Butler, Craig. "Who Slew Auntie Roo? (1971) - Curtis Harrington". Allmovie.com. Craig Butler . Retrieved 8 July 2018. After a seance in the dark with a charlatan medium,Roo (Winters)is quite sure that one of the orphans is her late daughter ,who rose from the dead. She wants to keep her in her house but her brother (Mark "Oliver" Lester ) is not prepared to accept it.He tells his sister about Grimm's sinister fairytale "Hansel und Gretel" in the gingerbread house.

Once at the Forrest house the kids are greeted by Mrs Forrest, who insists they call her “Auntie Roo” (because she’s good at boxing? Because she self-medicates on cheap lager? Because she carries her young in a makeshift pouch? Sadly we’ll never know). classic, the unspeakably great Planes, Trains & Automobiles. So grab a glass of wine or even some premature eggnog, and join us as we dive into an unmissable Thanksgiving/holiday favorite on this episode of NO NOTES.

The film obviously loses steam in the last thirty minutes.Winters begins to overact to make up for the poor third of the script which is at once repetitive ,dull and predictable.We do not need Lester's voice over to understand that the children are Hansel and Gretel in the witch's den..As Freud and Bruno Bettelheim showed,fairy tales have an hidden meaning which the children unconsciously comprehend but the demonstration is pretty low brow.

What You Are in the Dark: the supposed-protagonist's actions at the film's climax, which retroactively flips the entire script on its head. Dialing down the deplorable nature of, well everyone, would serve another go at the story. There’s true emotion at the root of the tale, and when you have that you can always build out. Tying the amplified sorrow to the Christmas season as well would make for a great Christmas horror. Spawns

2024 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden’s Freaky Tales

Variety said "script is overly-contrived, but carries certain element of interest that may see it through selected bookings." [15] 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. Miss Henley: I apologize for him. He's a congenital liar with a rather overactive imagination. Christopher, you'll be very severely punished when you return. 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.

Please, Don't Leave Me: Aunt Roo screams and begs Katy and Christopher not to leave her alone as they flee the burning house.While the evil nature serves the character, Albie is so overwhelmingly avaricious and vile that he jumps the shark. Heartthrob Ding-Dong-Ditch Distraction: Christopher does this to get Aunt Roo out of the kitchen long enough for him to steal the key to the nursery. 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]