Alice, Sweet Alice (1976)

In 1961, a divorced catholic couple's life is turned upside down when one of their two adolescent daughters is suspected of her younger sister's brutal murder during her First Communion, and a series of subsequent stabbings.

Director:

Alfred Sole

Writers:

Rosemary Ritvo (original screenplay), Alfred Sole (original screenplay)

Stars:

Linda Miller, Mildred Clinton, Paula E. Sheppard

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Linda Miller	...	Catherine Spages
Mildred Clinton	...	Mrs. Tredoni
Paula E. Sheppard	...	Alice Spages (as Paula Sheppard)
Niles McMaster	...	Dom Spages
Jane Lowry	...	Aunt Annie DeLorenze
Rudolph Willrich	...	Father Tom
Michael Hardstark	...	Detective Spina
Alphonso DeNoble	...	Mr. Alphonso
Gary Allen	...	Jim DeLorenze
Brooke Shields	...	Karen Spages
Louisa Horton	...	Dr. Whitman
Tom Signorelli	...	Detective Brennan
Lillian Roth	...	Pathologist (as Miss Lillian Roth also)
Patrick Gorman	...	Father Pat
Kathy Rich	...	Angela DeLorenze

Storyline

Alice Spages is a withdrawn 12-year-old girl who lives with her younger sister Karen and their mother Catherine. Karen gets most of their mother's attention, and Alice is often left out of the spotlight. When Karen is found brutally murdered in a church before her First Holy Communion, Alice is in the spotlight of suspicion, but is a 12-year-old girl really capable of such savagery? As more people die at the hands of a merciless killer, Alice's family and the police don't know what to believe.

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Plot Keywords:

1960s | first communion | masked killer | sister sister relationship | kitten | 

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Taglines:

Prey for her. [Communion] is here.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

The knife used in the film was created by Alfred Sole's neighbor, who was an engineer, and was designed with a retractable blade. It was the only knife used in the film, the filmmakers never made any duplicates.

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Goofs

In the opening credits Atonino Rocca is credited as the funeral director but in the ending credits he's credited as a funeral attendant.

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Quotes

Mr. Alphonso: [about Karen's funeral] I heard everyone leave. It's all over, huh? Well, you die and they put you in the ground. Such a shame. Such a pretty girl too. Too bad she was the one to end up in the box.
Alice Spages: My mother thought you could use some cake, fatty.
[hands him cake]
Mr. Alphonso: Thank your mother for me. Such a lovely lady. God always takes the pretty ones.

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Crazy Credits

During the ending credits there is no music and the screen doesn't turn black, the last frame of the film remains in the background forever.

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Alternate Versions

The UK cinema version was uncut but the 1998 Tartan video version was cut by 3 seconds to remove a brief shot of a squirming kitten being swung at an attacker (the edit was later extended to 8 secs for the 2003 release). These were considered to fall foul of UK legislation which forbids actual animal cruelty to be depicted in films. The cut was waived for the 2014 88 Films DVD release.

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Connections

Referenced in Sweet Memories: Dante Tomaselli On Alice Sweet Alice (2019)

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Soundtracks

Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man
Written by Jerome Kern (as Kern) and Oscar Hammerstein II (as Hammerstein)
Performed by Helen Morgan (uncredited)

User Reviews

nothing great, but a decent little flick

Alice sweet Alice is a movie with a very eerie feel to it, which in part is due from the atmosphere and the low-budget. Though Brooke Shields gets top billing she's not in the film too long plus she's pre puberty so don't expect to see her prancing around like in 'Blue Lagoon'. This is a slasher flick with a little twist and a very strong catholic slant to it. The story is told pretty well and the main character(Alice) does a great job,looking up her bio it seems she didn't stick with acting. The landlord in the movie was one of the most disgusting, strange people i've seen on film. The killer's mask and raincoat was pretty scary and the film was effective in setting up a few suspenseful scenes. I would of graded this movie higher, but the dad and the cops annoyed me and there was a little overacting buy the mom and aunt. Good not great.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 November 1976 (USA)

Also Known As:

Holy Terror

Filming Locations:

New Jersey, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$340,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Harristown Funding

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min 98 min (edited)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1