On the occasion of the 45th anniversary of Alfred Sole’s 1976 film, ALICE, SWEET ALICE, I wanted to reevaluate the film. The first and only time I’ve seen this was in November of 2014. After rewatching it this week, I looked back to my write-up on Letterboxd to see what my initial reaction was to it. I seemed to really enjoy it. Not enough to give it four stars, but I thought it was a weird, American attempt at a Giallo film. After this rewatch, I’ve come to discover I like it rather a bit less. 

ALICE, SWEET ALICE is a weird movie. Prior to this, Sole had only directed once and it was the 1972 “erotic” movie called DEEP SLEEP. It was pulled from theatre for being obscene. His very next project was ALICE, SWEET ALICE. The film is about Alice, a tween who feels like and is treated like an ugly duckling by everyone. She has a younger sister, Karen, who is beautiful and perfect. The family is Catholic and Karen is about to have her First Communion. Karen is murdered during the service and Alice is, of course, the main suspect, especially after several other stabbings begin to occur.

Sole managed to catch lightning in a bottle by casting a very young Brooke Shields to play the “little angel” (Karen Spages) in the film. The rest of the cast includes Linda Miller (Catherine Spages), Niles McMaster (Dom Spages), Rudolph Willrich (Father Tom), Alphonso DeNoble (Mr. Alphonso), Jane Lowry (Aunt Annie), and Paula E. Sheppard as the “sweet” Alice. Shields is the only one out of the main cast who had any kind of lengthy career as an actor. The acting is very histrionic, especially coming from Miller. I mentioned it reminded me of a Giallo in the opening but, honestly, it also very soap opera-y. There are numerous close ups of the actors especially when they are in distress, almost to the point of distraction. A special shout out goes to DeNoble as the downstairs neighbor, Mr. Alphonso. For me, he’s the best thing about the film. Well, him and all of his cats. 

The Giallo aspects, for me, come in with the disguise of the killer. It reminded me of films like Mario Bava’s amazing 1964 film BLOOD AND BLACK LACE. The yellow raincoat and, especially, one of the creepiest masks to ever be created. Those masks are scarier than anything else you’d find down at Spirit Halloween. It’s super effective, obviously. The use of knives and the manor in which Sole has chosen to show the knives going into people feels very Italian to me. There was a wealth of Italian Giallo/horror films out there prior to the filming of ALICE, SWEET ALICE so if it isn’t technically a Giallo, it definitely feels very Italian. In an interview with the website Trainwreck’d Society, Sole said “I kept reading about low budget features, and how directors got started. Then I went to see the movie DON’T LOOK NOW, which I thought was brilliant.” So he was definitely influenced by that terrific film directed by Nicolas Roeg and starring Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie. You see it in the use of the raincoat and in the character of Mrs. Tredoni. 

As I said in my Letterboxd review, Shields’ character feels hyper-sexualized. I know the point was to show that Karen was the perfect, beautiful child but there could have been a way to do that without trying to make her an object of desire. The Catholicism is hot and heavy throughout the film. The iconography is so in your face, again it feels over the top. Sole has something to say about the Church. He told Trainwreck’d, “I started thinking about what it would be like, for a storyline, to kill someone- a little angel during her first Holy Communion, while everyone was taking the host, which is supposed to be the blood and body of Christ”.

ALICE, SWEET ALICE didn’t do well at the box office upon it’s original release. In 1981, to capitalize on Brooke Shields’ popularity, the studio Allied Artists rereleased it to theatres as HOLY TERROR. Over the years, the film has been reexamined by film lovers and now it’s become a genre favorite with repertory screening all over. Sometimes even doubled-billed with DON’T LOOK NOW. So, while I liked it less than before I still think it’s a weird little film with some great kill scenes and loads of straight up dread due to that goddamn simple but super effective mask. Let the mask do the work, indeed.

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Sarah Jane

Sarah Jane originally hails from Southern California but is now firmly ensconced in Austin, TX. She's seen over 5,400 movies and counting. Along with Daily Grindhouse, you can also find her writing at TalkFilmSociety, F This Movie!, Looper, RupertPupkinSpeaks, and the Austin Chronicle. She adores Edwige Fenech, Alain Delon, and all things Godzilla. She can be found on both Twitter and Letterboxd as @fookthis.

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Tags: Alfred Sole, Alice Sweet Alice, Alphonso DeNoble, Anniversaries, Brooke Shields, holy terror, Jane Lowry, Linda Miller, Niles McMaster, Paula E. Sheppard, Rudolph Willrich