Alice, Sweet Alice
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| Alice, Sweet Alice | |
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 Cover of DVD release of Alice, Sweet Alice |
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| Directed by | Alfred Sole |
| Produced by | Richard K. Rosenberg, Alfred Sole |
| Written by | Rosemary Ritvo, Alfred Sole |
| Starring | Paula Sheppard, Brooke Shields, Linda Miller, Mildred Clinton, Niles McMaster, Rudolph Willrich |
| Music by | Stephen Lawrence |
| Cinematography | Chuck Hall, John Friberg |
| Editing by | Edward Salier |
| Distributed by | Allied Artists |
| Release date(s) | November 13, 1976 |
| Running time | 98 min (108 min unrated version) |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $340,000 |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Alice, Sweet Alice (aka Communion) is a 1976 horror/slasher which featured Brooke Shields in her first movie. It was first released in 1976 as "Communion". It was re-released in 1978 as "Alice, Sweet Alice" to cash in on Brooke Shields' fame in Pretty Baby.[citation needed] It was released again as "Holy Terror" in 1982 to cash in on Brooke Shields' fame in Blue Lagoon.[citation needed] It was written by Rosemary Ritvo and Alfred Sole, and was directed by Alfred Sole.
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[edit] Plot
After a young girl is brutally murdered in church, her sister becomes the main suspect.
[edit] Detailed Synopsis
The setting is Paterson, New Jersey in the year 1961. Catherine Spages is a divorcee and mother of 9 year old Karen Spages and 12 year old Alice Spages. For her first communion Karen receives a crucifix from a local priest. Alice, meanwhile, was never allowed to have a communion because she was born illegitimately. Alice, jealous of her younger sister, takes her anger out on Karen by scaring her with a grinning mask and stealing her doll.
On the day of her first communion, in the back room of the church, Karen is strangled with a candle, stuffed in a chest and set on fire by a small figure in a yellow raincoat and a mask identical to Alice's. Later, Alice walks into the main church from the back room and kneels at the altar to receive communion. Before she can receive the host, a nun discovers Karen's body and the congregation breaks out in chaos.
The police consider Alice a main suspect. Alice claims she was outside and then came in through the back door. Her estranged father, Dom, comes to town for his daughter's funeral and to find the killer. Catherine's older sister, Annie, moves in with Catherine to comfort her during her time of grief. Alice and Annie are constantly arguing with each other.
One rainy day after an argument with Annie, Alice delivers the rent check to her obese, cat-loving landlord, Alphonso. He warns Alice that he knows she stole Karen's doll and that Karen will come back for it. He tries to fondle Alice, but she kills his cat and goes to the apartment building's basement where she has a steamer trunk that holds Karen's doll and a jar of cockroaches.
Later, the killer comes out of the basement and waits in the stairwell. As Annie is walking down the stairs, the figure stabs her legs repeatedly. The killer runs back to the basement when Annie's screams attract attention. Annie survives and points the finger at Alice, even though her attacker was masked. Alice, however, believes that the attacker is the ghost of Karen, who has returned for her stolen doll. Despite her protests, Alice is placed in a juvenile detention center.
Dom, meanwhile, believes that Annie is accusing Alice to hide the fact that her own daughter, Angela, is the killer. Dom gets a phone call from Angela. She confesses to killing Karen and says to meet her at an abandoned building. He agrees, thinking he can make her turn herself in. When he gets there the killer knocks him out with a brick, ties him up, and rolls him toward a sixth floor drop off.
Dom wakes up in time to see the killer take off the mask. It is revealed to be an old Italian woman named Mrs. Tredoni, who works as a housekeeper at the rectory. She tells him that when she was young she had an affair with a priest. Their young child died before having her first communion from a tumor and the priest was paralyzed in a stroke.
Tredoni claims that St. Michael came to her in a vision and told her that if she would wipe out sinners, she could have atonment for her own sins. She explains that she killed Karen because the girl was the daughter of fornicators, and believed that children pay for the sins of their parents. Tredoni tells Dom that she is going to kill Dom and Catherine because they had sex before marriage. Tredoni then pushes Dom off the edge.
Since Alice was in detention during the murder, she cannot be considered a suspect and she is allowed to go back to her mother. One Sunday morning Alice sneaks into Alphonso's apartment while he's napping, and puts the open jar of cockroaches on his stomach. Meanwhile, Tredoni sneaks into the building immediately after Alice and Catherine leave for church. She knocks on Catherine's door, holding a knife in the other hand. The sound wakes up Alphonso, who discovers the roaches crawling all over him. He runs out of his apartment screaming and sees the killer standing in the hallway. Thinking that she is Alice, he rips her mask off. Tredoni responds by stabbing him in the stomach. A detective posted outside the building hears the screams and looks inside the building to see Tredoni without her mask fleeing to the church.
The detective runs to the church and informs the priest of the killer's identity. The priest believes that since he knows her well, they can quietly arrest her as she comes up to the altar. During communion, Catherine approaches to take communion. Tredoni follows her to the altar and kneels as close to her as possible. Instead of giving Tredoni communion the priest attempts to make her come with him. However, to the horror of the congregation, Tredoni stabs him in the neck.
As the police (finally) rush in, Alice walks away from the crowd surrounding the priest and goes to the back of the church. She holds Tredoni's shopping bag, pulls the knife out and stares deviously at it. She then looks at the camera innocently, suggesting something from Tredoni may have rubbed off on her.
[edit] Cast
- Linda Miller - Catherine
- Mildred Clinton - Mrs. Tredoni
- Paula Sheppard - Alice
- Niles McMaster - Dom
- Jane Lowry - Annie
- Rudolph Willrich - Father Tom
- Michael Hardstark - Detective Spina
- Alphonso DeNoble - Alphonso
- Kathy Rich - Angela
- Brooke Shields - Karen
- Greg Baird - Priest
[edit] Trivia
- Director Alfred Sole was previously a director of pornographic movies.
- Paula Sheppard, who played the part of Alice, was actually 19 years old during the time of filming.
- The film was shot on location in Paterson, New Jersey, Sole's hometown.
- This film was #89 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments.
[edit] External link
- Communion at the Internet Movie Database
