|
|
Cute young Karen (Brooke Shields) is murdered the very day she was
about to recieve her first communion, and indeed she was snatched from the
church just before the ritual. There are no real clues to go on, but
several people suspect her 12 year old sister Alice (Paula E. Sheppard),
who has long been suffering from jealousy of her younger sister. Nobody
says anything yet though, and her mother Catherine (Linda Miller) fiercely
defends her ... but eventually, Catherine's sister Anne (Jane Lowry)
starts making accusations in front of Catherine - and a short time later
she's attacked by someone - a short female - in a raincoat just like the
one Alice tends to wear, and wearing a mask. Anne survives the attack, and
she accuses Alice, as does the creepy landlord downstairs (Alphonso
DeNoble), and she's even taken in for psychatric evaluation. Only
Catherine and her estranged husband Dom (Niles McMaster) believe in her
innocence. And Dom even goes so far as to conduct some investigations of
his own ... until he runs into a short female in a raincoat just like
Alice tends to wear, who wears a mask - and she's determined to kill Dom.
The bad news, she succeeds, but the good news, Alice couldn't have been
the killer as she has been in custody. And now it's up to Catherine to
figure out what's going on, her only help being Father Tom (Rudolph
Willrich), the priest of her parish, but he's somehow isolated by elderly
parish cook Mrs Tredoni (Mildred Clinton). And with this combination,
disaster is just bound to strike ... Alice, Sweet Alice
sure is an enjoyable little thriller from yesteryear: Sure, it's a tad
old-fashioned even for the 1970s, and the plot and its twists seem to be
rather far-fetched at times, while at other times too in-your-face, but
it's well-played and well put together, it works nicely in the suspense
department, and especially the third act holds many surprises. Of course,
it helps if you're a bit of a nostalgia nut (such as me), but especially
then the film offers pretty great genre entertainment.
|
|
|