Alice, Sweet Alice

Alice, Sweet Alice - 1976 (This Film Rates a B ) The film takes place in 1961, New Jersey. A young girl Karen played by Brooke Shields, is about to receive her first communion. Her sister Alice becomes jealous and starts to torment and bully her. However, Karen is strangled in church by an unknown assailant wearing a translucent mask. The mothers ex-husband starts to investigate the murder but the police are also interested in the case. Her overly bitchy mother (Annie) moves in to help out and Alice is not a fan. The family start to suspect that Alice killed Karen and the police are a bit suspicious as well. The rather obese cat daddy neighbor tries to molest her while she is delivering the rent money. He is dirty and disgusting. But that poor kitty! The masked figure attacks Annie on the stairs in an overdramatic but gripping sequence. Alice is sent to a psychiatric unit and states that Karen tried to kill Annie not her. The ex/detective receives an odd call from someone claiming to be Annie's daughter and that she has the crufix belonging to Karen. He learns of the killers real identity before he dies. The reveal is a little anti climatic but the death has some intensity. Eventually a pathologist is able to rule out poor Alice as a suspect. The real killer is a bit off kilter since the death of her own daughter on the same day as this communion. She kills the pervert neighbor but is spotted fleeing the scene by police. She has one more kill before its all over, right in front of the whole church congregation. But in the end, Alice might not be so innocent after all. The ending is a little bit of a downer. The build is spectacular even though some of the camera shots/angles aren't particularly great. At times its hard not to laugh even if not intentional. The chaotic church scene, The whole cake interaction at the 22 minute mark with the obese neighbor was a bit weird. The reaction of the congregation at the end was puzzling. It's not overly gory but what is present is top notch. Its just to quick for the eye and not often enough. The script is above average for a slasher film even if overlong. The acting is fairly decent, some average highlights and some not so good ones. It really is overdramatic like the 46:40 min mark at the hospital. For the most part, the soundtrack is spot on. A real mixture of vintage sounds. But it all fits. A lot of religious overtones and church scenes throughout. No T&A. It's an odd but sinister film.

After a young Catholic girl, Karen (Brooke Shields), is brutally murdered during communion, suspicion falls on her emotionally disturbed older sister Alice (Paula E. Sheppard).

Director Alfred Sole's Alice Sweet Alice is the closest thing you will find to an American giallo: the death scenes are sudden and brutal, the score is haunting, the killer is distinctive in creepy plastic mask and yellow raincoat, and the film's overall atmosphere and aesthetic is redolent of many a Euro thriller/horror.

Admittedly, the film falls short of the best work of maestros Argento and Bava, the motive for the killings a little weak, and the pacing a tad pedestrian, while the identity of the killer is revealed way too early for my liking (true giallos generally wait until the very end before letting the cat out of the bag), but Sole conducts matters with an assured hand, presenting some striking visuals, and his cast give solid performances (with the exception of Jane Lowry as Alice's Aunt Annie, whose histrionics are waaaayy OTT).

6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for Alphonso DeNoble as morbidly obese, cat-loving pervert Mr. Alphonso, who is wonderfully grotesque.

Alice Spages (Paula Sheppard) is a rebel and problematic twelve year-old girl that lives with her divorced mother Catherine (Linda Miller) and her younger sister Karen (Brooke Shields). Catherine gives more attention to Karen, neglecting her older daughter. During the first communion of Karen, the girl is strangled by a woman dressed with a St. Michael's yellow coat and a mask. Alice takes her place in the line wearing her veil that she claims she had found on the floor and becomes the prime suspect of the police. When Catherine's sister Annie (Jane Lowry) is stabbed on the leg several times, she accuses Alice and the girl is sent to psychological evaluation under the protest of her parents and their friend Father Tom (Rudolph Willrich). Alice's father Dominick Spages (Nies McMaster) seeks evidences to prove the innocence of Alice.

"Communion" is a creepy and stylish horror movie of the 70's and practically the debut of Brooke Shields in the cinema with a minor but important participation. The dramatic story discloses insanity through weird characters in a period of heavy rain and using the Catholic principles of communion, sin and guilty, giving an atmosphere that recalls Dario Argento's movies. The relationship among Catherine, Father Tom and Dominick is not clear, especially because the Catholic Church requires celibate from the priests. In one moment, Catherine is ready to leave town alone, and she says to Father Tom that Alice would be better with him, giving an indication that Alice might be Tom's daughter. If my guess is right, the behavior of fanatic Catholic Annie that apparently blames Catherine for getting married pregnant of Alice is explained, and the conclusion is perfect, with Mrs. Tredoni saying that "children should pay for the sins of their parents"; calling Catherine of whore; and stabbing Father Tom. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Comunhão" ("Communion")

Note: On 29 May 2012, I saw this film again on DVD.

Note; On 06 Sep 2022, I saw this film again.

Alice, Sweet Alice is a hard movie to forget. Dealing with religious repression, mental illness, and child murder might make it sound like a depressing chore to sit through but director, Alfred Sole, loads the film with so many memorable images and set pieces and keeps things both gritty and grounded, but elevated and a bit campy at the same time which throws the viewer out of whack. There are also some very surprising deaths and attack scenes that you don't see coming and that's always a plus in a film like this.

Suspicion falls on the sister of a girl killed during her first holy communion ...

Much to enjoy in this movie. It has the lurid brutality that the '70s specialised in, with a worrying line in sexual inappropriateness, and makes no bones about its bleak outlook.

The cinematography is intriguing, with my favourite composition a big knife in the kitchen foreground as a line of three females draws the eye into the frame. Plenty of little touches of the cruel or grotesque, including a kitten lapping the fresh blood of a peculiar murder victim. And also that period habit of intriguing snap-shots of by-standers: the mental hospital orderly's watchful face, and the cousin's dumbfounded look at the final communion service.

The performances are good, with many scenes of raised voices that jangle the nerves. But the over-ripe music gives the impression of numerous string instruments being furiously sawed-in-half.

The real problem is the preposterous plot, which even on its own terms falls between the stools of police procedural and psychological portrait. For me, Alice's story was the main event, and I found my interest drifting as the plot jumped the track to become a sort of blood-drenched Scooby Doo mystery. In the end, I don't class this as a horror, but as psychological thriller - and a cheap one at that.

Overall: Harrowing disturbance descends into daft commotion.