Happy Holidays! It’s the most wonderful time of the year when family and friends gather, eat lots of food and exchange gifts that say “I care.”
But not everyone is so lucky and may have to depend on the kindness of strangers to bring them holiday joy. For the kids at the Home for Orphans and Destitute Children, that person is Mrs. Rosie Forrest (“call me Aunt Roo”), who hosts an annual holiday party/sleepover for 10 lucky youngsters at her mansion, Forrest Grange (the kids call it the Gingerbread House).
Sounds wonderful for the children except that this is happening in the 1971 holiday horror film Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? And once we realize something isn’t right, we fear for the kids. It stars Shelley Winters as Aunt Roo, Ralph Richardson as a “medium” and young Mark Lester as one of the orphans. (Note: though the film title is “Auntie” Roo, she asks the children to call her Aunt Roo.)
I had never seen the film and a quick search said it was loosely based on Hansel and Gretel. That’s not the spoiler you would expect it to be so I’m glad I watched it.
Yes, the film’s main setting is a large Victorian gingerbread house. And yes, one of the main characters can recite the fairy tale by heart. But there’s more going on here.
From the start, we’re given information we don’t quite know what to do with. In a room filled with creepy dolls and puppets, Aunt Roo – glamorous in a tiara and evening gown – is lovingly singing to her sleeping daughter. Or is that what we’re really seeing?
Not even two minutes into the film and the tone abruptly shifts to one of horror as thunder booms, a storm surges and a majestically atmospheric score written by Kenneth V. Jones sets the mood. It’s a wonderful opening for a horror film.
Mr. Benton (Ralph Richardson) quickly arrives for his regular series of seances with Aunt Roo who is desperately trying to contact her missing daughter by whatever means necessary. The storm seems like a perfect backdrop to reach out to the other side, Aunt Roo says, and sure enough we’ll hear tapping in the house and a voice calling out. It won’t be the only time.
The next day is the holiday sleepover and the children are taken to the mansion but they aren’t alone: Two other orphans have stowed away to attend the party. They are Christopher (Mark Lester) and his little sister Katy (Chloe Franks). The camera loves these beautiful kids with their big eyes and innocent faces. Generous Aunt Roo lets them stay. “There’s always enough room for children at Forrest Grange,” she says.
It’s a marvelous Christmas Eve party where kids eat gingerbread cookies, listen to holiday music and are read The Night Before Christmas by Aunt Roo. Then they’re off to bed waiting for Santa while the adults have another séance.
Little Katy, who has been awakened by calls of “Katherine, come to us,” interrupts the séance at a most dramatic moment. “I heard talking, they were calling,” Katy says in her adorable voice sounding and looking like the missing Katherine. (We can see where this is going, right?)
Christopher has followed his sister but stops to investigate sounds of tapping and talking coming from inside a locked room. When Aunt Roo shows him there’s nobody there, he doesn’t believe it and neither do we. (We know what we saw and heard.)
Christmas comes and the kids are overjoyed with gifts from Aunt Roo who truly loves to make the children happy. (Still, you’ll wonder, can we trust her?) She’ll also sing for them and let them play outside where the curious Christopher and Katy discover a scary room in a barn.
It’s where Aunt Roo’s husband, a magician, stored everything for his shows including a guillotine that the kids think is a toy. Guess again. (Think of the room as an amusement park fun house with strange sounds, decapitated heads, inanimate objects that move and figures that will leap out from the dark. It’s pretty scary.)
When it’s time for the kids to return to the orphanage, Katy can’t be found but no one other than her brother seems concerned. Christopher heard Aunt Roo tempting his sister with promises of a new home and of fattening her up like the witch does in Hansel and Gretel.
There’s already so much going on by this point that the viewer has options on where they think the story is going. We’ve got seances, skeletons, a creepy butler, a mean headmistress, a gingerbread house (including a disturbing miniature version in a child’s room), hidden passages (always a favorite) and a kid with an overactive imagination to keep it all going.
Don’t forget the unexplained tapping and crying, visions of a woman shrouded in black and missing people.
When you think you have it figured out, there’s always another dribble of information that changes your perceptions. Is Aunt Roo a mother in mourning we should pity? A killer to fear? Or just an eccentric? Can she be all or none of those? What about that strange butler Albie (Michael Gothard)? Is he just weird, an opportunist, perhaps a crook or worse? And what’s up with the character identified as the “Pigman” in the credits (played by Hugh Griffith) who delivers fresh meat to the estate?
It’s easy to wonder if Christopher is right about the secrets of the Gingerbread House and that Aunt Roo is the evil witch from Hansel and Gretel. But are we letting our imaginations get the best of us like Christopher does? If we are, I say let it. That’s what movies are for.
So get some gingerbread cookies, pour a cup of hot cocoa and join Aunt Roo and the children for the holidays.
– Toni Ruberto for Classic Movie Hub
You can read all of Toni’s Monsters and Matinees articles here.
Toni Ruberto, born and raised in Buffalo, N.Y., is an editor and writer in Buffalo, N.Y. She shares her love for classic movies in her blog, Watching Forever and is a member and board chair of the Classic Movie Blog Association. Toni was the president of the former Buffalo chapter of TCM Backlot and led the offshoot group, Buffalo Classic Movie Buffs. She is proud to have put Buffalo and its glorious old movie palaces in the spotlight as the inaugural winner of the TCM in Your Hometown contest. You can find Toni on Twitter at @toniruberto or on Bluesky at @watchingforever.bsky.social.
