Alice in Murderland

Deciding to watch this despite clear and emphatically poor reception felt like consciously punishing myself for the mixed bag represented in other titles I'd chosen in the same night. From the very, very beginning there is an absolute lack of subtlety in the screenplay (weak overall narrative, threadbare scene writing, thin characterizations, hackneyed dialogue), camerawork, direction, editing and transitions, arrangement of scenes, blood effects and gore, costume design, choreography, acting, and music. In every possible way the production feels purely amateurish - a first student film, perhaps, created by barely attentive beginners; a passion project among friends, except with scarcely any passion, fun, or active interest from anyone involved; or a schlocky, low-grade, themed porn flick, except without any nudity.

Considering the dialogue, the other features of filmmaker Dennis Devine, the wardrobe selections generally, and an early scene in which every female character is dressed only in a bikini - the latter comparison seems most apt.

'Alice in Murderland' is pointedly terrible, nearly entirely bereft of all value. There's infinitesimally little praise I can offer, but I find myself surprised that I've any at all. Against all odds, there's a single unexpected turn in the plot. There's an iota of cleverness in the sudden disappearances and reappearances of the "Cheshire Cat," Kat - though the underlying predictability is rotten. The characterizations of "Tweedledum" and "Tweedledee," or Donna and Dee, allow actresses Heath Butler and Jennifer Field to wholly lean into the vapid ignorance of the roles. And the latter lends to the single laugh that the entire movie provided in a small exchange of dialogue: "Where's Donna?" "Glued to the toilet." "Oh. Of course she is."

What's remarkable is that I gather a minor sense that the cast are genuinely capable actresses. Bad acting is one matter; acting under the strict terms and guidance of a director is another. The two are certainly distinct, and I'm inclined to think in this case the latter is true. Moreover, to glance at their collective credits reveals some tawdry nonsense much like Devine's oeuvre, yes, but also a number of recognizable films and series that can't be a mistake. To that point: The only reason I stumbled across this title in the first place was that I greatly admired the performance in the outstanding 2019 short film 'Nova' of Kelly Kula, and in browsing her credits, found she featured here as Kat. Yet suffice to say, 'Alice in Murderland' is a far cry from that fantastic horror short, or pretty much anything else. Devine's writing and direction forces everyone involved into such abjectly blunt, forthright, unsubtle, over the top, tacky performances that it's extremely difficult to truly distinguish, on the basis of this feature alone, who may or may not have real acting skill, were they given opportunity to demonstrate it.

I'll allow this: I don't know if Devine is just that awful of a filmmaker, or if every unseemly flaw of the picture is intentional. Considering how many other movies he's made, I suppose it's hard to think that he altogether doesn't know what he's doing. Yet if the horridly tedious pablum is knowing and willful, making a deliberately rancid movie - job well done, I guess, but why? To what purpose?

There is, I dare say, a tiny modicum of fun to be had in the final length of the feature, and again, there are a few elements that seem marginally worthwhile, at least by comparison. This isn't the absolute worst movie I've ever seen - but it's close enough. Any positivity is overwhelmed and subsumed in the grotesquely dull, possibly premeditated mediocrity that the film otherwise represents. What minuscule value one may find here is not worth sitting through these 90 minutes, especially not with so many other fine movies available to watch. A few pinpricks of light are not remotely enough to redeem the dark void of shallow, uninteresting, and vulgarly, garishly blatant rubbish that is 'Alice in Murderland.'

You've been warned.

I like Slasher Horror movies and this one is a decent enough way to kill 90 minutes. (no pun intended)

If you like the kind of movie where random teens go to a place and start dying, then this movie fits that profile.

I don't judge acting too seriously, I guess it can be considered poor, but I personally don't really care about that.

Some of the characters are alright, I particularly enjoyed the teacher for some reason.

There is one very funny scene, although 95% of the scenes are pretty bad.

I've seen far worse production on low budget movies. The kill scenes aren't great, but at least they aren't hidden/cut-away scenes.

The overall production is high enough.

Nothing special, but entertaining enough to keep my attention, I didn't walk away or feel like turning it off throughout the duration.

If you can ignore some of the illogical scenes/dialogue and some of the many errors, then it is good enough to watch once to pass the time.

I held off on watching this due to the reviews here. Rated 1.9 and bad reviews, I don't know why. Expecting the worst, I got a movie that wasn't soft core porn, like someone suggested. It wasn't bad, nothing to write home about, but still decent. If you're looking for a movie that isn't the greatest, but has some charm, then look no further

I never, and I mean never, write reviews. This one prompted a review. This film is so bad that it approaches being comical. Unfortunately, I do not think they were trying to be campy.

The premise, the acting, the set, the special effects are terrible. There is nothing redeeming here.

For those of you who remember MST3K, Joel and the bots should be forced to watch this one!

Alice Lewis is about to turn 21. Her sorority sisters decide to organise an 'Alice in Wonderland' themed birthday party for her at a local dilapidated mansion - which the school has just bought with the intention of turning it into a theatre for their dramatic productions. However, in the basement of that same house 20 years ago Alice's mother was hacked to death by an unknown killer. And as her birthday gets nearer Alice starts to have premonitions and dreams that indicate history is about to repeat itself.

The budget for this appears to have been whatever the cast and crew had in their pockets when they all decided 'Let's make a movie!' Some of the photography looks like it was shot on a phone, most of the 'acting' ranges between bad and God-awful, and the costumes all look like they were borrowed from a local strip joint.

But...

The girls - including lookalike versions of young 'Mila Kunis', young 'Danielle Harris', and young 'Terri Garr' - are cute and engaging (you *almost* want them to survive), the whole cast are game, and the script is actually pretty funny. Plus there's a lot of blood.

I was surprised that a 21 year old would still be at school and in a sorority; I'm in the UK, but wouldn't she finish school at around 18? Anyway, whilst I'm glad I didn't pay for it, I can't hate on it - it's just really dumb fun! 😄 5/10.