BootDigest
Such a frustrating disappointment
Teringer
An Exercise In Nonsense
Mandeep Tyson
The acting in this movie is really good.
adriangr
"Auntie Roo" is marketed a a "crazy old dame" movie, but it's very confusing in it's intentions. Here we have Shelley Winters playing a batty old lady with a large mansion, who likes to invite children across for parties to ease her loneliness. Unfortunately two of the children get a bit nosey and Auntie Roo's dark secrets come tumbling out. What's wrong here is that the plot doesn't really give the viewer any clearly defined direction. The film uses the Hansel and Gretel fable as a parallel, and the constant reference to this subject matter does get a bit silly. Auntie Roo is not the witch that the children think she is, in fact the children terrorise her more than she does them. Maybe that was the twist that they were going for but I don't know if the story is supposed to paint the poor, misguided Roo as the villain, or the annoying children. It's all over the place. Who are you supposed to like? Nobody? Shelley Winters does a good job of acting here, but sadly the two children (Mark Lester and Chloe Franks) do not. I can't imagine anyone coming away at the end of this film feeling satisfied.
JasparLamarCrabb
A not so great rift on the Hansel & Gretel story. Shelley Winters is a wealthy widow living in the English countryside. She keeps the corpse of her dead daughter in a coffin and sings it to sleep each night. After hosting a Christmas party for the local orphans, Winters kidnaps little Chloe Franks as a replacement daughter. Franks's brother (a post-Oliver! Mark Lester) tries to get her back. Together Lester & Franks try to outwit the "witch." There's not a single thrill in this film, which is surprising because it's directed by the highly creative Curtis Harrington. There's no character motivation behind the slightest things the actors do and, truth be told, Winters is not particularly interesting in her dull role. Ralph Richardson adds a spark or two as a fake medium and Hugh Griffith appears briefly as "the Pigman." The music by Kenneth V. Jones is forgettable and adds very little. The script was worked on Jimmy Sangster, who worked on a lot of the best Hammer films. Gavin Lambert, of all people, is credited as having provided additional dialog.
The_Void
I really do like the idea of a scriptwriter taking a classic story, changing a couple of things, and spinning a modern horror story around it. There have been good examples of this (Little Red Riding Hood and Freeway, for example), some half decent ones (Snow White: A Tale of Terror) and some that miss the mark. This film being a good example of the latter. Whoever Slew Auntie Roo is a seventies horror take on the classic Hansel and Gretel story. The plot focuses on an elderly and insane widow that runs an orphanage. Her daughter died as a child and the widow consoles herself by keeping her remains inside a casket in the attic. She also kidnaps children; but comes a cropper when she kidnaps Katy, and her brother comes looking for her. The main problem with this film is undoubtedly that it lacks interest. The first hour is really boring and even when things start to get interesting, it doesn't get interesting enough to justify the whole film. There's two names in the cast; those belonging to Shelly Winters and Mark Lester. Winters takes the role like an actress that has done this type of film many times before - and basically just goes through the motions. Lester is, of course, best known for his role in Oliver; and he's just as irritating in this film. I do have to admit that the ending is rather good; but this film is not good enough to recommend.
slayrrr666
"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
