Alyce Kills (2013)

I went into this movie with absolutely no expectations, so I ended up being very pleasantly surprised with the overall movie after I had watched it. Twisted, dark and gritty; Alyce tells the story of a young woman whose life takes a downwards spiral after her friend falls off the roof of her apartment and is left seriously injured. This movie only used blood and gore towards the end to create that kind of "shock factor" that horror fans just love. Apart from the last thirty minutes, the movie is mostly atmospheric and moody, which makes Alyce's descent into madness all the more terrifying. This is a must see for fans of the horror genre and anyone who is looking for a strange and original twist on Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland."

Jay Lee writes and directs this dark humored thriller. Alyce(Jade Dornfeld)is constantly reminded of her dead end job and life lacking gusto. She is a bit forlorn thinking she is losing her best friend and lover Carroll(Tamara Feldman). The two leave a party early because Carroll wants to see her drug dealer. The two women soon find themselves in a pity party and on a rooftop. Alyce falls into a deep depression and bottomless guilt after accidentally pushing Carroll off the roof. Her mind is filled with nightmares and feels drugs may ease the pain. It is a descent into madness and a somewhat well planned rampage of violence. Alyce finding finds the gusto her life was missing. This indy chiller starts out slow enough to make you want to leave...but don't. The last thirty minutes or so is a "gore fest" full of guts and bloodshed.Also in the cast: Eddie Rouse, James Duvall, Bret Roberts, Whitney Anderson, Yorgo Constantine and Tracey Walter.

I wasn't too impressed with this one. I felt that a lot of the cinematography was lacking for an effectively shot film for the viewer to enjoy. Too many dark sequences when characters were not properly lit. If done on purpose, it was a poor choice. The technical aspect of making the film is probably the biggest. Aside from the lighting, what about the sound mix? Why is it almost DEAD QUIET in the bar / club when a band is playing and there are dozens of people. Everything is the background is muted and THAT really took me out of it because it was obvious they wanted you to focus on the banal dialogue. The film sure takes awhile before it gets going, all I knew about the flick was that Alyce Kills....get it?. The reason for her descent into this madness was not justified to me. People might be more impressed with the first 3/4's of the film, but I rather enjoyed it when she gave in to the murderous impulses, as weak as they were. The scenes where she goes after people who've wronged her were the best parts. To me, the film took too long to get to the interesting parts. It drags. Gore factor? Not much here. It's mainly the "aftermath" we see lots of blood, but it doesn't really spill, it's just on the floor. A good sight gag that I enjoyed is when Vince went to call someone while hanging onto his guts, once he reached for the phone, his guts fell out. I feel like this film needed a bit more of that for me personally to enjoy it. I will say this though, it had a great ending. There were a few scenes that I thought were weird and definitely piqued my interest, all of which happen AFTER she has lost her mind. The war masturbation, Necrophilia boob touching and weird sex fight. These scenes are not the norm and when a film does something odd, it catches my attention. Unfortunately these scenes are not enough to save the film as a whole.

"Alyce" is directed by Jay Lee and stars Jade Dornfeld, Tamara Feldman, James Duval and Eddie Rouse. The story follows two best friends reconnecting after a small period of "too close for comfort" in their relationship. However after accidentally pushing best friend Carroll off the roof of a building Alyce finds her world crumbling fast. It isn't long until she spirals into a reality of darkness filled with drugs, reckless sex and homicidal impulses. The film is a dark satire and utter gorefest as viewed through Alyce's perspective. "Alyce" is a unique blend of art-house expressionism and surrealism. It is a very dark comedy that plays with the whole "Single White Female" personality disorder pushing the scenario beyond the traditional outcome. The film takes a very quirky off-beat approach that reminds me of Todd Solondz's or Alexander Payne but with a lot of gore and blood. The character of Alyce is one of the most twisted sisters that I have seen in cinema in a long while that is as likable as she is horrifying. The movie starts casually, building on the close yet distant emotional relationship between the friends. It is close in the fact that in the beginning they really do seem to be the only one each other can connect with and yet distant due to the fact that Alyce tends to absorb Carroll's personality traits to become her own in that "unsettling- uncomfortable" manner. The series of events that unfold after the tragedy and Alyce's fall from her own state of normalcy is one that both entertains and chills. It is one of the most disturbing slides into madness I have seen on film. I really found no fault in the movie and enjoyed every gory psychotic hot-mess act of homicidal mania that Alyce displayed. Plus the gore and bloody kill shots were pretty d*mn cool and gruesomely in your face.