Alice, Sweet Alice dvd movie.|
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List Price: $24.95 Our Price: $21.99 You Save: $2.96 Features • Closed-captioned • Color • DVD-Video • Widescreen • NTSC In Theaters : 13 November, 1976 DVD Release : 01 May, 2007 |
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Alice, Sweet Alice description Paula Sheppard is Alice, a pouty, petulant problem child at that awkward age living with her precocious little sister Karen (Brooke Shields) and single mom. When Karen is murdered during her first communion and Alice takes her place in line, suspicion immediately falls on her. Then a diminutive killer in a yellow slicker and opaque mask continues the reign of terror, and Alice's estranged father takes up the investigation to prove her innocence. Director Alfred Sole has acknowledged a debt to Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now, but Alice, Sweet Alice is really in the Hitchcock mold, a stylish, smartly executed psychological suspense thriller. The violence is rarely graphic but often grueling and always harrowing, and the deaths reverberate through the film in genuine and sometimes hysterical outpourings of grief. Even when Sole reveals the killer's identity in a startling moment halfway through (à la Vertigo), the tension never lets up. The original title of the film, Communion, better captures the Catholic elements of guilt, sacrifice, and redemption that become central to the film (another tip to Hitchcock). Only a couple of grotesque caricatures (notably an obese pedophile landlord) and a few rough moments (largely special effects scenes, likely due to budgetary constraints) mar this otherwise intelligent and well executed thriller. The DVD also features an insightful commentary track by director Alfred Sole and editor Edward Salier and an alternate credits sequence (identical but for the film's title), as well as brief biographies and filmographies and a stills gallery. --Sean Axmaker |
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| ♥♥♥♥♥ | Neglected horror gem |
| This movie was originally shown in my native UK as Communion and has also been issued under the title Holy Terror .For my money these are better titles as they convey the religious theme which underpins the movie .
One note of caution at the outset-while Brook Shields gets top billing on the box she is not the star and her character dies inside 10 minutes of the start .The real star of this edgy and dark movie is Paula Shepherd in the title role . The setting is Patterson,New Jersey sometime in the early 1960's (a JFK poster is prominent in one scene).Alice is a disturbed 11 year old with a penchant for wearing Halloween masks at all times of the year and a propensity for bullying her more timid sister Karen (Shields) .On the day of her first communion Karen is strangled by a figure wearing a mask like Alice's and a yellow raincoat of the type she often wears .The investigating police officer involved ,Brenner(Tom Signorelli)and her Aunt Annie (Jane Lowry)believe Alice is the killer and Annie is soon afterwards attacked by the same figure that killed Karen .She publicly names Alice who is incarcerated in a state juvenile mental facility. During her incarceration the killing continues -her father being a victim .Alice is released and while the police are baffled the audience is let in on the secret of the killer well before the climax .It is a fervent Catholic who has grudge aginst Alice's family and who is obsessed by one member of the family-a priest . This is a very dark movie and deeply pessimistic in its conclusions .Alice may be guiltless of these particular crimes but is deeply disturbed and has the potential for violence and lots of it.she is an animal whose claws have not yet grown out but she does have them and her time will soon come .In some respects this movie is a counterblast to The Exorcist .In that movie salvation was found in the rites and faith of Catholicism -and to be precise in Conservative Catholicism ,not the progressive wing as represented by Father Karren. Here religion is shown as helpless -as murder is done the carvesd Saints and Christ look on helpless .cathaolicism in this movie is not the cure for the problem -it is the cause of the problem and its anti-clerical stance will offend many viewers. This is a multi-layered and disturbing movie that tells us "nothing is simple and nobody gets saved" It suggests we are helpless in the face of evil and unless you are willing to deal with that message dont watch the movie Its a dark and glistening gem but not for everybody |
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