The children are perfect and the style of the movie the mansion, wardrobe, etc. Auntie roo shelley winters, he ran all the way just loves children. Since the accidental death of katherine, his only child, shelley winters has become insane. So when katy coombs chloe franks sneaks into the party with her brother, christopher mark lester, the deranged lady abducts the. Auntie roo winters is a rich but lonely older woman who spends most of her nights conducting seances with a fraud charlatan ralph richardson trying to connect to her now. The only extra is a rather hyped trailer, that makes the film seem far trashier than it is. Shes kept the corpse of his daughter in a hidden room and spends a lot of time and money trying to contact her soul with the help of ralph richardson, a fake medium.
Optional english subtitles, audio commentary with film historian david del valle and film scholar nathaniel bell trailers. After the mysterious disappearance of her daughter, auntie roo has been looking for a dead ringer replacement. Film complet country dancecountry dance 1970 drame, action. Following the success of bette davis and joan crawford in whatver happened to baby jane. This is a retelling of the old tale of hansel and gretel, but set in england in the 1920s. The film obviously loses steam in the last thirty minutes. Yes, the acting was bad, yes there are many plot holes, yes i didnt like any of the characters, but it was still fun to watch. The woman cant let go of her tragic past, she cant stand to be alone, and the children, chiefly the brother, wants to keep his sister to himself. Its a horror and mystery movie with an average rotten tomatoes critics score of 57%. As a time period film, the recreation of the 1930s was deadon.
Film production expert eve light honthaner in the complete film production handbook, focal press, 2001 p. Shelley winters plays auntie roo, a lonely but wealthy widow living in england. Chloe franks is a british actress, famous for her appearances as little girls in british films of the 1970s. The horror hag trend of giving older hollywood actresses juicy roles in horror movies had been going strong for a decade when shelley winters starred in her third contribution to the cycle, whoever slew auntie roo.
Audiences originally saw this one under the shortened title of who slew auntie roo. Oscars best picture winners best picture winners golden globes emmys san diego comiccon new york comiccon sundance film festival toronto intl film festival awards central festival central all events. The woman cant let go of her tragic past, she cant stand to be alone, and the children. Franks was born in london, england, on 1 september 1963. Both transfers have been enhanced for anamorphic playback on 16 x 9 monitors. I thought from the title which is generic for this run of films but just a little extra silly with the childlike rhyme that it was going to be more of a horror comedy. The audio for both features is in dolby digital mono. To the children and staff at the orphanage, auntie roo is a kindly american widow who gives them a lavish christmas party each year in her mansion, forrest grange. Whoever slew auntie roo is a 1971 british horrorthriller film directed by curtis harrington and starring shelley winters, mark lester, and sir ralph richardson. More of a wickedly funny and dark fractured fairy tale than a horror film, whoever slew auntie roo. Film historian kim morgan writes about curtis harringtons whoever slew. The film is loosely based on the fairy tale, hansel and gretel, and can best be summed up as a psychological horror flick.
In this english film, a group of orphans visiting the home of a wealthy, retired singer shelley winters discover that the woman is hiding a. Richard beaumonts films include whoever slew auntie roo. Burned to death after mark lester starts a fire in the kitchen while she is trapped in the pantry. Tho i agree this film includes shelleys best performance, who can deny that there were no stiff actors, as each character was fully explained, rare for a horror film.
Get notified if it comes to one of your streaming services, like netflix. Whoever slew auntie roo was a film i didnt get to see in the theaters. The title screen is the whoever version, but the blus menu uses an original who slew auntie roo. Whoever slew auntie roo not to be confused with the wonderfully demented cat in the hat spoof who slew simon thaddeus mulberry pew. The film was director curtis harringtonstar shelley winters immediate followup to whats the matter with helen. After the mysterious disappearance of her daughter. We do not need lesters voice over to understand that the children are hansel and gretel in the witchs denas freud and. Winters begins to overact to make up for the poor third of the script which is at once repetitive,dull and predictable.
It contains some of the essential ingredients of a good horror film, including the big scary mansion, a seance, a rotting corpse, together with a host of oddball characters. Take the overthehill screen siren, slap her into a harebrained thriller, and watch the camp meter explode. Too many plot elements simply go nowhere and though the ending is. The bluray includes trailers, plus audio commentary with david del valle and nathaniel bell. Who slew auntie roo holiday horror podcast meep920741033. Roo throws lavish christmas parties for local orphans and decides she wants to kidnap katy because of the girls resemblance to roo s. Whoever slew auntie roo is a bizarre movie that i wish i liked more than i did.
Auntie roo is hiding a secretand chris and chloe are going to find out that they shouldnt cross auntie roo. A complete nutter that you pity one minute and cant stand the next. Such is the case with shelley winters overthetop turn as widow rosie forest in 1971s whoever slew auntie roo. Who slew auntie roo is still one of the most cleverly constructed films of the 70s. Film complet the funny blokes of british comedythe funny blokes of british comedy 2005 drame. In case something is wrong or missing kindly let us know by. After auntie roo sings the pretty but ominous tune, she peers into the crib to. Nearly prefiguring kubricks the shining it is the tale of the last days of auntie roo, shelly winters, in what the children of the local orphanage call the gingerbread house. Nearly prefiguring kubrick s the shining it is the tale of the last days of auntie roo, shelly winters, in what the children of the local orphanage call the gingerbread house. Directed by curtis harrington, whoever slew auntie roo. Her best remembered role was as jane reid, the witchcraftobsessed little daughter of christopher lee in the amicus horror anthology film the house that dripped blood 1970. Meh another case perhaps of an overabundance of screenwriters resulting in a confused and sloppy end product, whoever slew auntie roo.
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