Review by Stephanie Scaife
Alfred Sole has in more recent years carved out a career for himself as a production designer on US television. Although having just four feature film credits to his name as a director (including hardcore porn and a bizarre slasher film about a mounty), he certainly made a mark with Alice, Sweet Alice which is perhaps the closest American cinema has come to giallo, by the way of Don’t Look Now and perhaps a touch of the melodrama of De Palma’s Sisters.
A young Brooke Shields stars in her first film role as Karen, the perfect daughter, who much to her elder sister Alice’s (Paula Sheppard) chagrin is favoured by their devout Catholic mother Catherine (Linda Miller). In the run up to Karen’s first communion where all attention centres around her, Alice starts to act up by terrorising her little sister and generally acting like a complete bitch to everyone around her, doing creepy things like keeping a jar of pet cockroaches in the basement of their apartment complex.
Karen is murdered right before her communion by someone wearing a yellow raincoat much like Alice’s, making her the prime suspect. However the bodies soon start piling up and to its credit the film actually reveals the killer about 2/3 of the way through, leaving it up to everyone else to figure it out in the final act. This is one of the many interesting twists Alice, Sweet Alice takes in its approach to the slasher genre. In addition to the unconventional narrative structure the film also boasts a host of well developed characters, something often lacking in horror films of this period (and even today), such as the vulgar and obese landlord Mr. Alphonso (Alphonso DeNoble) with his apartment full of cats and his disgusting sweat pants complete with noticeable crotch stains.
There are some notable scares that remain intact and the masked killer is a genuinely creepy presence in the film. The murder scenes also still pack a punch and have aged well, particularly a protracted scene in the apartment stairway where the victim is repeatedly stabbed in the feet. I think the fact that the film was made for such a low budget actually works to its benefit, meaning that the scares are often more a result of clever editing and well placed gore as opposed to being completely excessive and over the top.
Although known under many guises (including Communion) and re-released numerous times in attempts to cash in on Brooke Shields’ growing fame, most notable in its failure was a 1978 version sliced down to 96 minutes released as Holy Terror with Shields given top booking despite her demise within the first twenty minutes of the film. However, over the years it has garnered a substantial cult following, and rightly so too. Now it is being given its first ever uncut release on DVD in the UK which includes a few nice extras such as a commentary with director Alfred Sole and editor Edward Salier. A must own for any fans of giallo cinema and classic American slasher films.
Alice Sweet Alice is available now on Region 2 DVD from 88 Films.