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Alfred Sole’s Alice, Sweet Alice opens with young Karen (Brooke Shields) preparing for her first communion. Her mother, Catherine (Linda Miller), and the well-meaning Father Tom (Rudolph Willrich) are so excited for her that they overlook the crazed behavior of the girl’s sister, Alice (Paula E. Sheppard). After starting to wear a yellow raincoat (an obvious nod to Don’t Look Now) and a translucent mask that suggests a smiling albino face decked out in garish makeup, Alice bullies Karen, stealing her clothes and toys and leading her to a warehouse and briefly locking her behind a sliding door.

Throughout these episodes, Sole focuses on crosses, statues, and a creepy Janus-faced doll, emphasizing the violence festering under a righteous community’s nose, as well as a split between tolerance, especially of more modern relationships, and wrath and judgment in the key of the Old Testament. This is...

The 1970s were a historic time for horror movies. Some of the best and most iconic horror films of all time were released during this decade, including haunting favorites like Halloween, The Wicker Man, and The Exorcist. Many of these delightfully scary films even went on to launch massive franchises, guiding the future of the genre for many years to come. From fearsome creatures to deranged killers, the '70s had something to offer for all types of horror lovers.

Of course, not every film from that era could be as well-known as Jaws or The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Plenty of incredible horror movies from the '70s have been largely forgotten, not because of their quality, but merely because they ended up being overshadowed by the more iconic films of the decade. Although they may not be the most recognizable ones, these horror movies from the 1970s offer lots of gore,...

It’s too late for prayers, because Alice, Sweet Alice is coming to 4K Ultra HD on February 11 via Arrow Video.

The 1976 proto-slasher has been newly restored in 4K from the original camera negative with original lossless mono audio.

Three versions of the film are included via seamless branching: the theatrical cut of Alice, Sweet Alice, the original title Communion, and the re-release as Holy Terror.

Alfred Sole directs from a script he co-wrote with Rosemary Ritvo.

Alice, Sweet Alice stars Linda Miller, Mildred Clinton, Paula Sheppard, Niles McMaster, and Brooke Shields in her film debut.

Special Features include:

Audio commentary with Richard Harland Smith (new) Audio commentary with co-writer/director Alfred Sole and editor M. Edward Salier First Communion – Interview with director Alfred Sole Alice on My Mind – Interview with composer Stephen Lawrence (new) In the Name of the Father –Interview with actor Niles McMaster (new) Sweet Memories – Interview with filmmaker Dante Tomaselli,...

Non-Disney animated musicals are diverse classics, deserving recognition for their box office success, critical praise, and artistic legacy. All Dogs Go To Heaven, Corpse Bride, and South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut are standout non-Disney animated musicals with unique stories and impact. Films like FernGully, The Road To El Dorado, Anastasia, Sing, An American Tail, and The Prince Of Egypt prove Disney doesn't monopolize animated musical excellence.

When considering the best animated musicals, it is inevitable that Disney will automatically come to mind, but in reality, there are countless animated musicals not made by Disney, that are truly outstanding watches. These musicals are diverse in their stories and music, and all of them are staples of many generations' childhoods, just as Disney's best movies were. Though some of these films are seemingly inspired by Disney, while others are completely and utterly unique, all of these non-Disney animated musicals are some of the best musicals,...

Alfred Sole, the prolific television production designer of Veronica Mars, Castle and MacGyver who had achieved cult-horror status with his 1976 film Alice, Sweet Alice featuring a 10-year-old Brooke Shields in a supporting role, died Feb. 14 at his home in Salt Lake City. He was 78.

His death was announced in a Facebook post by his cousin, filmmaker Dante Tomaselli. A cause of death was not specified.

Sole had already written and directed the 1972 sexually explicit, low-budget film Deep Sleep when several years later – and after the first film had been pulled from theaters on charges of obscenity – he turned to the horror genre. Originally titled Communion, Sole’s second movie premiered at the Chicago Film Festival in 1976 and was released by Allied Artists the following year as Alice, Sweet Alice, a name change disliked by Sole.

Inspired in part by Nicolas Roeg’s 1973 moody thriller Don’t Look Now, Sole’s Alice,...

