My review of Alice, Sweet Alice

I have always been curious about this film ever since I saw the poster. So here I am watching Alice, Sweet Alice...or Communion...or Holy Terror...whichever you prefer really.

Acting/characters: Right away we discover that the titular character is a total well...you-know-what. but I think it's merely lashing out because it seems that her mother favors her younger daughter, Karen. Or, at least she seems to think so. She's just withdrawn. There is definite overacting in this film.Thankfully though, it was infrequent. It was infrequent but it was still there. By far the best performance in the film (and looking at other review it seems that most people agree with me) was Paula Sheppard as the titular character, Alice. She wasn't in the film as much as I would have liked in the end but she stole the show whenever she was. unfortunately, this was one of only two movies she did. considering the other one was critically acclaimed too, she could have gone on to do much more. everyone else was okay. I feel that they tried to make the acting good in First Age Slashers. They actually tried unlike the Second Age. This movie is no different. They wanted the acting to be good as opposed to the acting in successive films. 7.5/10

Plot: there is only about 10 minutes of exposition in this film before they drop you right into the action. But the actual killings are pretty spread apart. Until the end that is...even then a little. But it's a slasher film so what are you gonna do? The plot was enjoyable and kept me entertained through all of it. One big problem that I have is that it was kinda lazy at points. It is never good at all when a character disappears and you never hear anything about them again. It creates plot holes and unsolvable questions. IF ANYONE HAS SEEN THIS MOVIE CAN YOU PLEASE ANSWER SOME QUESTIONS I HAVE ABOUT IT!?!?!

Sorry about that I just hate it when characters disappear for no reason and I don't want to give spoilers away by just asking about it here. That aside, it was entertaining but not perfect. I enjoyed it overall though. but I do have to say that the killer reveal absolutely sucks. I hated it. 8/10


Screenplay: The screenplay flaws here go hand in hand with the overacting. It was overall unmemorable. It just moved the story along which wasn't bad in this case. I would have liked to have seen a little more effort go into making the script better but it was pretty decent. I'm not sure whether the overacting was a result of the bad screenplay or if the overacting butchered the lines that they had written. whichever it was it sucked. I'm going to have to give the script some of the blame for it though. it was decent though. Nothing really special. 7.5/10


Likableness: It was a decent First Age Slasher (not that I've seen as many First Age Slashers as I would like) but I have seen better (Psycho anyone?) yeah, much better. Other FAS show me that at some point, this genre was trying. it really was. They were trying to make these movies good as opposed to the second age where they were all a dime a dozen. It does show here that they were trying to make a good movie here and for the most part I think they succeeded. I would watch this one again and I would suggest any people who are fans of a decent horror film to watch it. It is a flawed film but entertaining. 8/10

Final Score: 31/40 77% (D)
Tomatometer rating: 80%
Tomatometer rating if my review was added: 83%






TRIVIA TIME: 1. Paula E. Sheppard, who played 12-year-old Alice, was 19 during the making of the film.

2. When Father Tom stands in the rain, watching Mrs. Tredoni check the mail, a poster for the film Psycho can be seen in the background.

3. Linda Miller was injured while filming the scene in the hospital, and production had to be halted for a month. Fortunately, she didn't have to go far for medical help since they were filming in a hospital.

4. 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.