Film Snail

Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?
Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?

6.2

Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?

PG·1972·91m

Summary

A demented widow lures unsuspecting children into her mansion in a bizarre "Hansel and Gretel" twist.

Crew

Director

Curtis Harrington

Original Story

David D. Osborn

Screenplay

Jimmy Sangster

Screenplay

Robert Blees

Reviews

Geronimo1967

Geronimo1967

May 28, 2023

6

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.

Media

Status:

Released

Original Language:

English

Budget:

$0.00

Revenue:

$0.00

Keywords

new year's eve
kidnapping
brother
christmas tree
sister
orphan
house fire
teddy bear
séance
child kidnapping
fake psychic
older brother younger sister
christmas
orphan siblings
magician
death of a child
hagsploitation