Alyce

Alyce is a strange kind of flick. It isn't that easy to say what kind of genre this really is. It starts as a normal flick that changes into a ghost story to turn into a mobster kind of story and finally in pure horror.

Jay Lee, the director already made a few horrors like The Slaughter (2006) and the much more known Zombie Strippers! (2008). So he clearly knew his stuff. But this time the flick doesn't start immediately with horror. The first 20 minutes you really get to know the two main characters, Alyce (Jade Dornfield) and her best friend Caroll ( Tamara Feldman as seen in Hatchet). But Alyce is the ice queen and doesn't like what she is seeing. After becoming very dark she pushes her best friend off the wall by accident. Thinking she's death she informs the police what happened with a lie. But then the police tells her her best friend isn't death. From there on Alyce becomes paranoid (the ghost part) and do needs drugs like she used to take with Caroll. While taking drugs she's really losing her mind and goes berserk. Once that happens this flick turns into a pure gory horror. And by that I mean that it isn't for the easy offended or the squeamish. Gore hounds will love the last part of Alyce. But by going over the top with the gory parts it even comes close to comedy. The way Alyce reacts is sometimes a bit funny.

On part of the gore the effects used are sublime. It really becomes messy. And just have a look at the faces being hurt, it really looks like the real stuff. Sadly by being a slow starter and dropping a bit down in the middle of the flick I can't say that I recommend it to the gorehounds. They just have to watch the final.

Jade Dornfeld did an excellent job here. She's really believable. I must say that I loved this more then Zombie Strippers! because you keep watching and really want to know what is going on with Alyce. But the problem is that the distribution of Alyce wasn't that good. It was out on the shelves for a while but didn't had any promo in specialized mags and nowadays it is almost unfindable in the shops but do search it on the web. It's worth your money. This was a big surprise for a horror buff like me.

Gore 4/5 Nudity 1/5 Effects 4/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 1/5

What is this movie about? It's about a chick who goes crazy. Or---who was not right in the head in the first place and circumstances pushed her over the edge.

The first part of the movie has Alyce and her best friend Carroll out on the street late at night. They're both drunk having a public heart-to-heart. Why? After meeting up with her boyfriend earlier at a bar, Carroll found out her boyfriend Vince is cheating on her. Later, they arrive at Alyce's place and consider making out (sorry guys, that went nowhere). Then Carroll suggest that they go out and get drugs. This they do. Later Carroll winds up in a hospital. All of this eats up about 20 mins of the movie. The next part is about how Alyce copes with her sense of guilt. She's a nervous wreck and seeing things. The movie seemed like a ghost story at this point to me. To help her cope, Alyce goes back to the same drug dealer she and Carroll went to earlier to buy drugs. Her behavior gets even weirder.

The movie is about a hour and a half. By the last half hour Alyce has totally flipped and the movie doesn't appear to be a ghost story anymore but about a psycho bitch. The ending is so over-the-top in terms of the story and violence, that it becomes a kind of "horror comedy" whereas earlier it seemed like a serious offbeat psychological thriller. Finally, all I can say about this movie is that it's a curious mix of style and content. Subject matter includes: drugs, drunkenness, masturbation, necrophilia, rough sex, butchery (only the last item was explicit). As far as the style goes, it seemed light at first (where's this thing going?), then serious (Damn!), then both light and serious (Huh?) Love, Boloxxi.

After accidentally knocking her best friend off a roof, Alyce (Jade Dornfeld) is haunted by guilt and delves into a brutal nightmare wonderland of sex, drugs and violence, her mind tearing itself apart along with anyone else who gets in her way.

As others have mentioned, trying to put this film into any one genre is pretty challenging. The marketers seem to want this to be a ghost story, but that is a very small part of what really happens. Following Alyce's journey is not horror, but something a little more than drama.

The attempt to draw from "Alice in Wonderland" is strange. Clearly we have "Alyce" and her friend "Carroll Lewis", which are obvious references. We even have James Duval, who will be known by many as playing a rabbit in "Donnie Darko" (though his character here is anything but Alyce's guide). And there the similarities end.

Director Jay Lee has moved up in the world from his days (not long ago) making "Zombie Strippers". Much of this is a "really satisfying slow burn" (in the words of Nikki Hopeman), but has more to offer than just well-paced suspense. Others have made interesting comparisons, with Chuck Bowen labeling it "a blunt, trashy fusion of 'Repulsion' and 'Bartleby, the Scrivener'." Brian Tallerico was reminded of "great films like 'Repulsion' and 'May'". Unlike these two, I did not see the "Repulsion" connection, but that is a high praise.

Bowen says the film "is distinctive because Lee doesn't invite us to sympathize with Alyce; she isn't a doomed wallflower in the tradition of the heroes of Carrie, May, or many others". Quite true -- she is no hero or anti-hero, but merely the protagonist we follow, whether her path is justified or not, sane or insane. And that makes it a stronger film.

Watched most of this in fast forward. No action till the last 20 minutes or so...

This Movie starts off as what appears to be a somewhat cliché and predictable Hollywood flick but given time and patience spirals out of control into a world of actual insanity. the gore and violence is superb, and this movie has its moments of dark psychotic humor. this movie belongs to the appreciators of underground entertainment, Raw and Relentless, only after the movie climbs to its peak i feel the movie ended abruptly, i would've enjoyed a darker ending but i must say the people that worked on this movie did an amazing job, i am so sick of stereotypical people giving movies unfair biased reviews because their minds have been numbed to only enjoy stereotypical diluted Hollywood crap. This movie is for real art lovers.