Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (197

Stars Shelley Winters, an American, and it's based on the German "Hansel and Gretel"--but it's still a sold British horror to be sure...and one set during Christmas (it's just that it's getting to be that hot, hot time of year down here in the south (!) and winter movies are appreciated--it's 96 out right now....and that's "mild"!).  Set during the 1920's the macabre British take on the classic fairystory, Mrs. Forrest (Winters) holds an "super fancy" Christmas party every year for the 10 "best" little orphans down the road....however, it turns out she is also a completely demented loon, with the mummified remains of her daughter locked away in the attic...things go very wrong when two of the little "urchins" get locked in her big mansion, that they simply know as "The Gingerbread House."

Theme Recipe: Hot Cinnamon Tea With Honey

Been serving afternoon tea all week watching Wimbledon and this year I wanted to experiment with some home flavored teas, to keep the budget down and the tea service interesting...turns out this was a good idea for another reason...I got a really bad cold, and this particular tea was great with tea cakes, cookies and tea sandwiches under the circumstances.

1 3/4 pints water

1 stick cinnamon (real canela for mild, hard cassia for spicy [my choice]--this is the kind you most often find in supermarkets)

2 tbsp. loose black tea

1 to 4 oz. honey (depending on taste and type)

1.  Combine the water and the cinnamon stick and bring the the boil.  Remove from heat and add the tea leaves, stir well.  Cover and let infuse for no more than 5 minutes.

2.  Strain tea into a heated tea pot, and add in the honey.  Stir well to melt, cover and serve.  This looks best in clear cups or middle eastern tea glasses.  If you want, stir in some milk.  A really nice addition...golden rum!

The Flesh And Blood Show (1972)

Proverbial theater whodunnit with the twist that it is directed (once again) by shock flesh artist Pete Walker.  A group of young theater actors rehearsing for an upcoming play at a little known independent theater in a seaside town with a weird vibe, begin to die off in very violent ways...one by one.  It's a solid suspense thriller, a cool slasher flick, but to me, though it's not really just a horror film either--it has, and maybe this is just me being twisted (!), it's mystery element has a dark humor to it as well.  Actually, thinking about Walker's work in general, almost all of his stuff that I have seen, save Die Screaming Marianne has that feel to it in the background.  This goes down, absolutely, though, as one of the earliest "proto-types" of the truly modern teen slasher flick!  

Psychomania (1973)

Frightmare opens with a sort of biker gang harrassing club goers and resturant patrons; so why not follow it up with a super low budget cult favorte that really features a biker gang??  Directed by veteran 1960's in house horror director Don Sharp, who directed such actors as Christopher Lee (see the 1960's Fu Manchu films) and for Hammer (such as Kiss Of The Vampire (1961)), he even directed a few episodes of "The Avengers."  Billed in the US as The Death Dealers, a gang of young "hooligans" called themselves The Living Dead, terrorize a English town before things start turn inwards on their own group, after their leader convinces them that their pack with devil will bring them eternal existence...catch is, they have to kill themselves first.