Customer Reviews
A double dose of Shelley Winters at her best - By: Mr. D. New, 12 Sep 2007 
This double sided dvd contains two horror films What's The Matter With Helen ? & Who Slew Auntie Roo ? both starring Shelley Winters. Sadly she is no longer with us but we are still able to endjoy her performances with dvds like this one.
The first film What's The Matter With Helen ? concerns two mothers of convicted murders who escape their past & move to Hollywood. One (played by Debbie Reynolds) becomes a star, while the other (Winters) is left out in the cold & graduallly decends into madness. An excellent film which also stars the late Dennis Weaver (McCloud, Gentle Ben). The print is excellent (1.78 ratio widescreen) with very little print damage & good sound quality.
The second film Who Slew Auntie Roo ? features Winters as Auntie Roo as a "kindly" auntie who invites childeren from the local orphanage for Christmas. Her character is rather like the witch out of Hansel & Gretle (which the story is very losely based on). She hides a sinister secret in the attic. Once again a superb film with excellent supporting cast including Lional Jeffries (Murder Ahoy) & Sir Ralph Richardson (Tales From The Crypt). The print is also excellent in 1.85 widescreen with great sound & picture quality.
This dvd is an American dvd & is region 1 coded. To date neither film has been released in the UK. If you enjoy classic horror without excessive gore or violence then this dvd is well worth adding to your collection.
Shelley Winters is fantastic in this Great British classic! - By: FAMOUS NAME, 02 Jun 2006 WHOEVER SLEW AUNTIE ROO?
Probably Shelley Winters' greatest movie - though I suspect many would disagree. Many viewers delight in name-callling 'Aunt Roo' as 'nuts' 'crazy' 'evil' etc., but many fail to see the sad & pathetic side to this unfortunate character.
Aunt Roo (played marvellously by the wonderful Shelley Winters) is clearly traumatised by the tragic death of her only child. Left widowed in an isolated mansion to live alll by herself, she, & her poor 'damaged' mind due to the trauma of her loss, are taken advantage of, & are cruelly & sadisticallly abused by her staff who pretend to be her dead daughter come back during false séances. Many 'unsympathisers' ignore the staff who bleed her white. Despite showing loads of kindnesses to orphaned children, she is further abused by two of the most ungrateful among them. Consequently, 'Aunt Roo' transforms from just being traumatised to mentallly disturbed, & the tragic end to the movie ensues...
I guess this story just goes to prove how cruel society & people can be to traumatised people without trying to understand them. If the roles of this film were reversed, everyone's sympathy would have been with the children, simply because they were 'kids'.
Shelley Winters' performance still brings tears to my eyes when she cries & yearns for her dead child, only to find out she's been made a fool of - enough to drive anyone crazy!
A fabulous movie, & a fabulous story. It's often likened to 'Hansel And Gretel', but I think it's far more complicated than that.
WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH HELEN?
This is a film 'oddity', & quite frankly, have never been able to follow it.
Debbie Reynolds & Shelley Winters start in this as two friends who are hiding are dark secret. Unlike alll the other 'whatever' movies, this does not have a tremendously good story that makes enough sense, though there are a lot of shock moments & interesting parts. I also find Shelley Winter's performance difficult to make out because most of the acting in this borders on the 'comic'.
Also stars Dennis Weaver.
