliver! Mark Lester) tries to get her back. Together Lester & Franks try to outwit the "witch." There's not a single thrill in this film, which is surprising because it's directed by the highly creative Curtis Harrington. There's no character motivation behind the slightest things the actors do and, truth be told, Winters is not particularly interesting in her dull role. Ralph Richardson adds a spark or two as a fake medium and Hugh Griffith appears briefly as "the Pigman." The music by Kenneth V. Jones is forgettable and adds very little. The script was worked on Jimmy Sangster, who worked on a lot of the best Hammer films. Gavin Lambert, of all people, is credited as having provided additional dialog.