Alice, Sweet Alice 4K 1976 Ultra HD 2160p

Story Movie

1961. In the Catholic community of Paterson, New Jersey, a young divorced woman, Katherine Spages, lives with her two children, 12-year-old Alice and 9-year-old Karen. Karen is preparing to receive her first communion. A handsome priest gives her an antique crucifix that he inherited from his mother. Alice looks at her happy little sister with resentment and envy, and to get even, cruelly pranks her.

Review 4K Movie

At least 3 horror films related to child murder came out in the 1970s. The first was Aldo Lado's jallo 'Who Saw Her Die?', the second was an adaptation of Rebecca DuMaurier's short story 'Now Don't Look'. The third was shot in the US by debutant Alfred Soule, who would later find himself as a screenwriter and art director. But within 6 years he had made 3 films, the most famous of which is 'Alice, Sweet Alice'. This movie was made long before the wave of slashers, and therefore can be called a proto-slasher, i.e. a movie that, without being a slasher itself, influenced the formation of this subgenre in American cinema. Also in this movie a small role was played by the future celebrity Brooke Shields. It is the murder of her heroine, a pure and almost perfect girl Karen, that serves as the plot. At first her strange mentally unstable older sister is suspected, but as the attacks become more numerous, one has to wonder if Alice is innocent. And who is the killer girl Alice mistakes for Karen's ghost?

Alfred Saul, against all odds, expressed, in particular, in the extremely low budget, as a result of which it was necessary to save on literally everything, even to make the scenery himself, made a superb movie, not to see which - a real mistake of any moviegoer. Everything here is done on 5 plus and, despite the fact that 'Who Saw Her Death?' and 'Now Don't Look' were filmed earlier, it is Saul's debut that should be recognized as the best, with a masterful script (a well-deserved nomination for the Saturn Award), perfect acting and excellent direction. Even non-professional actors play great in Saul's movie, such as Alfonso DeNoble, a completely random figure in the cinema of those years, but an incredibly charismatic fat man. He impressively created the image of a pre-war owner, a slob and cat lover, as well as a pedophile who harassed Alice. His molestation of her is truly disgusting. However, the director originally disposed of his fate, making him an accidental victim of a maniac masquerading as a little girl. Alfonso DeNoble in the same year took part in another cult movie 'Bloodsucking Freaks', and then died in his apartment from obesity at the age of 31. The actress, who played 12-year-old Alice, was already 19 years old, but it's hard to guess it - so the authors did everything to make Paula Shepherd look like a teenager.

It's no coincidence that the action takes place in 1961, because the director was inspired by 'Psycho', so it's no coincidence that he chose a knife as the murder weapon and placed the movie poster in his story. The movie itself is built in such a way that the viewer has to decide whether Alice is the killer or not. In this regard, the movie has certainly influenced the stories about evil children, and also indirectly, with its religious themes, echoes Alec Mills' unusual slasher 'Blood Moon', filmed much later. Moreover, the mask used by the killer may seem familiar to you, for similar ones will often be used in slashers, even in 'Halloween' in the opening scene. Incidentally, the dubious director of cheap horror flicks, Dante Tomaselli, who is Saul's cousin, had a remake in mind, which, thank goodness, he has yet to direct. I've seen his weak horror 'Satan's Sandbox', so I wouldn't want to see a talented story ruined by an amateurish approach to filmmaking.