Runtime: 103 minutes
Directed by: Alfred Sole
Starring: Linda Miller, Mildred Clinton, Paula E. Sheppard, Niles McMaster, Rudolph Willrich
From: Harristown Funding
Alice, Sweet Alice is yet another film I've known of for years but for whatever reasons I've put off the viewings until now. Shudder just including it on their platform gave me the final push to check out something I should have reviewed long ago. This was like an American giallo, inspired by Don't Look Now, Hitchcock, and Diabolique.
The main theme, though, proved to be Catholic guilt. The titular Alice is a 12-year-old girl (played by a girl who was 19! Paula E. Sheppard did not look like an adult) who is part of a family w/ divorced parents in 1961 New Jersey. Alice is a troubled girl, who treats her sister Karen (Brooke Shields!) poorly; she feels as if her mother shows favoritism towards Karen. Alice's sister is going to receive her first Communion, but-as this happens in the first 15 minutes, the revelation that Karen dies a gruesome death at church will be mentioned.
As an aside, there's a morbidly obese character named Alphonso who is not only a fat slob who eats wet cat food with his numerous felines, but is blatantly a... well, as sites like YouTube and other platforms unfortunately make people say rather than the actual term, “a PDF file.” For those that are really uncomfortable w/ a scene where an adult forces himself on a little girl, you've been warned.
I won't elaborate on the impact Catholic guilt had on the plot. I can reveal that there's a creepy clear mask of a woman wearing makeup, a yellow raincoat-the most blatant allusion to Don't Look Now-a hysterical aunt in Annie that is both funny and OOT, Alice as a viable suspect in her sister's murder, and their mother's refusal to believe the seriousness of her daughter's struggles, including w/ mental health.
Alice, Sweet Alice was an eerie tale filled w/ dread, the austere, dreary urban New Jersey setting perfect for setting the mood. The movie is punctuated with shocks and gruesome moments. Mix in a wild ending, and I am glad to finally cross this film off my figurative list.
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