In 1961, sisters Alice and Karen attend a Catholic school where Alice will be getting the sacrament of her first Holy Communion. Karen is incredibly jealous of Alice and misbehaved overall. So, when Alice is found strangled and her body hidden, Karen is suspected of the murder. As the bodies pile up, more and more blame her, but is a little girl capable of murder?
Alice Sweet Alice is an underappreciated slasher that has relevant themes and weird story lines. Karen is an insufferable child prone to tantrums, whining, and histrionics. However, she is mistreated by almost everyone in the film and is constantly compared to her well behaved, angelic older sister who gets everything that she doesn't. She is even denied the sacrament of communion because she was born out of wedlock, something that she had no control over. Every adult in the film is awful in some way, from the lecherous and filthy Mr. Alphonse (who tries to molest her) to her aunt (who isn't shy about displaying her dislike of the little girl) to her own parents (who hold her at arms length even when she's punished for their actions). Watching the film, Karen is annoying, but she understandably acts this way because everyone in her life failed her.
The slasher wears a distinctive outfit of a yellow rain coat and an eerie clear mask, both things that Karen are seen wearing throughout the film. The murderer is a mundane person with twisted, religious motivations that do align with Catholic Church teachings (without the murder). It shows how toxic these judgmental teachings can be when applied to the real world as well as inside the church. The murders are well done, but not especially graphic. Alice Sweet Alice touches on a lot of sensitive subjects and handles them fairly well. I hope this film is eventually restored because the version on Amazon Prime is very sepia toned. The film is unique in the slasher genre and has more to do with Hitchcock murder mysteries than Friday the 13th.
My rating: 4/5 fishmuffins
* Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
Winslow Leach dreams of making it big in the music industry and thinks he did when record producer Swan uses his songs for the nostalgia band The Juicy Fruits. However, Winslow goes back to Death Records to follow up and is thrown out. He breaks in and Swan frames him for drug dealing, where he goes to jail and has his teeth extracted for metal dentures. Winslow breaks out again and again breaks into Death Records to destroy the records and presses, but he falls face first into a press, scarring his face and destroying his vocal cords. He steals a costume and vows to destroy the company and its productions and performances until he hears a woman sing named Phoenix, whose voice entrances him. He agrees to writer music for Swan and stop his reign of terror if Phoenix sings his music.
Phantom of the Paradise has a much more complicated story than above that I didn't realize until I tried to write it out. Despite what the title implies, the story is more of a retelling of Faust with a small dash of The Phantom of the Opera and The Picture of Dorian Gray. Everything is just kind of thrown together with over the top 70's rock opera with equally cartoonish characters. Winslow is sympathetic in every tragedy he experiences and ends up with a robotic voice and metal teeth masked in a metallic bird outfit. Phoenix, his muse, is a beautiful performer and initially balks at trading sexual favors for fame, but eventually takes up a relationship with Swan. I particularly enjoyed this departure because Winslow felt betrayed that his idealized mental picture of her (since he never even met her) didn't match with the reality. Everything is overwrought and dramatic within the glitzy backdrop of the hedonistic and enticing music scene.
Swan is the cackling villain of the piece who doesn't care for his performers or songwriters, opting to literally kill them when he no longer has use for them and they want their pay. It's a not very subtle jab at real life music producers who exploit their talent, coerce them into binding contracts that don't benefit them, and drop them when they are no longer successful. One of my favorite characters is Beef, a talented diva who has deeper layers. This character is coded as queer and unfortunately played for laughs, but shows the person underneath the facade. Phantom of the Paradise is rightfully a cult classic that I wish more people would watch and talk about. If you like over the top musical theater and horror films, I would highly recommend this one.
My rating: 3.5/5 fishmuffins
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