Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1972)
Cast: Shelley Winters, Mark Lester, Ralph Richardson, Chloe Franks, Lionel Jeffries
Director: Curtis Harrington
Synopsis: Shelley Winters as a crackpot Mama with several dark secrets in her attic
Reviewed by: Omar Khan

This is seldom seen little oddball of a horror movie from the early 70’s which is basically real-life version of the old Hansel and Gretel fairy tale. Shelley Winters stars as an ex-Vaudeville star with several dark secrets up her sleeve living in a sprawling, lavish mansion in the English countryside with a rapidly dwindling assortment of disgruntled servants.

Aunt Roo (Winters) is a widowed American faded star who once had a fortune which she appears to have largely demolished over the years even though her lifestyle remains seemingly opulent as ever. She is looked upon by the locals as a batty but kind hearted soul who prefers nothing more than lavishing her love and wealth on the young children from the nearby orphanage for whom she arranges fabulous Christmas parties every year.

We learn from the opening shots that she is more than a little deranged, singing lullaby’s to her mummified infant daughter whom she keeps enshrined in a little room up in the attic. Some terrible incident (falling off the stairs?) led to the tragic, premature death of her beloved daughter Katherine and now her entire life revolves around trying to rediscover her lost child through séances which are actually faked by the servants who work in cahoots with the local alcoholic medium – a marvellous cameo by Sir Ralph Richardson.

This particular year the annual Christmas party held by Winters is gate-crashed by two little orphans who arrive uninvited but are then welcomed by a generous and doting host. Winters finds one of the young gate-crashers triggering an avalanche of maternal feelings as she is reminded of her own lost Katherine. Winters takes to young Katie in a huge way hoping to eventually substitute her decaying mummy upstairs with a new version. However Katie’s Brother Mark Lester who suffers from an overly colourful imagination to begin with, begins to smell a rat and sees through the façade of Shelly Winters’ devoted, loving demeanour. He eventually works out that Winters is in fact a reincarnation of the Witch from the Hansel and Gretel story and that he and his sister are the ill-fated children who she is hoping to devour after a little fattening up.

Day by day young Lester discovers things which add to his fertile imagination and though his little sister is delighted by the attention being showered upon her by the charming Auntie Roo, he decides he has to act in order to save them both from being cooked in the oven and eaten by the big fat witch. When the weekend is over and the children are to return to the orphanage it is discovered that Katie is missing and though everyone feel’s she has run away, her brother is convinced that Roo has in fact imprisoned her to fatten her up and devour her so he decides to take matters into his own hands to rescue his sister from dastardly wicked witch.

The film barely qualifies as a horror film in that it is truly lightweight in the macabre department yet there are enough dark touches along the way to keep genre fans interested. Shelley Winters turns in a commendable performance, hamming to the required level when needed and looking suitably deranged when the moment demands it. Mark Lester who was quite the British child star of the early 70’s is horribly prissy and very “public schoolboy” like despite supposedly being a runaway orphan from a destitute background. He speaks “propah” English without even the slightest trace of cockney or street lingo. Chloe Franks who carved out a chapter for herself as a child artist in this period (especially in her memorable role from The House That Dripped Blood) is confident and impresses as the doe eyed Katie matching the seasoned Lester all the way.

Despite its limitations and its slight plot the director manages to keep the viewer mildly interested throughout and the climax, though fairly ludicrous, is in keeping with the strange fairy-tale aura that the film builds with its almost Dickensian scenario and the Christmas setting. Its hardly a film that will give its viewer sleepless nights though coming off rather more like the fable that its inspired by – a slightly twisted, real life version of Hansel and Gretel. This movie is unlikely to satisfy those looking for a dark, macabre truly frightening horror film however for those who enjoyed films like the wonderful Die Die My Darling AKA Fanatic, this might fit the bill to some extent even if it is hardly in the class of Die Die, but then Shelley Winters, bless her, is no Talulah Bankhead.