What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?

What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?
Theatrical release poster
Directed byLee H. Katzin
Screenplay byTheodore Apstein
Based onThe Forbidden Garden
by Ursula Curtiss
Produced byRobert Aldrich
Starring
CinematographyJoseph Biroc
Edited byFrank J. Urioste
Music byGerald Fried
Production
companies
Palomar Pictures Corporation
The Associates & Aldrich Company
Distributed byCinerama Releasing Corporation
Release date
  • July 23, 1969 (1969-07-23)
Running time
101 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1.7 million
Box office$3.2 million

What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? is a 1969 American horror thriller film directed by Lee H. Katzin, and starring Geraldine Page, Ruth Gordon, Rosemary Forsyth, Robert Fuller, and Mildred Dunnock. The screenplay by Theodore Apstein, based on the novel The Forbidden Garden by Ursula Curtiss, focuses on an aging Arizona widow who hires elderly female housekeepers and cons them out of their money before murdering them. The film's title is a reference to the 1962 horror film What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, which was also produced by Robert Aldrich. Both films are considered part of the psycho-biddy subgenre, in which a formerly glamorous and now older woman has become psychotic.

What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? was filmed mainly in Tucson in the fall of 1968. The original director, Bernard Girard, was fired from the project after completing approximately half of the film. Katzin was hired as his replacement, and received sole directorial credit. The music score was by Gerald Fried and the cinematography by Joseph F. Biroc. The film was funded by American Broadcasting Company (ABC), Palomar Pictures Corporation, and The Associates & Aldrich Company.

Cinerama Releasing Corporation released What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? theatrically in the United States on July 23, 1969. The film grossed $3.2 million domestically, but netted a loss for the studio of $860,000. It received praise for its lead performances from Page and Gordon, as well as for its cinematography and its contemporary Gothic horror elements, though some critics felt the film's plot was predictable.