Talk about a film whose time has come … Paul Mazursky’s ode to womanly liberation takes a sensible, gentle approach. Yes, the husband was a total jerk, and so is the first man Jill Clayburgh’s Erica turns to in need. What’s more important is the feeling of empowerment on the personal intimate level: it’s okay for a woman to have personal priorities; it’s okay to decline commitment to the whims and wishes of a male companion. Forty-two years later, the premise holds — especially the film’s emphasis on social support from one’s friends.

An Unmarried Woman

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 1032

1978 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 124 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date June 9, 2020 / 39.95

Starring: Jill Clayburgh, Alan Bates, Michael Murphy, Cliff Gorman, Pat Quinn, Kelly Bishop, Lisa Lucas, Linda Miller.

Cinematography: Arthur J. Ornitz

Film Editor: Stuart H. Pappé

Original Music: Bill Conti

Produced by Paul Mazursky,...

By Todd Garbarini

Alfred Sole is a production designer who has carved out a nice career for himself in Hollywood, most notably on the television shows Veronica Mars (2004-7), Castle (2009-16), and the reboot of MacGyver (2017-18). Long before he chose that line of work however, he dabbled in the world of film directing. His first film, a 1972 hardcore sex “comedy” called Deep Sleep, which was financed on a bet, must be seen to be believed. He apparently made a follow-up film after that called American Soap which to my knowledge has never seen the light of day. I would be very interested in seeing the latter as despite a few flourishes of cinematic style and several humorous sequences involving dialogue, the former is just a hardcore sex romp featuring folks no one in their right mind would want to see naked, let alone copulating. I only mention it because there is nothing,...

This unique proto-slasher is not a rip-off of The Exorcist and for my taste is more meaningful, despite associating innocent children with horrible killings and religious repression. Director Alfred Sole uses these edgy elements to whip up an involving mystery, and a committed cast lifts it high above the exploitation gutter. Great extras, especially a commentary by Richard Harland Smith.

Alice, Sweet Alice

Blu-ray

Arrow Video

1976 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 98 min. / Communion / Street Date August 6, 2019 / 39.95

Starring: Linda Miller, Paula Sheppard, Mildred Clinton, Niles McMaster, Tom Signorelli, Brooke Shields, Miss Lillian Roth.

Film Editor: Edward Salier

Original Music: Stephen Lawrence

Written by Rosemary Ritvo, Alfred Sole

Produced by Richard K. Rosenberg

Directed by Alfred Sole

Back in the 1970s horror films didn’t always get a fair critical reception, so it was difficult to know which ones were the winners. Alice, Sweet Alice is an accomplished post- Exorcist shocker about mayhem in a dysfunctional Catholic family.

Stars: Linda Miller, Mildred Clinton, Paula Sheppard, Niles McMaster, Jane Lowry, Rudolph Willrich, Michael Hardstark, Alphonso DeNoble, Gary Allen, Brooke Shields | Written by Alfred Sole, Rosemary Ritvo | Directed by Alfred Sole

When ten-year-old Karen is killed in church on the occasion of her first communion, her seemingly innocent older sister Alice (Paula Sheppard) becomes the prime suspect. Matters become complicated as more of Alice s family members are attacked, along with residents of her apartment building. Can a twelve-year-old girl be capable of such mayhem, or is someone else with a vicious plan destroying her family?

1970s “killer kid” proto-slasherAlice Sweet Alice comes from from director Alfred Sole – who would later go on to spoof the genre a mere three years later with Pandemonium – and is one of those horror films that has become more notorious for its cast than it’s plot. In this case it for a very...

The Prostate Cancer Foundation (Pcf) hosted the 19th Annual Gala in the Hamptons at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, NY during the 14th Annual Charles Evans Pcf Pro-Am Tennis Tournament weekend which raised $4 million.

John Fogerty

Credit/Copyright: Patrick McMullan

Founder Michael Milken and The Gala in the Hamptons weekend hosts and sponsors welcomed guests to enjoy, engage and be entertained while helping to fund groundbreaking discoveries in cancer research. This year’s entertainment was provided by Grammy award winning musician John Fogerty.

Notable attendees included: Michael Milken (Founder), Dr. Jonathan Simons, Plum Simons, Senator Lindsey Graham, U.S. Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin, Bonnie Pfeifer Evans, John Fogerty, Richard Merkin, Nick Bollettieri, Robert Citrone, Joel Pashcow, Tom and Ann Tenenbaum Lee, Glenn Myles, Jennifer Myles, Mitch Modell of Modell’s Sporting Goods, Carissa Kranz, Jason Rabin, Nicole Rabin, Igor Tulchinsky and Valentina Pavlenko, George Walker, Nancy Walker,...

