Review - Who Slew Auntie Roo?

WHO SLEW AUNTIE ROO? (1971)
The plot: Kindly widow kidnaps an orphan girl who reminds her of her dead daughter, while the girl's brother tries to rescue her and steal the widow's jewels. From the director of Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell. Merry Christmas!
The poop: Here's another buried gem from the vaults of American International Pictures. From the opening moments, where Shelley Winters holds the mummified remains of her daughter in an immaculately maintained playroom, you know you're in for twisted nonsense of the first order.

All you really need to know is that Winters plays Auntie Roo, a rich widow who yearly hosts Christmas for local orphans. One of  the new orphans, Katy, reminds Roo of her dead daughter, and Roo decides to keep Katy, who she locks in the playroom from the opening. Katy's big brother, Christopher, sneaks back to rescue her and maybe pinch some jewelry from Auntie Roo, as a nest-egg for himself and his sister. Then it gets weird.

But it's a low-key weird, aside from Shelley Winters, who ham-bones the hell out of this thing. The motif is "Hansel and Gretel," and the movie plays it up one side and down the other. I'll keep spoilers out of it, but once you watch it, see if you can figure out if Christopher; A) is a vicious little bastard, or B) he actually believes the story he feeds Katy.
Deal-breakers: Not really any likable characters. I'd say the orphan girl, Katy, comes the closest, but she really isn't terribly bright.

I suppose some could accuse the movie of being a bit slow, but that's the name of the game in the "crazy old lady" sub-genre, to which this firmly belongs.
The up-side: Does any movie, set on Christmas, that features a little mummified girl need any further up-sides?
Makes a great double-bill with: Any of the "crazy old lady" movies that were made in the wake of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. I'd go for Lady in a Cage or Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte, or even Dear Dead Delilah if you want to slum it up a bit. Or maybe pair it off with The Other for a "boys are jerks" double-feature.

Other stuff: I caught this, along with The Other, on Nite Owl Theatre's Double-Chiller Friday, and was probably about five or six years too young to see either one of them. Oh well. Shit happens.