Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1972)

(On Cable TV, October 2022) Another entry in the overly-long-titled psycho-biddy thriller subgenre of the late 1960s and early 1970s, latecomer entry Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? features no less than Shelley Winters as a rich demented American heiress living in a spooky English mansion, the plot borrowing a lot from Hansel and Gretel. A lot. The effect is more comforting than disquieting—at least for those psycho-biddy thriller fans used to the worst and expecting as much. There’s an innate silliness to the result that makes it approach a comedy at times, with Winters being a touch too convincing at playing psychopathic biddies. Director Curtis Harrington has some fun playing with audience loyalties and delving into the gothic possibilities of his sets. Arguably best positioned as late-night entertainment, Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? may not be all that good, but it is good fun.