Shelley Winters is the rich, fat widow of a stage magician. Her daughter died when a child, sliding down the banister. Nowadays, she has children from a local orphanage in for Christmas eve, where she treats them to a dinner, a reading of "A Visit From St. Nicholas" and gifts. When Chloe Franks sees her looking at the mummified corpse of her daughter, Miss Winters keeps her and her brother, Mark Lester, prisoner in an eccentric modern-dress version of "Hansel and Gretel."
Director Curtis Harrington has assembled an interesting cast, including Ralph Richardson, Lionel Jeffries and Hugh Griffith in this Hammer-Films-style horror story; Jimmy Sangster is one of the writers. It all hangs together well enough even though this is not the sort of movie I typically enjoy. Miss Winters was still near the beginning of herthe final phase phase of her career, when she played a lot of eccentrics, and pretty restrained for the role. It's Mark Lester who is the real monster of the show.
Director Curtis Harrington has assembled an interesting cast, including Ralph Richardson, Lionel Jeffries and Hugh Griffith in this Hammer-Films-style horror story; Jimmy Sangster is one of the writers. It all hangs together well enough even though this is not the sort of movie I typically enjoy. Miss Winters was still near the beginning of herthe final phase phase of her career, when she played a lot of eccentrics, and pretty restrained for the role. It's Mark Lester who is the real monster of the show.