| Alice, Sweet Alice |
movie poster for the 1978 re-release |
| Directed by |
Alfred Sole |
| Produced by |
Richard K. Rosenberg,
Alfred Sole |
| Written by |
Rosemary Ritvo,
Alfred Sole |
| Starring |
Paula Sheppard,
Linda Miller,
Mildred Clinton,
Niles McMaster,
Rudolph Willrich,
Jane Lowry,
Alphonso DeNoble,
Brooke Shields |
| Music by |
Stephen J. Lawrence |
| Editing by |
Edward Salier |
| Distributed by |
Allied Artists |
| Release date(s) |
November 13, 1977  |
| Running time |
98 min (108 min unrated version) |
| Country |
United States |
| Language |
English |
| Budget |
$340,000 |
Alice, Sweet Alice (AKA Communion or Holy Terror) is an American 1977 psychological horror slasher film. It was released theatrically three different times, each time under a new title: first as Communion in 1976; as Alice, Sweet Alice in 1978; and as Holy Terror in 1981. This film was ranked #89 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments for the scene when Alice scares Karen in the warehouse. It is also notable for being the screen debut of Brooke Shields, who played Karen.
Plot
The film is set in Paterson, New Jersey in the early 1960s. Catherine Spages (Linda Miller) and her two daughters 9-year-old Karen (Brooke Shields) and 12-year-old Alice (Paula Sheppard) who both attend St Michael's Parish Girl's School, are visiting Father Tom (Rudolph Willrich). Karen is preparing for her first communion and Father Tom gives her his mother's crucifix as a gift. A jealous Alice puts on a creepy, translucent grinning mask and terrifies Mrs Tredoni (Mildred Clinton) Father Tom's quirly Italian immigrant housekeeper.
Later on, Alice steals Karen's two-faced porcelain doll and lures her into an abandoned building with it. She jumps out and scares Karen with the grinning mask and locks her in a room. When she lets her out she tells her that if anyone finds out she'll never see the doll again.
On the day of the first communion, the boys are dressed as grooms and the girls are dressed as brides. Karen is lured away by a constant "Pssst!" where a fiend wearing a shiny yellow St Michael's Parish Girl's School raincoat and the same grinning mask as Alice strangles her to death with her candle. A dead Karen is dragged away by her right arm and the fiend dumps her into a bench compartment and sets her on fire with the candle, but not before ripping the crucifix from her neck. Smoke begins to fill the church.
Meanwhile, Alice enters the church dressed as a bride and carrying her shiny yellow raincoat. She kneels in Karen's place to receive communion but a scream is heard. A nun, who actually witnessed Karen's body being dragged away, has discovered Karen's body. Members of the mass run in, horrified. Catherine is inconsolable.
After Karen's funeral, Catherine's ex-husband Dominick "Dom" Spages arrives in town to help track the killer down. Also, Catherine's sister Annie DeLorenze (Jane Lowry) moves in with them to help Catherine through her grief. It is then apparent that Alice and Annie both despise each other, as seen when Annie implicates Alice in Karen's murder and when they get into an argument after Alice spills a glass of milk.
Catherine tells Alice to deliver a rent cheque to Mr Alphonso (Alphonso DeNoble) their obese cat-loving landlord. After he tries to fondle and molest her, Alice goes down to the basement where she lights a candle and puts on her grinning mask.
When going down the stairs to go shopping, Annie is viciously attacked by the killer in the yellow raincoat and grinning mask, stabbing her in the knee, foot, and thigh. At the hospital, Annie cries to her husband Jim (Gary Allen) that Alice tried to kill her. Catherine says that Annie is only accusing Alice of murdering Karen to divert attention from her own daughter Angela (Kathy Rich) who was absent at the time of the murder. Alice is put in a mental institution due to her outbursts.
When at the sanitarium with Father Tom, Dom receives a phone call from Angela herself saying that she has Karen's crucifix and she is in hiding. They agree to meet up at an abandoned building. When at the abandoned building, Dom follows the killer inside and up the stairs where the killer stabs him in the shoulder and is knocked out by a brick and tied up. It becomes obvious that there is no way a girl like Alice or Angela could overpower him. Dom wakes up and sees that the killer is in fact Mrs Tredoni.
She killed Karen because she believes that "children pay for the sins of the parents" after her own little girl died. She stabbed Annie because she misidentified her as Catherine, whom she considers a whore. She calls Dom and Catherine sinners because they had been fornicating before marriage. After biting the crucifix off her neck, Mrs Tredoni pushes him out of the window.
Upon analysis of Dom's corpse, the crucifix is found and Alice is released. When going out to mass Mrs Tredoni sneaks into the apartment building. Catherine and Alice leave just in time. As Mrs Tredoni bangs on their front door, Mr Alphonso wakes up screaming (Alice put a jar of cockroaches on his belly before leaving). He spots Mrs Tredoni and mistakes her for Alice and grabs her. Mrs Tredoni stabs him twice and runs downstairs. However, a policeman witnesses her running out of the back entrance without the mask on.
Mrs Tredoni goes to the same church as Catherine and Alice where the police are stationed outside. When going up to the altar, Father Tom denies her communion. Mrs Tredoni points at Catherine and screams, "But you gave it to that WHORE!" Mrs Tredoni stabs Father Tom in the neck and the police rush in. The final scene is Alice walking out of the church with Mrs Tredoni's shopping bag and looking at the bloodstained butcher knife and gives the camera a really evil look (the final scene was only made in case the film makers wanted to make a sequel with Alice as a new killer).
Cast
Linda Miller as Catherine Spages
Mildred Clinton as Mrs. Tredoni
Paula E. Sheppard as Alice Spages
Niles McMaster as Dominick 'Dom' Spages
Jane Lowry as Aunt Annie DeLorenze
Rudolph Willrich as Father Tom
Michael Hardstark as Detective Spina
Alphonso DeNoble as Alphonso
Gary Allen as Jim DeLorenze
Brooke Shields as Karen Spages
Patrick Gorman as Father Pat
Lillian Roth as Pathologist
Remake
It was revealed by UHMN (Underground Horror Movie Network) that Alfred Sole's cousin, Dante Tomaselli, is developing a remake of this film. It has been set for release date in 2009.[citation needed]
External links
