DVD REVIEW: Super Duper Alice Cooper

Shane | 16 April 2014 | Reply

DVD REVIEW: Super Duper Alice Cooper
Shock Entertainment
26 Mar 2014
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
9/10

Banger films (Iron Maiden: Fight 666 and El Vivo, Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey, Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage and the Metal Evolution TV series) prove again that they do rock bios better than just about anyone with this in-depth précis of Alice Cooper’s early career.

Focussing on the Jeckyl and Hyde 60’s and 70’s of Vincent Furnier’s conservative upbringing and fascination with the decadent world of rock music, early incarnations of the band and his gradual transformation into the Alice character, it’s a fascinating trip that culminates with not only rehab for alcohol as he almost loses himself in the character, but astonishingly, just a few years later, his spiral into full blown, life-threatening cocaine hell. The footage from these years is particularly disturbing, and Furnier/Cooper almost loses not only his mind, but his family as well.

Super Duper Alice Cooper culminates with Alice’s rebirth: realising that he had all but lost the most important thing in his life – even more important than rock n’ roll, his wife and daughter. With that rebirth came his creative rebirth as well, and the movie finishes with footage from his mid 80’s career revival, and boy does he look a lot healthier by this point – even with his trademark makeup, guillotine and all the rest of his stage show trappings!

Featuring an abundance of archive footage, rare photos, new interviews with the hikes of Dee Snider, Bernie Taupin, Elton John, lggy Pop, John Lydon, and a voice over by the man himself, this really does give us the definitive final word on the terribly strange world of Alice Cooper, the man who, in the words of Dee Snider, “ejaculated, and glam rock was born.”