Alice Sweet Alice
Alice, Sweet Alice (aka
Communion) is a
1976 horror/
slasher which featured
Brooke Shields in her first movie. It was first released in 1976 as Communion. It was re-released in 1978 as Alice, Sweet Alice to cash in on Brooke Shields' fame in
Pretty Baby. It was released again as Holy Terror in 1982 to cash in on Brooke Shields' fame in
Blue Lagoon. It was written by Rosemary Ritvo and Alfred Sole. It was directed by Alfred Sole
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow
In
1961, in
Paterson, New Jersey a
divorced mother, Catherine Spages, has two daughters.
10 year old Karen is beautiful and loved by everyone. Her
12 year old sister, Alice, isn't as pretty and is considered a problem child. Karen is nearing her
First Communion. Alice can't have communion because she was born
illegitimate.
Alice taunts her sister because of this. She steals Karen's
doll and scares her with a grinning
mask, to the objection of her mother. The morning of Karen's communion Alice leaves the
apartment early. In the hallway she meets her obese,
cat loving
landlord Alphonso. He lazily asks her to go to the
grocery store for him since they don't deliver on Sundays. She calls him a fatso and leaves for
church.
At church Catherine arrives with Karen wondering where Alice is. Karen goes with the other children to get prepared. Catherine sits next to her older sister Annie. Annie tells her daughter Angela to go look for Alice. She walks out the church as communion begins. In the church's schoolroom all the children are ready and lined up. Karen stands at the end of the line holding a
candle. She hears a voice behind her whisper "Psst!". She turns around but no one's there. A nun leads the line into the church and the children have their first communion. Karen is pulled back into the schoolroom and strangled with her own candle.
The killer is short and feminine. She wears a yellow raincoat with the school emblem on it, white gloves, white stockings and shoes, and a grinning mask that looks just like Alice's mask. She puts Karen's body in a chest, takes the
gold crucifix off her neck, lights Karen's body on fire and closes the lid. She doesn't notice that Karen's
veil has fallen on the ground.
In the church communion has ended. Alice walks in from the schoolroom and kneels to receive communion. The priests, thinking they've forgetten someone, go to her. A nun notices smoke coming from the schoolroom. She goes in and opens the chest. She screams in horror at what she sees inside. The priest doesn't give Alice communion because he goes to see what's happened. The church breaks out into chaos. Catherine is shocked. Alice hides Karen's veil in her pocket.
Catherine's ex-husband, Dom, comes into town for Karen's funeral. Detectives Spina and Brennan ask him for permission to question Alice, but he refuses when they insinuate that Alice is guilty. Annie's going to stay with Catherine during this grievous period but Alice doesn't her to because she hates her for being nagging and scolding. After an argument with Annie, Alice takes the rent check to Alphonso's apartment. Alphonso sits in his filthy apartment with his many cats and listens to old records. He teases her by saying he found incriminating evidence in Karen's murder in the basement. Alice curses him out and crumples up the rent check. He tries to fondle her but she strangles one of his cats. He vows revenge against her and she leaves his apartment and goes to the basement of the building. Inside of an old trunk there, she has a jar of
cockroaches, a mask, Karen's veil, and the doll she stole from Karen. She puts on the mask and wishes things would be better. Later the killer walks out of the basement and hides by the stairs. Annie walks down the stairs. The killer pops out and stabs her in the knee and foot. She falls on the floor. The killer is about to stab her again but Alphonso comes out of his apartment and she runs away down the basement stairs. Annie is taken to the hospital by Father Tom and Catherine. Dom goes into the basement to look for the killer. Instead he finds Alice. She says the killer is actually Karen's ghost trying to frame her because she stole her doll. Alice is given a lie detecetor test by the police. The tests reveal that Alice actually believes that Karen is the killer. She's put in an
juvenile ward and labelled a
schizophrenic. Dom receives a call from someone claiming to be Angela. She confesses to killing Karen and says she has her cross. She says to meet her at a certain building. He drives to the building to find that it's abandoned and falling apart. As he walks up the stairs the killer pops out and stabs him in the shoulder. He manages to take the knife from her, but she runs up the stairs to the next story. He goes to the next story. She knocks him out with a brick and ties him up. She rolls him toward a high drop off. He wakes up and she takes off the mask. It's Mrs. Tredoni, Father Tom's old
Italian housekeeper. She reveals her motive. As a young woman she had an
affair with a priest. They had a duaghter, who died before her first communion and she thought that it was god's punishment. The priest had a stroke and was confined to a wheelchair. St. Michael came to her in a vision and told her that she could atone for her sins by killing anyone who sinned. Catherine and Dom had
pre-marital sex which resulted in Alice. She says she killed Karen because children pay for the sins of their parents. Dom sees Karen's cross dangling from Mrs. Tredoni's neck. He grabs it with his mouth. She tries to open his mouth, but he won't budge. She takes her shoe and smacks him in the mouth until his face has become bloody pulp. Then she pushes Dom off the drop off and he cascades to his death. Since Alice was in the juvenile ward at the time of the murder, the police know she's innocent. Catherine takes her back home. One Sunday morning Alice sneaks into Alphonso's apartment whiles he's sleeping and sets the open jar of cockroaches onto his stomach. Then she leaves for church with her mother. Detective Spina is parked outside the building watching it in case the killer the comes to kill Catherine. He drives off to buy some more
cigarettes. While he's gone the killer sneaks into the building and knocks on Catherine's door, ready to kill her when she answers. Alphonso wakes up covered in cockroaches. He screams. The killer decides to leave, thinking the screams may attract attention. As she's leaving Alphonso comes out of his apartment. He grabs the killer, thinking she's Alice, and rips off her mask. He's confused when he finds that it's not Alice. Mrs. Tredoni stabs him in the
stomach and runs off. The detective comes back from his cigarette trip and hears Alphonso screaming. He runs to the building's front door, but it's locked. Through a window he can see Mrs. Tredoni run down the basement stairs. He breaks the window and runs to Alphonso, who has already died. Mrs. Tredoni goes to church and sits behind Catherine and Alice. Spina calls the police and informs Father Tom that the killer is Mrs. Tredoni. Tom says they can arrest her when she comes to receive communion. Spina advises against it but they go through with it anyway. When it's time for communion Mrs. Tredoni goes to receive. Father Tom politely asks her to come with him. She says she wants a communion. He refuses to give it to her. She points to Catherine and says, "But you gave it to that whore!". The congregation gasps. Mrs. Tredoni takes the knife out of her bag and stabs Tom in the neck. The church erupts into chaos. Mrs. Tredoni hugs Tom's lifeless body, finally getting what she wanted. Police rush in to haul her off. Alice secretly takes Mrs. Tredoni's bag and walks to where no one can see her. She takes the knife out and looks at it deviously as if an idea has popped into her head. She puts it back into the bag and looks up at the
camera innocently.
*Director Alfred Sole was previously a director of pornographic movies.
*
