ALICE, SWEET ALICE Blu-ray Review – Is That Adorable Kid A Psychopath?
Pat King
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Directed by Alfred Sole
Starring Paula E. Sheppard, Linda Miller, Mildred Clinton
Distributed by Arrow Video
Alice, Sweet Alice (1976) is incredibly well shot and edited, a very technically precise film from Alfred Sole, whose career as a director up until then had been a single porno movie.
It’s nearly two hours long, but this flick is so well-paced and edited that it seems quite shorter than the actual running time. Characters are allowed to be themselves, to breathe a little, to progress more or less naturally. There’s even room for a weird side story about a morbidly obese cat-loving landlord. Even with this side story, there’s never the feeling that the story is meandering.
Excellent POV shots constantly ramp up the confusion, making you wonder whose eyes we’re looking out of. These meticulously composed shots are edited with quick cuts during moments of tension, causing quick shifts in perspective within seconds of each other. It’s a great way to ramp up the tension and mystery. It says a lot about Sole’s pre-production planning as well as editor M. Edward Sailer’s skill. This was Sailer’s first feature film, though he had served as an assistant editor and had edited a documentary before this. He would go on to much-deserved success editing feature films and television and is still working today.
The story concerns Alice (Paula Sheppard), a twelve-year-old psychopath. Or is she? Well, she does kill her little sister Karen (Brooke Shields) during her first communion, choking her to death and then burning the body. Or did she? Sometimes the answers to these questions seem obvious, and then a new detail emerges to make you question your previous assumptions. There’s a really great script here.
Whoever the killer is, they’re hiding behind a creepy transparent mask and a big raincoat, so there’s always some doubt that Alice is the one behind the murders. But we do witness Alice killing a cat. But what does killing a cat mean when you’re doing it to rid yourself of a man who’s severely overpowering you and intent on committing sexual assault? I mean, there’s no way for Alice to overpower him, so killing his cat is clearly an act of desperation. But, desperation or not, did she enjoy ending the thing’s life? The expression on her face after he lets her go suggests that she does, but who knows. Alice, Sweet Alice is always asking these kinds of questions.
The audience is confused as to Alice’s motivations for the killing, but we’re privy to a lot more information than the parents. Had they known about the cat killing, would they have changed their minds about their daughter? Maybe. Maybe not. Such is the ambiguity of the script.
The screenplay was co-written by Sole and Rosemary Ritvo. Ritvo is kind of a mysterious figure. I couldn’t find too much about her past the stuff that’s discussed in the special features of this new Arrow Video release. Apparently, she was a Ph.D. student in English literature at the time, and that’s why Sole recruited her. Her only other work before or after, as far as I can tell, is a thesis of hers, a book called Plotonistic Elements in Yeat’s Prose Works, which sounds quite academic. Who knows what having someone studying more as a critic than a creative type might have added to the piece, but I have a feeling that they would be quite into the kind of ambiguities that the film excels in. But that’s really just a guess.
Though Alice, Sweet Alice isn’t really all that trashy, aesthetically speaking, when things get dirty, Sole pushes things all the way. Such is the case with Mr. Alphonso (Alphonso DeNoble), the morbidly obese pedophile who lives downstairs from Alice and her family and also happens to be their landlord. His place is filthy, he hoards cats, and he never changes his clothes. He hangs around his apartment in a wife beater and wears pants that have a giant piss stain on the crotch. And his eyebrows are shaved for some reason.
Mr. Alphonso is an interesting character. We feel a visceral sense of repulsion immediately after we first see him, and then even more so after we see how he interacts with Alice. But he has a slightly refined quality to his voice and he listens to classical music. He’s not sympathetic at all, but you do find yourself wondering just how the hell this man got where he is. The movie takes place in New Jersey, but you can imagine him going into the city to hang out with Joe Spinell’s Frank Zito character from the Maniac film. Somehow Mr. Alphonso is the most repulsive thing in a movie where a child is choked to death and then set on fire.
Alice, Sweet Alice is all about these kinds of really visceral moments that make you feel what’s happening on the screen right down to the gut. You have an almost physical response to Alphonso, but there’s also a stabbing that’s particularly affecting because the camera never turns away as a kitchen knife goes into a woman’s thigh and then through her foot. You can almost feel the cut as you watch the skin tear and rip. Later, a man gets pounded repeatedly in the head with a piece of brick. Again, the camera doesn’t turn away from the violence, and you can almost feel the pain surging through your bones. Oh yeah, and try not to at least cringe a little when a priest gets stabbed through the fucking neck in the middle of mass and a fountain of blood squirts from his neck.
Paula Sheppard is quite good as Alice. Paula was 19 years old at the time she was playing a twelve-year-old, and it’s mostly convincing, though every once in awhile you catch an inflection in her voice that gives away her age.
Brooke Shields isn’t given a whole lot of screen time, so it’s not fair to look for the superstar actor that she became a few years later. Other than that, there’s not a ton to talk about as far as the acting is concerned. There’s a lot of melodrama. People scream at each other in place of emotional nuance. But that’s okay. The script and directing are enough to make you forget about the acting.
Like most Arrow Video releases, this one is packed with special features. There are two commentaries and a host of video interviews. There’s also a couple deleted scenes. It’s all very interesting and the only thing I skipped over was the interview with composer Stephen Lawrence. It just wasn’t my thing, but I can see others getting a lot out of it. Alice, Sweet Alice is a wonderful low-budget horror flick made with a lot of care and thought. If it weren’t for a bit of rough acting every now and then, I’d be tempted to call it a masterpiece.
Special Features:
- Brand new 2K restoration of the theatrical version from the original camera negative
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
- Original uncompressed mono audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Brand new audio commentary with Richard Harland Smith
- Archival audio commentary with co-writer/director Alfred Sole and editor Edward Salier
- First Communion: Alfred Sole Remembers Alice, Sweet Alice – director Alfred Sole looks back on his 1976 classic
- In the Name of the Father – brand new interview with actor Niles McMaster
- Sweet Memories: Dante Tomaselli on Alice, Sweet Alice – filmmaker Dante Tomaselli, cousin of Alfred Sole, discusses his longtime connection to the film
- Lost Childhood: The Locations of Alice, Sweet Alice – a tour of the original Alice, Sweet Alice shooting locations hosted by author Michael Gingold
- Alternate Holy Terror Television Cut
- Deleted scene
- Alternate Opening Titles
- Trailer and TV Spot
- Original screenplay
Image gallery
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: COLLECTOR’S BOOKLET WITH ESSAY BY MICHAEL BLYTH
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Alice, Sweet Alice
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Special Features
Summary
Alice, Sweet Alice is a fast-paced, visceral, and engaging film that provides plenty of twists, turns, and ambiguity.
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