'At Auntie Roo's house, the hand that rocks the cradle has no flesh on it!
I knew nothing about 1971's Who Slew Auntie Roo? when I set my DVR to record it earlier this year. It was a welcomed surprise. FH readers know my love of holidays and I have especially enjoyed finding films that mash the horror elements of Halloween with Christmas themed in film.
The films premise is sweet enough. Mrs. Rosie Forrest, (Auntie Roo) is a sweet widow who throws a lavish Christmas bash at each season for the children of the local orphanage. All of the children long to attend the party and spend time at Auntie Roo's huge mansion. The mansion is called Forrest Grange, but is known to the orphans as 'The Gingerbread House'.
Unfortunately, not everyone can attend, on the ten best mannered children are given the privilege. Sadly, that brother and sister Christopher and Katy Coombs (Mark Lester and Chloe Franks) are left off the list. They decide they're going anyway and hide in a car and end up at the party.
Although Auntie Roo (Shelley Winters) welcomes them, things don't turn out as festive as they hoped. Soon, the orphaned siblings learn Auntie Roo isn't as sweet as everyone thought, especially when they find the mummified remains of her daughter Katharine she keeps in the nursery room in the attic.
So... always on the look-out for a subject for 12 Days, whenever I see a great holiday film, I check to see if any of the actors have done a on screen nudity. British actor Mark Lester, who played Christopher Coombs, indeed had three future nude scenes on his resume. Leaning out them however, took me down a fascinating Rabbit Hole I didn't quite expect. Check out my findings on the next page for one of my more riskier editions of Actors (HERE:) & Skin. (HERE:)
