Alice, Sweet Alice appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. This turned into a surprisingly good Dolby Vision presentation.
Sharpness was mostly solid. Interiors could be a little on the soft side, but most of the movie seemed pretty crisp and concise.
No issues with jagged edges, shimmering, or edge haloes materialized. Print flaws also failed to appear, and grain felt both consistent and natural.
Colors looked positive. The film went with a fairly natural palette that didn’t dazzle but it seemed acceptably impactful, and HDR added punch to the tones.
Blacks were nicely deep and full, while shadows looked clear and smooth. HDR gave whites and contrast extra impact. The final product presented the film well and just barely missed out on "A-" territory.
Don’t expect anything memorable from the DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack of Alice, as this was a consistently average mix for its age. Speech sounded a little thin but the lines were always concise and easily intelligible.
Music lacked much range but seemed clear and didn’t suffer from any shrillness. The same went for effects.
Though I failed to notice much dynamic range from those elements, the effects seemed acceptably distinctive, and they lacked distortion. This was a decent track for an older flick.
How did the 4K UHD compare to the 2019 Arrow Blu-ray? Both came with identical audio.
As for the Dolby Vision image, it showed superior delineation and also boasted superior blacks and colors due to HDR. I didn't expect much from the 4K but it offered a definite upgrade in terms of picture quality.
The disc includes a slew of extras, and we find two separate audio commentaries. The first features director Alfred Sole, editor Edward Salier and makeup effects artist Bill Lustig, all of whom sit together for a running, screen-specific look at story and characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, challenges related to low budget/inexperience, music, photography and other domains.
Recorded for a 1990s laserdisc, the commentary suffers from way more happy talk than I’d like, and the self-praise can become a drag. However, we get a lot of good information along the way, so I can forgive the indulgence, as we learn enough to compensate for the fluffy parts.
For the second commentary, we hear from film historian Richard Harland Smith. He provides a running, screen-specific look at the project’s roots and influences, cast and performances, story/character areas, sets and locations, and related topics.
For the most part, Smith delivers a good commentary, as he touches on the expected subjects in a concise manner. He does lose steam as the track progresses, so the movie’s second half becomes less informative, but I still think Smith provides enough useful material to make this a worthwhile chat.
Some featurettes follow, and First Communion offers an 18-minute, 45-second chat with Sole. He discusses his career as well as specifics about Alice. Some of this becomes redundant after the commentaries, but we still get a good overview.
During Alice on My Mind, we get a 14-minute, 59-second interview with composer Stephen Lawrence. He covers his music career and his work on Alice as he provides a nice take on his compositions.
In the Name of the Father goes for 16 minutes, three seconds and presents notes from actor Niles McMaster. He tells us about his time in movies and his experiences during Alice. Recorded via Skype, the quality of the interview stinks and he wanders onto tangents a little too much, but McMaster still gives us some decent memories.
With Lost Childhood, author Michael Gingold takes us on a 16-minute, three-second tour of the movie’s locations. Those elements seem a bit dull, but we learn of some deleted scenes, and those segments offer value.
Filmmaker Dante Tomaselli – also Sole’s cousin – appears via the 11-minute, 19-second Sweet Memories. He looks at their relationship and impact on his career in this decent collection of thoughts.
Two Deleted Scenes span a total of two minutes, 43 seconds. The first lacks audio and replicates the same clips already featured in Gingold’s location tour.
The second brings us a little exposition via a phone chat. Neither seems memorable.
We also see Version Comparison. This goes for two minute, 13 seconds and shows variations among all three of the film's different editions.
Which I'll discuss a little more soon. This becomes an efficient way to contrast the minor changes among the three editions.
An Image Gallery presents 40 elements that mix production photos and publicity components. It becomes a good collection.
In addition to a UK TV spot, we find the movie’s re-release trailer. The 2019 Blu-ray referred to this as the "original trailer" so it's good to see Arrow corrected that minor goof.
Anyway, this promo touts the involvement of Brooke Shields and strongly implies she plays the lead. Spoiler alert: she doesn’t!
As alluded earlier, the disc comes with three versions of the film. In addition to the theatrical Alice (1:47:17), we find the 1981 Holy Terror (1:47:09) as well as Communion (1:47:08), the movie's "original" edition.
Terror uses alternate titles and makes some minor edits but doesn’t differ much from the theatrical cut. Still, it’s nice to have for archival purposes.
As for Communion, it also comes with a different opening credit sequence, and it offers bloodier versions of a couple short shots. None of this does much to change the film, but I appreciate the inclusion of this original cut.
Finally, we get an Image Gallery with 41 publicity elements and the movie's screenplay. The latter fills 137 screens and offers a fine addition to the set.
Due to the screen premiere of Brooke Shields, Alice, Sweet Alice boasts a novelty factor. As an actual movie, though, it seems spotty and less than compelling. The 4K UHD comes with very good picture and adequate audio as well as an extensive collection of supplements. Genre fans might dig Alice but it doesn’t click consistently enough for me.
To rate this film, visit the prior review of ALICE, SWEET ALICE
