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WHOEVER SLEW AUNTIE ROO (1971)

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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 Interested in knowing what the movie's about? Here's the plot: "A demented widow lures unsuspecting children into her mansion in a bizarre "Hansel and Gretel" twist." 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. 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).

Could she be responsible for her daughter’s death? Is that a real ghost? Why does she prefer to be called “Roo”? Just because it rhymes with “slew”? Or simply because she kan(ga)? Some of these questions will be answered over the next 90 minutes. 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. Variety said "script is overly-contrived, but carries certain element of interest that may see it through selected bookings." [15]It’s hard to pinpoint who the protagonist in the story is by the end of it all. Shelly Winters as the titular Auntie Roo naturally should be the villain. There is no condoning holding a child against its will no matter your level of anguish, but it is nearly impossible to not feel for her. Her kindness comes from grief but also a genuine source of altruism. Dreaming of a White Christmas: Aunt Roo wakes up Katy and Christopher on Christmas morning by flinging open the curtains and shouting, "Children! Children! Wake up! Wake up! It's snowing!" 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! 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. Butler, Craig. "Who Slew Auntie Roo? (1971) - Curtis Harrington". Allmovie.com. Craig Butler . Retrieved 8 July 2018.

Phony Psychic: Mr. Benton ( Ralph Richardson) is a "medium" who conspires with butler Albie (Michael Gothard) and his wife Clarine ( Judy Cornwell) to fake visitations from Katharine. Clarine stands in Katharine's nursery, calling down the dumbwaiter shaft in a little girl voice, which completely fools Aunt Roo. Harrington was going to direct Wuthering Heights in England for AIP but did this instead after Shelley Winters requested him. Shelley Winters had worked with Harrington on What's the Matter with Helen? and asked for him on this movie "because of his ability with actors. I thought he would be wonderful." [5] Harrington says it was not a project "I personally wanted particularly to do." [1] Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1971) - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes.com. Fandango Media . Retrieved 4 December 2022.Harrington felt Mark Lester was not interested in acting but the director enjoyed working with Chloe Franks. [11] Release [ edit ] I may have just missed it, but I’m not aware of this film getting any airing on British TV. It’s certainly not in the public consciousness like many Brit horrors. But it’s also not hard to see why. It has the aesthetic of an early 70s children’s film (think Amazing Mr Blunden) but also dabbles in themes of mental illness, the occult, child cruelty and murder. The ending is remarkably amoral, considering at the beginning you’re thinking – “hey, this might be Chitty Chitty Bang Bang meets Oliver!”, and then you’re thinking “hang on, is this a Christmas film?” (yes, it is as it happens… although it’s unlikely to appear on a Sunday afternoon on Channel 5 like the rest of ‘em). A co-production between the United States and the United Kingdom, the film was shot at Shepperton Studios in London. Like What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte, What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice, and What's the Matter with Helen?, it is one of the many films in the psycho-biddy subgenre. Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? and the latter film, also starring Winters, were released on DVD as a MGM Midnite Movies Double Feature, and Winters requested that Helen's director Harrington direct the picture. Whoever Slew Auntie Roo” is indeed a very different kettle of fish, and the dynamic between the two antagonists is a most unusual one. Just as Roo is increasingly deluded and unable to see the reality of what is around her, so too is Christopher in his own innocent way. Both are living in their own respective dream world. What Happened to the Mouse?: Aunt Roo's cat. We last see it fleeing upstairs, shortly before Katy and Christopher set the house on fire. We never learn if it escaped or not.

The film was based on a storyline from Jimmy Sangster inspired by Hansel and Gretel. Sam Arkoff and James Nicholson of AIP hired Robert Blees to write a script which Harrington was dissatisfied with so the director arranged for the script to be rewritten by Gavin Lambert. [6] The first part is as delightful as the cakes,the sweets ,the lollipops and the gingerbread men which the good lady serves to the orphans she welcomes for her Christmas party in her Gothic desirable mansion.This mysterious woman,with a racy past ,was married to a magician (remarkable scene when the two children venture into the old house full of magic props where once more,we are told that children are not necessarily devoid of cruelty.

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Harrington enjoyed working with Louis Heyward and says he was the one who suggested Ralph Richardson. Harrington says the only actor the producers "imposed on me" was Michael Gothard who Harrington called a "lousy actor" and "a pain in the arse." [7] 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. Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (U.S. title: Who Slew Auntie Roo? [2]) is a 1972 horror- thriller film directed by Curtis Harrington and starring Shelley Winters, Mark Lester, and Sir Ralph Richardson. Based partly on the fairy tale " Hansel and Gretel", the film focuses on a demented American widow living in her husband's English manor who becomes obsessed with a young orphan girl who resembles her dead daughter. While the evil nature serves the character, Albie is so overwhelmingly avaricious and vile that he jumps the shark. Heartthrob

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