WHOEVER SLEW AUNTIE ROO (1971)

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It’s grief that pulls at the heart in this one. Perhaps in my own role as initiator of life, I’ve developed a way to empathize even in the adverse pathology of mania. Curtis Harrington's WHOEVER SLEW AUNTIE ROO? is a film that seem to become more popular with each passing year. The film was a surprise hit for AIP when it was released and I think it's fair to say that it gave Winters' career a boost that it was certainly needing and I'm sure the popularity of this film help land her a role in THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, which of course would get her an Oscar nomination. The film isn't the greatest movie ever made but it's certainly an effective one and one that is very much worth watching.

Dies Wide Open: After her death, Katharine stares at the ceiling with blood coming out of her nose. 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.It’s at this point the audience starts to think “what is this?”, because the film has become a weird mix of children’s film, psycho thriller and ghost story. With the children asleep upstairs, Roo brings in Benton for another séance, and while Katy is awoken and drawn to the calls for “Catherine”, her brother discovers the truth behind “Catherine’s” voice (clue: it’s not a ghost). Fans of Shelley Winters should appreciate her performance as Auntie Roo, a batty, rich dame who spoils children, hosts elaborate Christmas parties, and desperately wishes to believe in the supernatural. But anyone expecting thrills, either campy or creepy, will be disappointed in this Curtis Harrington title, a director who usually excels in weird, offbeat genre efforts.

Sindelar, Dave (31 December 2015). "Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1971)". FantasticMovieMusings.com. Dave Sindelar . Retrieved 8 July 2018.Harrington says it was his idea to set the film in the 1920s. "I have a great fondness for all the imagery and quality of the traditional Victorian Christmas celebration. I tried to put as much as I could of that in the film." [1] Harrington, Curtis (2013). Nice Guys Don't Work in Hollywood: The Adventures of An Aesthete in the Movie Business. Drag City. 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". Every year, Rosie Forrest, known as "Auntie Roo", throws a lavish overnight Christmas party for ten of the best-mannered children at the local orphanage. Despite her warm demeanour, Rosie is in fact demented and mentally ill and keeps the mummified remains of her daughter Katharine in a nursery room in the attic.

Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? was released theatrically in the United States in late 1971, opening regionally in several cities in Ohio [12] [13] and Pennsylvania on December 22, 1971. [14] Shelley Winters, Mark Lester, Chloe Franks, Ralph Richardson, Lionel Jeffries, Hugh Griffith, Rosalie Crutchley, Pat Heywood, Judy Cornwell, Michael Gothard, Jacqueline Cowper, Richard Beaumont, Charlotte Sayce, Marianne Stone As for a horror element, besides the dread of being burned alive, there is a beautiful Magician’s menagerie about halfway through the film that is filled with some fantastic old school props. Theater costumes and guillotines and creepy puppets. It’s brilliant set design. Dennis Fischer (1 January 1991). Horror Film Directors, 1931-1990. McFarland. p.511. ISBN 978-0-89950-609-8.Every year at Christmas time, rich widow Mrs. Forrest (Shelley Winters) invites ten kids from the local orphanage up for a good time. This particular year two additional kids sneak into the house. Christopher (Mark Lester) and his sister Katy (Chloe Franks) eventually catch the key of Mrs. Forrest and especially the sister since she reminds the woman of her dead daughter. Before you know it the kids are staying with Mrs. Forrest but before long Christopher begins to think that she's a witch with plans to eat them.

This would serve as Harrington’s fifth cinematic feature, the film critic turned genre filmmaker reuniting with Winters, one of his two leads from the exceptional 1930s period piece What’s the Matter with Helen?, released only a year prior (Vincent Canby described the actress in demeaning terms by comparing her semblance to that of a reproachful pudding). However, this collaboration suffers greatly from awkward tonal shifts and a curious inability to establish empathy for its child protagonists. Mark Lester, famous for his title turn in the musical Oliver! (1968), and child actress Chloe Franks give, perhaps, the worst performances across Harrington’s seedy filmography, which includes some exceptional work in items needing to be resuscitated from obscurity (such as 1967’s Games). Harrington proves unable to effectively direct child performers or curb his lead star’s worst tendencies, paving the way for Winters to clean house in a performance ranging from supremely shrill to surprisingly sympathetic. By the time its Hansel & Gretel role reversal becomes complete, which is weakly established through wan attempts in the script asserting kids at the orphanage believe she eats children, Aunt Roo’s demise becomes the real tragedy as the film leaves us with two smug sociopaths who just committed murder. While there’s a case for arguing Harrington was intelligent enough of a filmmaker to purposefully deliver subversive context with his finale, the imperiled children are consistently presented as entitled victims, with the audience’s allegiance persuaded to accept their struggle. Meanwhile, Ralph Richardson as a doddering old medium somehow gets the short shrift when clearly his subplot would have greatly established a greater sense of menace. Disc Review: Dumbwaiter Ride: Christopher pulls himself up to Katharine's nursery this way. Through the doors, he sees Aunt Roo singing to Katharine's skeleton. Later, he does this to try to rescue Katy. When Aunt Roo catches him, she cuts the dumbwaiter ropes so he can't escape.Christopher and Katy are caught by Roo’s weirdly nasty butler, Albie (Michael Gothard), who threatens them with a knife (Roo: “That’s not a knife…” no, this didn’t actually happen – I’m just expanding on the hilarious kangaroo /Australia jokes. Don’t worry, this is unlikely to be the last one) before bringing them into the party, where Roo takes pity on them and invites them to stay (“Can we stay?” / “Of course you kanga.”) 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. A woman is singing a lullaby to her daughter, suddenly revealed – crash zoom! – as a desiccated corpse (an excellent jump-scare, better done here than in many more well-regarded horrors). Who is this mad woman, who believes this mummified child is still alive? Why it’s none other than Mrs Forrest (Shelley Winters), the American widow living in the big house who every year invites children from the local orphanage to spend Christmas with her, that’s who (or, if yopu prefer, Roo).