By Todd Garbarini

Alfred Sole is a production designer who has carved out a nice career for himself in Hollywood, most notably on the television shows Veronica Mars (2004-7), Castle (2009-16), and the reboot of MacGyver (2017-18). Long before he chose that line of work however, he dabbled in the world of film directing. His first film, the 1972 hardcore sex “comedy” Deep Sleep, must be seen to be believed because despite a few flourishes of cinematic style and several humorous sequences involving dialogue, it’s just a hardcore sex romp featuring folks no one in their right mind would want to see naked let alone copulating. There is absolutely nothing in this film to suggest that he would next direct one of the greatest and most thematically disturbing thrillers of our time, 1976’s Communion, not to be confused with the Christopher Walken/alien-probe-up-the-old-dirt-road 1989 outing based on Whitley Strieber’s 1987 “non-fiction” book of the same name.

Stars: Milo Ventimiglia, John Billingsley, Bonita Friedericy, Rachel Melvin, Amanda Aday | Written and Directed by Charles Moore

A troubled young man flashes back to the demons of his past when his sister is released from her twenty-year prison sentence for the murder of their parents. He must confront his estranged sister and deal with the past, while fighting to protect his future and the life he has rebuilt for himself.

Denny (Milo Ventimiglia) has had troubled life, but after lying about his experience on his CV, he gets an opportunity to have a fresh start working as a waiter in a family restaurant. Welcomed as if part of the family by the restaurant the owners Lloyd Zane Miller (John Billingsley) and Linda Miller (Bonita Friedericy), they soon become a makeshift version of the parents he never had. A bond soon develops with his colleagues in the restaurant, which includes fellow...

The Catholic Church (and religion in general) always seems to have a hard go of it in horror films. Whether seen as the last respite for the desperate (The Exorcist), or co-conspirators of evil (The Omen), the church has proven to be a wellspring of guilt and mistrust, useful tools for building a great horror tale. Alice, Sweet Alice (1976) is a sinister example of good old Catholic retribution, and the finest American version of a giallo to boot.

The film premiered in November of ’76 at the Chicago International Film Festival under its original title Communion. Columbia Pictures was originally supposed to distribute the film, but legal issues arose and they dropped it. Allied Artists stepped in but demanded a name change so people would not think of it as a religious film (which it is – but probably not the kind people would be expecting), came up with Alice, Sweet Alice...

Stars: Linda Miller, Mildred Clinton, Paula Sheppard, Niles McMaster, Jane Lowry, Rudolph Willrich, Michael Hardstark, Alphonso DeNoble, Gary Allen, Brooke Shields | Written by Alfred Sole, Rosemary Ritvo | Directed by Alfred Sole

88 Films expand their DVD repertoire with their first non-Full Moon flick Alice Sweet Alice (aka Communion), the 1970s “killer kid” proto-slasher from director Alfred Sole – who would later go on to spoof the genre a mere three years later with Pandemonium.

When ten-year-old Karen (Brooke Shields, in her first screen appearance) is killed in church on the occasion of her first communion, her seemingly innocent older sister Alice (Paula Sheppard) becomes the prime suspect. Matters become complicated as more of Alice s family members are attacked, along with residents of her apartment building. Can a twelve-year-old girl be capable of such mayhem, or is someone else with a vicious plan destroying her family?

Alice Sweet Alice is...

The fact that film history barely acknowledges co-writer/director Alfred Sole's sophisticated, unbelievably disturbing 1976 dark thriller/murder mystery Alice, Sweet Alice as the major work of psychological horror it is, is patently ridiculous and borderline offensive.

The grim, grisly and offbeat movie (originally released under the title Communion then re-issued as Holy Terror before getting stuck with the moniker it now bears) is an eerie, emotionally draining and thoroughly fascinating picture that needs far more love ladled on it than the lowly level it now seems to command.

Sole's prickly, melodramatic fractured masterpiece tells the tale of New Jersey divorcee Catherine Spages (Linda Miller) and her two daughters, sweet little Karen (played by a pre-Pretty Baby Brooke Shields in her movie debut) and the slightly older (and more than slightly disturbed) Alice (Paula Sheppard, who would grow up to star in the counterculture punk rock / Sci-Fi classic Liquid Sky...