Former
architect turned still-active production designer Alfred Sole worked for numerous
television programs and briefly directed a few feature films between the 1970s
and 1980s before hanging his hat on making his own films completely. Starting out with a short porno film Deep Sleep which resulted in obscenity
charges being waged against the director, the remainder of Sole’s career proved
to be largely forgettable…except for one film that proved to be an inspired
fluke which seemed to strike the right notes beat after beat.
That
film, cited as the most giallo-esque American film ever made, was a horror
picture originally titled Communion (not
to be confused with the Christopher Walken film) before Sole changed his mind
and renamed it what we know it to be today: Alice,
Sweet Alice. Known for being the big
screen debut of Brooke Shields and among the more overtly anti-religious thrillers
of the 1970s, Alice, Sweet Alice springboards
from Nicolas Roeg’s timeless horror classic Don’t
Look Now with the killer sporting a yellow coat and mask while finding its
own footing grounded in brutal shocks and many, many unexpected surprises along
the way.
Simply
put, it’s a story set in New Jersey, 1961 about a twelve year old girl named
Alice Spages (Paula Sheppard from Liquid
Sky) whose track record as a troublemaking bully to her younger sister Karen
(Brooke Shields) singles her out in the eyes of many as the prime suspect
behind Karen’s brutal murder during her first communion. Is the mischievous and bratty little
sociopath in the making really a killer or is there something more sinister and
bizarre going on as more and more attacks on the family and neighbors start
happening at an alarming rate?
Shot
in 16mm, made on a tight budget and proving to be a labor of love for the cast
and crew comprised mostly of friends and family, Alfred Sole’s Alice, Sweet Alice is that rare instance
of an inexperienced do-it-yourself independent filmmaker hitting a home
run! Though the picture experienced many
hurdles including but not limited to financing falling through, production
halting and several cinematographers being swapped out as the shoot went on and
off again, outside of the difficult microbudget production the finished film
never makes a misstep and constantly keeps you on the edge of your seat.
Performances
from all involved are excellent from both the professional and non-professional
cast members. Linda Miller, who might
have been a holy terror on the set including a suicide attempt, is excellent as
Alice’s mother in over her head unable to reel in her out of control daughter
while wrestling with the notion her daughter might also be a murderer. Paula Sheppard, who was nineteen at the time
of the shoot, manages to convey a vague sense of evil and nastiness while still
casting considerable doubt about her own culpability in her sister’s
death. Last but not least is Jane Lowry
as Aunt Annie who suspects Alice might be the killer but mostly turns over one
of the most hysterical and histrionic over-the-top performances in cinema
history.
One
particular character, the morbidly obese child molesting neighbor Alphonso
(Alphonso DeNoble), wasn’t played an actor but a bouncer the director spotted
in a gay bar. In one of the most
memorable examples of street casting, the character of Alphonso as written
couldn’t have been played believably by a professional actor from his physique
to his bizarre and creepy personality.
Proof positive that sometimes pitch perfect casting doesn’t always come
from experienced actors.
Opening
to rave reviews as well as controversy with the film briefly being branded as a
Video Nasty in the UK, Alice, Sweet Alice
ran into legal trouble as the film changed distributors coupled with Sole’s
own failure to properly secure the film with the United States Copyright Office. As a result, the film was in the public
domain for years with bootlegging being the only viable option to watch the
picture.
There
were also numerous alternate versions with different titles not involving the
film’s director which came about in the wake of the film’s absence of
copyright. It wasn’t until a 1997
laserdisc edition from The Roan Group that the film’s distribution problems
were finally resolved before other companies all involving the total
supervision of the director would improve upon that laserdisc release.
For
the uninitiated like myself seeing Alice,
Sweet Alice for the first time, the film while deriving heavily from Don’t Look Now was a splendid little
chiller with some really great sequences of choking suspense and fleeting
moments of terror peppered throughout. In
addition to being an effective shocker, the film is also oddly very funny with
the overweight creepy Alphonso eliciting a curious mixture of uncomfortable
laughter from the viewer and Aunt Annie’s frequent bug-eyed meltdowns must be
seen to be believed. All in all, Alice, Sweet Alice is that rare instance
of a homegrown film production by a newcomer which manages to be one of the
more iconic and unforgettable horror films of the mid-1970s!
Score:
- Andrew Kotwicki