Alice, Querida Alice

Alice is a 12 year old brat with a real mean streak...she bullies her younger sister (an 11 year old Brooke Shields) and terrorizes a reclusive neighbor. When her sister is murdered in church everyone begins to wonder if she's crossed the line from a tiny terror to a psychotic.

It's the simplicity of the story and near perfect execution that made this a cult classic. It's got ambiance, a wonderful accompanying score, creative camera work (although a little too much of people looking directly into the camera). Paula Sheppard shines as Alice and sometimes just the look on her face gives you the feeling she's thinking up new ways to traumatize people. It's got great subtext with sibling rivalry, children coping with divorced parents and religious faith. Some of the editing feels a bit stiff and some of the acting is subpar but in a story like this it can add a bit to the 'creepy' factor.

I think this is one of those movies that gets a little better with age. 6.5 in 1976 7.5 in 2021

Alice Spages (Paula Sheppard) is a rebel and problematic twelve year-old girl that lives with her divorced mother Catherine (Linda Miller) and her younger sister Karen (Brooke Shields). Catherine gives more attention to Karen, neglecting her older daughter. During the first communion of Karen, the girl is strangled by a woman dressed with a St. Michael's yellow coat and a mask. Alice takes her place in the line wearing her veil that she claims she had found on the floor and becomes the prime suspect of the police. When Catherine's sister Annie (Jane Lowry) is stabbed on the leg several times, she accuses Alice and the girl is sent to psychological evaluation under the protest of her parents and their friend Father Tom (Rudolph Willrich). Alice's father Dominick Spages (Nies McMaster) seeks evidences to prove the innocence of Alice.

"Communion" is a creepy and stylish horror movie of the 70's and practically the debut of Brooke Shields in the cinema with a minor but important participation. The dramatic story discloses insanity through weird characters in a period of heavy rain and using the Catholic principles of communion, sin and guilty, giving an atmosphere that recalls Dario Argento's movies. The relationship among Catherine, Father Tom and Dominick is not clear, especially because the Catholic Church requires celibate from the priests. In one moment, Catherine is ready to leave town alone, and she says to Father Tom that Alice would be better with him, giving an indication that Alice might be Tom's daughter. If my guess is right, the behavior of fanatic Catholic Annie that apparently blames Catherine for getting married pregnant of Alice is explained, and the conclusion is perfect, with Mrs. Tredoni saying that "children should pay for the sins of their parents"; calling Catherine of whore; and stabbing Father Tom. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Comunhão" ("Communion")

Note: On 29 May 2012, I saw this film again on DVD.

Note; On 06 Sep 2022, I saw this film again.

Alice, Sweet Alice is a hard movie to forget. Dealing with religious repression, mental illness, and child murder might make it sound like a depressing chore to sit through but director, Alfred Sole, loads the film with so many memorable images and set pieces and keeps things both gritty and grounded, but elevated and a bit campy at the same time which throws the viewer out of whack. There are also some very surprising deaths and attack scenes that you don't see coming and that's always a plus in a film like this.

Suspicion falls on the sister of a girl killed during her first holy communion ...

Much to enjoy in this movie. It has the lurid brutality that the '70s specialised in, with a worrying line in sexual inappropriateness, and makes no bones about its bleak outlook.

The cinematography is intriguing, with my favourite composition a big knife in the kitchen foreground as a line of three females draws the eye into the frame. Plenty of little touches of the cruel or grotesque, including a kitten lapping the fresh blood of a peculiar murder victim. And also that period habit of intriguing snap-shots of by-standers: the mental hospital orderly's watchful face, and the cousin's dumbfounded look at the final communion service.

The performances are good, with many scenes of raised voices that jangle the nerves. But the over-ripe music gives the impression of numerous string instruments being furiously sawed-in-half.

The real problem is the preposterous plot, which even on its own terms falls between the stools of police procedural and psychological portrait. For me, Alice's story was the main event, and I found my interest drifting as the plot jumped the track to become a sort of blood-drenched Scooby Doo mystery. In the end, I don't class this as a horror, but as psychological thriller - and a cheap one at that.

Overall: Harrowing disturbance descends into daft commotion.

Yahoo! One of my all-time favorites. Made in the 70s but set in the 60s in an uber-catholic world during the Kennedy administration, this movie is about catholic killings. It's magnif. Paula Sheppard is incredible, a wonderful actress at so young. Gotta love Brooke Shields. Such aplomb. She's like her own damn cult. The direction is many-layered. Asides like the landlord downstairs feel so right. That scene in the stairway when the aunt is stabbed is amaze! You can watch events on two different levels. The music is choice. A young girl is murdered during her first communion, right there in the church. Her barely-psycho sister is blamed but it doesn't quite fit. This is only the first murder.