In 1960s New Jersey, Catherine takes her 9 year old daughter Karen and her 12 year old daughter Alice to see Father Tom. Karen is due to take her first Holy Communion and Father Tom gives her his mother's crucifix. Alice is jealous and puts on a creepy mask which frightens Mrs Tredoni - Father Tom's housekeeper. She further taunts and torments Karen by taking her doll and threatening her she will suffer horrible consequences if she tells anybody. On the day of her first communion, someone in a yellow plastic mac and the hideous mask strangles Karen in a back room of the church then dumps her body where it will soon be found. In a yellow plastic mac, Alice lines up to receive the communion meant for Karen. Karen's body is found and pandemonium breaks out. Dom, the girls' father arrives in town to investigate. A distraught Catherine is looked after by her sister Annie who shares mutual antipathy with Alice. Walking down the stairs, Annie is stabbed in her legs by a hooded figure with a plastic mac. She screams that it was Alice. Alice is sent to a mental hospital to be evaluated. Dom is lured to a an abandoned building and stabbed in the shoulder where the real killer is revealed and they explain their motives. Will Alice be exonerated or further implicated? Also known as Communion or Holy Terror, Alice Sweet Alice is a wonderful piece of 1970s American horror film making. It gained notoriety due to the early appearance of a cute young poppet called Brooke Shields as the tragic Karen. The religious theme of the film makes it very interesting and provides plenty of chills with crucifixes acting as very sinister implements. The film is mostly a success due to Paula Sheppard's remarkable performance as Alice. She was 19 years old when she took the part but she is very convincing as the taciturn, malicious 12 year old little girl. It is a great 'Is she or isn't she?' film, Alice has been shown to be wicked - killing a cat in the basement - but is she capable of murder? The creepy mask and yellow mac feed into the horror. Furthermore, the film has aged very well - in my opinion, it has aged better than The Exorcist (which was another religion based film) and it delivers more chills and it is much more atmospheric with its Catholic imagery. Quite difficult to track down on DVD, your horror movie viewing career is nonetheless much bereft if you pass up Alice, Sweet Alice.
My first film watched was Carrie aged 2 on my dad's knee. Educated at The University of St Andrews and Trinity College Dublin. Fan of Arthouse, Exploitation, Horror, Euro Trash, Giallo, New French Extremism. Weaned at the bosom of a Russ Meyer starlet. The bleaker, artier or sleazier the better!
