Name: Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1971)
Start: 2025-12-18T20:00:00+00:00
End: 2025-12-18T23:00:00+00:00
Location: Fontaine's

Every December the FREE monthly Lobotomy Room film club (committed to cinematic perversity) screens something “Christmas-adjacent” – but with a twist! Boy, are we delivering on Thursday 18 December with Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1971) - a dark festive Victorian fairytale, loosely inspired by Hansel and Gretel. Perhaps inevitably, Shelley Winters (at her most deranged) stars as the evil witch! British-American co-production Auntie Roo is firmly in the hagsploitation horror tradition of perennial Lobotomy Room favourites What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Hush … Hush, Sweet Charlotte, Strait-Jacket and Die! Die, My Darling. Or, for that matter, the equally essential What's the Matter with Helen? – the film that leading lady Winters and director Curtis Harrington had already collaborated on earlier the same year. The intriguing and durable maverick Harrington’s wayward career encompassed the occult / underground art film fringe (he was an associate of Kenneth Anger, appearing in Anger’s Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome in 1954) to juicily entertaining horror movies (like Night Tide (1961), Queen of Blood (1966) and Games (1967)) to mainstream television (he directed episodes of TV series Charlie’s Angels, Wonder Woman and Dynasty). Everything Harrington touched was imbued with an understanding of camp and an overtly queer sensibility. So, join us over cocktails at Fontaine’s for an evening of cute orphans! Seances! Teddy bears! Painful secrets! Conniving servants! Music hall songs! Madness! And meat cleavers!
Lobotomy Room is the FREE monthly film club devoted to Bad Movies for Bad People. Third Thursday night of every month downstairs at Fontaine’s cocktail lounge in Dalston. Numbers are limited, so reserve your seat via Fontaine’s site https://www.fontaines.bar/events/ Alternatively, phone 07718000546 or email [email protected]. The film starts at 8:30 pm. Doors to the basement Bamboo Lounge open at 8:00 pm. To ensure everyone is seated and cocktails are ordered on time, please arrive by 8:15 pm at the latest.