Gothic fiction whose best-known work was the 1960 Hollywood horror novel "What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?" Farrell's novels spawned a subgenre of "Grande Dame Guignol" in the cinema, represented by such films as the 1962 film based on Farrell's novel, which starred Bette Davis versus Joan Crawford; this subgenre of films was dubbed the "psycho-biddy" genre. Many modern writers of horror (or indeed other types of fiction) exhibit considerable Gothic sensibilities—examples include the works of Anne Rice, Stella Coulson, Susan Hill, Poppy Z. Brite and Neil Gaiman as well as some of the sensationalist works of Stephen King Thomas M. Disch's
What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? "chilling". "The Guardian" said it was one of the author's best should be "read it one sitting". Film rights were bought by Robert Aldrich who had produced two successful horror films , "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" (1962) and "Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte" (1964). Both films dealt with aged women who become scheming or demented, resorting to violence and murder. In September 1967 Aldrich announced he would make the film under the title "Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice?" It would be made by his production company, The Associates and Aldrich. In October Aldrich announced the film would be part