Horror Movie Mini-Reviews: Alice Sweet Alice (1976) and Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

* Alice Sweet Alice (1976)

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

Bannerless by Carrie Vaughn

Decades after environmental and economic collapse plus a widespread contagion destroyed the United States, the people are reduced to small, far apart villages on the Coastal Road. The main focus of the government is to keep people living within their means, which means only harvesting enough and requiring a banner for the privilege to bear children. Enid of Haven is an investigator sent with her partner to investigate a mysterious death of an ostracized person in another village. From the beginning, the people are cagey and unwilling to cooperate. Did someone murder this outcast, was it a tragic accident, or is it something else they are hiding?

Bannerless is set in a future where technology all but gone and resources are scarce. People live in small villages, only farming or fishing or hunting what is necessary to make sure food is able to be acquired later. Banners are required for having children to prove you have the resources for them. On the upside, no one really starves. Struggling villages can be helped, relocated and shuffled about to make sure resources get to everyone. Everyone also has to pull their weight in some way to contribute to their household. Because of this, girls hitting puberty are given a birth control implant only to be removed when given a banner. Of course people try to go around the law, but those people are dealt with on a case by case basis. It's implied that abortions can be forced if it's early enough or, if it's too late, have the pregnant woman transferred to a household with enough resources. The only other option is to be ostracized and starve to death. I wish this was a bigger point in the book. It's one of the most interesting and horrific things about the world and the entire doing away with women's bodily autonomy should have been examined a bit more.

The main story is Enid's in the present and the past. In the present, she is investigating a possible murder and finding out why this village is so uncooperative. In the past, she is traveling with her musician boyfriend Dak, performing and doing odd jobs to pay their way across the Coastal Road. In a world that is so interesting, I found Enid and her story rather dull. She was described as emotional and with a temper, but most of what I see is her bottling up her emotions to appease others. The only thing I liked about her was that she didn't find a lot of inherent value in a banner and didn't want children. The murder mystery doesn't have any huge plot twists or anything. It almost seems mundane. I am way more interested in other parts of the world, especially in Auntie Kath who remembers what it was like before the fall. She would essentially be us if we lived through something like that, remembering everything she lost while others have no idea.

Bannerless has an interesting world, but kind of a dull story. It's written well and kept me reading, but Enid is kind of a wet blanket. I think nonchalance was a problem for me There's no big revelation. It's just people being predictable. I will be reading the second book in the series to see if a different focus in the world would be more enjoyable.

My rating: 3/5 fishmuffins

Kill the Boy Band

A group of Strepurs (not strippers, the crazed fans of boy band the Ruperts) get an expensive hotel room their obsession is staying at to catch a glimpse of them. Things escalate when they capture one of the Ruperts and tie him up in their room with tights. Thing really escalated when he's found dead. How did this idol die? Is one of the group a lying murderer?

Kill the Boy Band is a little bit Heathers and a little bit Mean Girls with a healthy dose of fangirl. The humor is a bit dark and all is not rainbows and butterflies for these fangirls. Moldavsky focuses on the dark side of fangirls. Even though they obsess and love the object of their affection, they aren't afraid to ridicule or hate things about the same people they obsess about. The book shows that this group is just comprised of people who aren't very nice or intelligent, a harsh reality for fangirls who write fanfiction and imagine epic scenarios with them.

Our nameless unreliable narrator is kind of timid and annoying for most of it. She seems to be the most sensible, but her voice is overshadowed by everyone else. All the other girls are pretty flat stereotypes. Apple is the simple one who obsesses over the least impressive Rupert. Her parents spoil her rotten and she's annoying. Isabel is the tough business type one who runs a successful website about the boy band. She's mercenary and willing to do anything to get the juiciest stories. Erin is the queen bee and the most popular one. Her motives are less than benevolent due to an incident at a past concert with the Ruperts. When they realize how human the Ruperts are, their bond falls apart because it was the only think holding these disparate girls together.

I liked the premise, but I can't really relate to the characters. I was never that into something that I would act as extremely as them. It was a cute short read, but I wouldn't read it again and I probably wouldn't read another book by the author unless the premise seemed super spectacular.

My rating: 2.5/5 fishmuffins