Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Best movie ever!

Absolutely brilliant

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

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?

This takes place in 1920s England. Mrs. Forrest (Shelley Winters) lives in this big old mansion by herself. She had a daughter who disappeared years ago...and she never forgot her. Every Christmas she opens her house to kids at a nearby orphanage. One Christmas she meets young Katie (Chloe Franks) who looks just like her daughter. She plans to keep Katie forever but Katie's protective older brother Christopher (Mark Lester) won't let that happen.VERY mild horror film...it barely qualifies as horror! It's more funny than scary to see Winters chewing the scenery non-stop. The story is no more than an updating of "Hansel and Gretel" and is VERY thin. There's tons of filler and it gets boring when Winters isn't on screen. Also Lester and Franks are pretty bad in their roles. Still it LOOKS great (the DVD transfer is great) and it is well-directed by Curtis Harrington, but it's just not scary enough.

"Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?" is decent enough but still watchable in the right mind-set.**SPOILERS**Shortly after her daughter's death, Mrs. Forrest, (Shelly Winters) becomes insane and tries to reconnect with her anyway she can. Thinking that the annual Christmas Party she hosts for local orphans will be helpful, she awaits news on who's coming over to her house. When the guests arrive, Christopher, (Mark Lester) and Katy Coombs, (Chloe Franks) sneak off to join the festivities. As the party begins, she begins to put extra attention on them as she feels like her dead daughter is inhabiting one of the visiting children. When all of the good behavior starts to make them suspicious of the situation, they soon realize what the intent of the trip was in the first place and soon race back to the house to stop the evil plans from going through.The Good News: When this one really tries, it does have some good stuff going in it's favor. The best part is the last half-hour, which is really the heart of the film. It's one big long action scene after another with a suspense scene thrown in after another. There's some really great chasing in here, as well as some really nice brawling going on. With all the rooms and open space in the place, it adds a great deal to the film. When the first starts and the whole place starts to come down is a fun sight, and that it takes awhile to really get going is the fun part. When the film decides to throw in some really creepy stuff, it succeeds as well. The playing around in the attic is quite creepy, with all the magic acts and the props laying around setting a great vibe for this series of scenes. They're all quite creepily done and feature enough tense moments and out-right freaky ones that make it worthwhile. This here didn't feel too bad at times.The Bad News: There isn't too much wrong here. The most notable part is that, outside of the two mentioned scenes, this feels really lackluster. There really doesn't seem to be much of an indication that there's a big deal from anything in the film. Nothing really happens, but it still feels way too unexciting or interested for most of the time. There's a lot of time spent on the orphans and their issues which makes the time spent on the scares far less important and logistical. That, plus all the time spent there in the first place, are the film's most pressing flaws, even though the main one is still the lack of enthusiasm presented for most of the film.The Final Verdict: While not all that bad, there is enough here to make it worthwhile viewing if in the proper mood. The flaws might not make it enjoyable to those not in the right state, but it's still got enough good points to make it watchable at worst.Today's Rating-PG-13: Violence

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.