Curtis Harrington had just directed Shelley Winters in the sinister "What's the Matter with Helen?", and so he brought her back for the equally sinister "Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?". Unlike the first movie, this one doesn't look at moral gray areas. Instead it goes straight for the jugular, riffing on Hansel and Gretel with Winters in the role of the witch (who in this case is simply a disturbed woman keeping her late daughter's skeleton preserved). It's a pretty fun movie, corny though it is. Easily better than the other movie in which Winters starred that year (the obnoxious "Poseidon Adventure").So yes, can you hear your daughter's voice?

"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

I honestly wonder why the entire production crew of "Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?" opted to use such an unusual and revealing narrative structure? Before the opening credits even, it's made distinctively clear that Rosie Forrest (a.k.a Auntie Roo") is mentally disturbed and dangerous, as she sings lullabies to a cradle that holds the mummified leftovers of a young girl's body. Yet, after this bizarre introduction, the film nevertheless attempts to convince us that she's an endearing old lady who throws Christmas parties for poor orphans and even tries to get into contact with the spirit of her deceased daughter through séances. I'm no horror script-writer, unfortunately, but wouldn't it have been much more effective if the macabre secret in Rosie's attic only got mentioned near the end of the movie? Anyway, despite some severely incomprehensible continuity-errors and other flaws, "Whoever Slew Auntie Roo" is an entertaining piece of American 70's horror that features surprisingly great acting performances and some memorable moments of ingeniousness. The story is presented as an adult variation to "Hansel & Gretel", which is definitely one of the eeriest and most gruesome fairy-tales ever told. When a dozen of orphans arrive at Auntie Roo's mansion to celebrate Christmas, she sees in beautiful Katy the reincarnation of her own deceased daughter. She seduces the young girl with toys and privileges, and when the rest of the children returns to the orphanage, Katy stays in the mansion, locked up in a room. Her courageous older brother escapes from the orphanage to search for Katy and discovers Auntie Roo's demented secrets. All the supposedly horrific plot-twists entirely miss their effect, for obvious reasons, and the playful character (as implied already by the silly title) prevents the film from ever getting disturbing. Director Curtis Harrington occasionally succeeds in capturing a tense moment, most notably when Christopher tricks the loony old lady and seizes her keys, and he also sustains a competent pacing. The film definitely also features a lot of atmospheric scenery, such as uncanny rooms full of old dolls and a garden shed filled with a magician's attributes. Shelley Winters is sublime as the crazy old woman and especially the talented child actors are a delight, for a change. The script also should have given some more attention to the interesting supportive characters, like the odd butler Albie and the joyful meat-deliverer Mr. Harrison. "Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?" is by no means a great horror film, but it's fun enough to watch on a rainy Sunday afternoon or during a theme-night with friends.

I had the fortunate circumstance to see this double-billed as a very young child with Bava'a Baron Blood. Some of the scenes remained in my mind - particularly the creepy figure of Shelley Winters. I recently set out to see the film again some 30 years later. I remembered more than I thought I had, and the film came back to me in large part. This is not a bad film nor a good film. As another reviewer noted, it is a pleasant, harmless time-waster - for those of us who enjoy "wasting" time on such things. Mark Lester and Chloe Franks play two orphans at an orphanage. Franks has an uncanny resemblance to the dead daughter of the orphanage's greatest patroness and benefactress, Shelley Winters. Winters is so good to the kiddies that every year she invites them to her sumptuous home at Christmas for yuletide fun. She has virtually no interest in Lester but soon has the keenest of hearts for the young Franks as her dead daughter's look-a-like. Well, Lester is a growing teen rebelling, Winters decays into some form of madness, a cast of stalwart British character actors such as Sir Ralph Richardson, Hugh Griffith, and Lionel Jeffries ably aid the story, and that story degenerates/diffuses into some sinister tale not unlike Hansel and Gretel. Well, the movie has a poor story overall - but Winter's fine performance albeit over-the-top to be sure does add emotional depth to it. Director Curtis Harrington is very able behind the camera if not dazzling.