FILM · 1976
Communion
36 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (36)
- #001
Paula E. Sheppard, who played the 12-year-old Alice, was about 19 years old during the making of the film.
- #002
This was the first cinema film of Brooke Shields, who played Karen Spages. According to an article published in 'The Los Angeles Times' on 12 May 1978, this picture marked her first performance in a feature-length film released in cinemas.
- #003
Alphonso DeNoble, who played the Spages' fat, perverted landlord, was not a professional actor at the time. He worked as a bouncer in a bar, and director Alfred Sole convinced him to take the role. Before his death in 1978, he found acting work in two more low-budget horror films.
- #004
In the DVD audio commentary, director Alfred Sole claims he made the characters in the film get hurt in a way the audience could relate to or feel. Examples include being struck on the lips and teeth with a shoe and being stabbed in the foot. He felt the audience could relate better to horrible pain.
- #005
In the scene on the staircase of the abandoned building where Dom is attacked by the killer, the killer had to drop the knife after stabbing Dom once and have it land straight down on the banister below. Director Alfred Sole had only one knife and had to drop it repeatedly, then have a crew member run down the stairs to retrieve it and try everything again. Finally, after more than 20 attempts, the knife landed directly on the banister and gave the filmmakers the shot they needed.
- #006
The translucent face masks with eye shadow and red lipstick worn by Alice and Mrs. Tredoni were popular Halloween items for children in the 1950s and were mostly mass-produced for sale in cheap stores.
- #007
Halfway through the film there is a scene in which Alice grabs a kitten by the neck, turns it into the air and throws it to the ground out of the camera's view. This was removed from the British release because of strict animal cruelty laws in the United Kingdom.
- #008
Columbia Pictures was preparing to release the film under the title "Communion" but allegedly withdrew for legal reasons. When Allied Artists Pictures picked up the film for distribution in the US and Canada, director Alfred Sole asked for the title to be changed so audiences would not think they were watching a religious film. The novelization retains the film's original title, ''Communion''.
- #009
Linda Miller was injured while shooting the hospital scene and had to take a month-long break from filming. Fortunately she did not have to go far for medical help; the shoot was taking place in a hospital.
- #010
Director Alfred Sole cites the staircase attack on Aunt Annie DeLorenze (Jane Lowry) as his favorite scene in the film.
- #011
The picture was partly inspired by Don't Look Now (1973). This was especially noticeable in the use of yellow raincoats.
- #012
While Father Tom stands in the rain and watches Mrs. Tredoni check her mail, a poster for Psycho (1960) can be seen in the background.
- #013
The production was stretched from 1975 to 1976 because of financing and other problems, but director Alfred Sole estimated that completing the film took only 20 actual shooting days.
- #014
The film was also briefly released under the title Holy Terror in addition to Communion.
- #015
This was actress Lillian Roth's first cinema film since Take a Chance (1933). That was a gap of about forty-three years.
- #016
According to the 'Wikipedia' website, the film "has become a cult classic and is regarded by critical circles as a contemporary classic of the slasher subgenre". ''It has also been a focus of scholarship in the field of horror film studies, particularly regarding its depictions of Roman Catholicism, the emotional neglect of children and the disintegration of the American nuclear family.''.
- #017
This was Paula E. Sheppard's (Alice Spages) first film, and afterward she appeared in only one more film: Liquid Sky (1982).
- #018
The camera Aunt Annie DeLorenze (Jane Lowry) uses to photograph Angela DeLorenze (Kathy Rich) during the communion is a Kodak Starmite from the 1950s. It was an amateur movie camera popular for family films in the 1950s.
- #019
Composer Stephen Lawrence said his inspiration for the film's music, especially the opening song, was imagining the evil karma cloud hovering over the Paterson, New Jersey setting and raining down on the city.
- #020
In 2005 the film ranked 89th on Bravo's "100 Scariest Movie Moments." This was for the scene in which Alice frightens Karen in the storage room.
- #021
The film distributor "88 Films" released it on DVD and Blu-Ray in the United Kingdom in 2018 as part of its "Slasher Collection." Its spine number is #35.
- #022
According to the official promotion, actress Brooke Shields was nine years old during production and principal photography.
- #023
According to an interview with writer-director-producer Alfred Sole published in the show business trade paper Variety's November 2, 1977 issue during a press tour in London, England, United Kingdom, the film was financed in the American state of New Jersey through "tax shelter deals." He also said the film was shot between 1975 and 1976 and was filmed mainly in his hometown of Paterson, New Jersey, USA. He added that the film's budget was 400,000 US dollars, while other official promotions put the film's price tag at about 1 million US dollars.
- #024
The film premiered in the United Kingdom under the title "Communion." It was on a double bill with Tintorera… Tiger Shark (1977).
- #025
The picture was reportedly highly controversial in Ireland over claims that it contained anti-Catholic religious themes and story elements.
- #026
The film was inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's films. There are many references to Psycho (1960). In one scene a movie poster is visible in the background, Aunt Annie's stabbing on the stairs was designed to evoke the shower murder, and at times the music imitates composer Bernard Herrmann's score. Interestingly, Hitch and director Alfred Sole share the same first name: "Alfred."
- #027
The publication Alice Spages (Paula E. Sheppard) is shown reading after the funeral was the May 5, 1961 issue of Life magazine.
- #028
Key filming locations in Paterson, New Jersey, USA, included Westside Park, the Cheek funeral home, the local police station, the Board of Health building and the Rogers Locomotive building.
- #029
Filmmaker Alfred Sole was nominated for the Golden Hugo award at the 1976 Chicago International Film Festival.
- #030
According to the American Film Institute's AFI Catalog, "[Brooke] Shields, when she won critical acclaim for her performance in Louis Malle's Pretty Baby (1978)… producers hoped to capitalize on her popularity and repackaged 'Communion' as 'Alice, Sweet Alice.'".
- #031
The film's world premiere was held on November 12, 1976 at the Chicago International Film Festival under its original title "Communion."
- #032
In 2017 the film was chosen by Complex magazine as the 4th Best Slasher film of all time.
- #033
The make and model of the car used by Father Tom (Rudolph Willrich) was a brown-and-white 1957 Ford Fairlane / 1957 Ford Custom 300 Fordor Sedan.
- #034
According to an article published in the show business trade paper The Hollywood Reporter's June 23, 1977 issue, the film was first planned to be released in US theaters in the summer of 1977 under the title "Communion." That release was then postponed, according to the same publication's November 2, 1977 edition, to an opening on November 11, 1977 in Los Angeles, California, under the same title "Communion." This release was then pulled back to the summer of 1978 with a title change to "Alice, Sweet Alice," and it was released in Los Angeles on May 10, 1978, according to the same publication's March 28, 1978 issue. The film was reviewed under the title "Alice, Sweet Alice" in The Los Angeles Times' May 12, 1978 issue.
- #035
The picture's official promotion stated that the film was conceived, shot, edited and completed in eighteen months.
- #036
ALICE, SWEET ALICE was also a novel by Frank Lauria (1935-2022), known for his Owen Orient supernatural thrillers. This novel was published under the title COMMUNION.
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