I'm surprised this movie isn't mentioned on here much. This is pure camp imo.

The acting is so over the top melodramatic. The big fat pervert neighbor, Mr. Alphonso, in the apartment below with his cats is a hoot. Alice Spages is a total bitch to her sister. The ending is hilarious.

"Have some cake, fatty!"

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by Anonymous

reply 24

June 5, 2023 3:50 PM

I’ve always enjoyed this one. I had a cheap VHS copy back in the 80s. It was one of those public domain titles released by a number of different companies to sell at Kmart and Target. The actress who played Alice was in her 20s though the character was 12! The actor who played Mr. Alphonso committed suicide a couple years after the movie came out.

by Anonymous

reply 2

April 29, 2023 9:33 PM

Its so lurid and dirty looking...

Makes life look like hell.

And I love it!

by Anonymous

reply 3

April 29, 2023 9:44 PM

I'll repeat what I said in the last thread on this subject, from July 2022:

My best friend and I watched it about twelve years ago, and were tickled to death by Kay Kyser's 'Three Little Fishies,' which is played in the film. We'd never heard it before, and were amazed at the apparent bathroom humor of the refrain, which sounded like

'Poop-poop, did 'em, dat 'em - wet 'em, too

And he swam and he swam all over the dam.'

Overall, the most creepy thing to me was the all-pervasive Catholicism of the characters and community depicted in the film. I'm not from 'Catholic World,' so it was the most alien thing in the film to me.

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by Anonymous

reply 4

April 29, 2023 9:53 PM

There have been a few threads on this over the years. The acting from Linda Miller (daughter of Jackie Gleason) and Jane Lowry is especially shrill—very stagey and obnoxious, but it doesn't detract from it for me—if anything, it just adds another bizarre tone. I think this film is a masterpiece and one of the most underrated horror movies of the '70s. I rented it on VHS as a kid and never forgot it. I've been a fan ever since. I was ecstatic when they finally announced a Blu-ray release of it a few years back. RIP to Alfred Sole, the writer/director. He killed himself last year.

by Anonymous

reply 5

June 5, 2023 2:15 AM

Brooke Shields is in it. Victor Buono!

by Anonymous

reply 6

June 5, 2023 2:23 AM

Paula Sheppard did this and Liquid Sky. She kind of fermented a legacy of sorts in a rarefied air that Julia Ormond only dreamed of.

by Anonymous

reply 8

June 5, 2023 2:41 AM

It has a lot of stylistic flourishes to it that really make it stand out among its peers. Paula Sheppard was great in this. I love the scene where Alice drags the lie detector test off the table while the detective is talking about her tits (they omitted the dialogue in the clip below for the TV airing—he tells his colleague, "Did you notice her tits? She was looking at me like she wanted me to feel her up!"

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by Anonymous

reply 9

June 5, 2023 2:41 AM

I was surprised Brooke shields died so early.

by Anonymous

reply 10

June 5, 2023 2:43 AM

Alice's aunt was such a hysterical, bloviating cunt in this. She deserved more than a knife to the leg.

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by Anonymous

reply 11

June 5, 2023 2:44 AM

I'm sad that the director killed himself last year. The movie's an underrated classic. The over-the-top acting is really not too far off the mark, when you factor in the amount of tragedy these already repressed and dysfunctional characters face throughout the movie.

by Anonymous

reply 12

June 5, 2023 2:55 AM

Brooke did this before Pretty Baby. Was originally released as Communion and Holy Terror, was rereleased post-Pretty Baby in 1978 to capitalize on Brooke.

Prior to Wikipedia friends would call me and need answers to obscure minutiae details like this which would lead to lengthy conversations about all sorts of random shit like this and other topics opined about here on the Datalounge. So in a way nothing has really changed that much.....

by Anonymous

reply 13

June 5, 2023 2:56 AM

The above is my audition tape for any 'Get me a gay Paul Harvey' gigs that might be coming up

by Anonymous

reply 14

June 5, 2023 2:59 AM

The above is my audition tape for any 'Get me a gay Paul Harvey' gigs that might be coming up

by Anonymous

reply 15

June 5, 2023 3:00 AM

OP, thanks for the thread! I have this movie on DVD--first saw it on HBO back in 1982 and was transfixed by the blue-collar 70s New Jersey locations. Atmospheric and off-the-wall. So much weirdness in every scene, some of it intentional, some not. Brooke was very sweet-looking, just right for the role of the murdered sis. There's a scene where the Paula Sheppard character steals Brooke's communion veil, and poor Brookie goes full-on hysterical. "She took my VEIL! She took my VEIL, Mommy!"

Great fun and well worth multiple viewings. I always watch it on Halloween, along with Freaks and Night of the Living Dead.

Very sorry to hear that Alfred Sole killed himself.

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by Anonymous

reply 16

June 5, 2023 3:01 AM

Alfred Sole had a pretty successful career as a TV production designer in his later life. He was the long-running production designer on "Veronica Mars" and "Castle", which I'm sure made him pretty good money. He retired to a farm in Utah before he died last year. I didn't realize he was family. Apparently he had a husband and a son. It's too bad he's gone.

by Anonymous

reply 17

June 5, 2023 3:05 AM

For a little Catholic girl, Brooke Shields really did some wild shit in her nascent career. She went from getting murdered onscreen in her debut (during her first communion, no less), to getting prostituted, fully nude, and preyed upon by Keith Carradine. I'm not sure any child actor has had such a shocking foray into film.

by Anonymous

reply 18

June 5, 2023 3:11 AM

Brooke was also in the movie Traffic. She plays Bob the creeps wife.

by Anonymous

reply 19

June 5, 2023 3:12 AM

Wait maybe that isn’t the title - Freeway!

by Anonymous

reply 20

June 5, 2023 3:12 AM

How I fear a reboot, inevitably helmed by someone like that freak who does Euphoria..

by Anonymous

reply 21

June 5, 2023 5:41 AM

"BUT YOU GIVE IT TO THAT WHORE!"

by Anonymous

reply 23

June 5, 2023 3:50 PM

"BUT YOU GIVE IT TO THAT WHORE!"

by Anonymous

reply 24

June 5, 2023 3:50 PM