Alice, Sweet Alice (1976) (2024)

Popular reviews

• Review by nathaxnne [hiatus <3] ★★★★ 9

  'Alice, Sweet Alice' is a movie that swings received notions of guilt and innocence and moral corruption around like a dead cat in a tornado-set game of Blind Man's Bluff where the tornado is made of knives and the dead cat is what is left of audience expectation. Paterson, NJ never felt so death-haunted, so consumed by the aftermath of what the rain cannot clear. The structures we build, of religion, of family, of law and science, create as many problems by assumption of efficacy, the imposition of cognitive misdirection and the necessity of artificial limitation as whatever solutions or assistance they may provide. It is good to know that 'Alice, Sweet Alice' is there to mess up that program.…

• Review by Tony the Terror ★★★★ 14

  Excellent bizarro 70’s thriller that I was pretty obsessed with after reading about it in one of those old school 90’s giant horror movie review books and learning Brooke Shields was in it probably because young hormonal preteen me was obsessed with The Blue Lagoonandthe idea of being alone on a beach with Christopher Atkins but anyway.

  I don’t think I finally saw it for years after that, but I couldn’t really remember it probably because I was high af when I saw it. That poster just screams “slasher”, but this is an American giallo through and through. Heavily inspired by Don’t Look Nowand full of reasons to loathe organized religion, it’s a pretty damn good watch on a cloudy afternoon!

• Review by Sarah Jane 🔪 ★★★½ 13

  There is some f*cked up sh*t going on in Alice, Sweet Alice. It had the feel of a giallo to be sure. I am not a fan of masks. They are creepy and the mask in this movie is no exception. It is very simple but effective.

  The actress that plays the mother, Linda Miller, is out of control! Talk about histrionics... She played this role like her life depended on it. This is Brooke Shields first feature and, although we see her in preparation for her first communion, she is hyper-sexualized to me. The girl playing Alice reminded me of the ultra-creepy-looking red headed girl from Italian horror films of the 70s. If you watch those films, you know…

• Review by laird ★★★★ 3

  Slept on this one, but so did history, apparently. It's from that wonderful period in horror when fully formed adults who have emotions and know how to write people made movies for other adults. This will never turn up on Criterion Collection like Rosemary's Baby or Don't Look Now, but its intentions seem more humble and sincere: the Catholic Church is perverse and creates monsters, so let's make a slick, good-looking thriller about some creepy practitioners. Gold star for use of jaunty old-timey music as counterpoint to some pretty grisly murder scenes

• Review by CinemaVoid 🏴‍☠️ ★★★★ 2

  Giallo and Slasher went out for drinks, had sex and 9 months later Alice was born.

• Review by Ian West ★★★★ 1

  Mid 70’s giallo slasher that tonally and aesthetically slides right into place with it's European relatives. I know the two genres are so intertwined but I can’t help but think giallo when I watch this—this might be one of the most giallo-ized American films out there that isn’t made by Brian De Palma?

  The narrative focuses on a troubled adolescent girl who becomes a suspect in the brutal murder of her more popular younger sister at her first communion. Filled with religious imagery, Early Argento-esque murder sequences, a f*cking fat-sleazy scumbag, an alarmingly creepy mask, one hell of a church finale, and enough Don’t Look Now nods to make me gleefully grin.Alice Sweet Alicewas filmed in Paterson, New Jersey, not…

• Review by Branson Reese

  They should shoot more horror movies on what appears to be film stolen off the set of a mid 70s Cheerios commercial. Makes it way scarier.

• Review by sydney ★★★

  alice is exactly the kind of horrible bitch that i adore, her brattiness merely retaliation against the even more annoying people around her, the unlovable hero by default.

• Review by kat🕷 ★★★★½ 1

  Perfidious American Giallo that creates an oppressive, nihilistic atmosphere.
  The church is the anti religious sanctuary of horror, the family is a place of alienation and kids are psychopaths.

  Alice's actress, Paula E. Sheppard, outplays everyone, especially the rather colorless Brooke Shields in her first big screen role.

• Review by Josh Lewis ★★★★ 2

  gnarly little psycho catholic family giallo with effectively troubling use of religious iconography vs. the fetish/impulse towards suffering which is rendered in some pretty savage bodily harm. might be overrating a tad but as someone who went to catholic school but wasn't actually catholic (long story) this gets at a lot of the strange feelings i had about communions and masses and certain imagery but realized in blatant italian/slasher/psychological family unit horror melodrama. definitely wish this guy got to make more movies after being excommunicated by his church lol

  full discussion on episode 143 of my podcast SLEAZOIDS.

• Review by Lou (rhymes with wow!) ★★★½ 13

  Michelle found out that director Alfred Sole died the day before yesterday, so we decided to check this out. It's a nice, little proto-slasher (?) that keeps you guessing until the very end. The reveal wasn't exactly satisfying I must say, but overall I had an excellent time with it.

  Interesting to find out this was Brooke Shields' film debut.

• Review by Graham ★★★★

  Originally titled Communion, the retitled Alice, Sweet Alice was released for a third time in 1981 under the moniker Holy Terror in an attempt to benefit from Brooke Shields infamous breakthrough role in Louis Malle's 1978 controversial Pretty Baby that had gained a fair amount of public awareness.

  With themes covering troubles within the Roman Catholic system, child neglect and the breakdown of the regular nuclear family, it hit a nerve with many film scholars. It also got the attention of the film review boards at release, delaying a video release for years.

  The film was primarily shot on location in Paterson, New Jersey and has a wonderful feel of the time, telling of a shy and withdrawn Alice' whose…