Super Duper Alice Cooper

This handsomely-filmed but somewhat conventional behind-the-music profile by filmmakers Reginald Harkema, Scot McFadyen, and Sam Dunn tells the up-and-down tale of multi-decade rock star Alice Cooper. Born Vincent Furnier—the “perfect ‘50s kid” and son of a pastor—Vincent formed a Phoenix high school band called The Earwigs (a sorry moniker inspired by the Beatles craze), which was later renamed The Spiders and featured Vincent on vocals, and soon-to-be Alice Cooper members Glen Buxton (lead guitar) and Dennis Dunaway (bass). The band moved to L.A. post-graduation, where two fortuitous things would happen: a Ouija board session produced the name “Alice Cooper,” and the band was befriended by a girl group called The GTOs, who helped dress the boys in David Bowie-style glam fashion (a local thrift store had a bunch of Ice Capades costumes). And one more thing: they signed up with powerful talent agent Shep Gordon (in a hotel room where Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix were smoking weed). In 1971, Alice Cooper released Love It to Death, which included the chart-topping national anthem for teenage boys, “I'm Eighteen.” But success for the band (whose stage antics included accidentally sacrificing a chicken, and regularly chopping up baby dolls) carried the usual rock ‘n' roll price tag: ego clashes and addiction. Alice Cooper the band gradually transformed into Alice Cooper the man/monster, a Jekyll-and-Hyde figure (the film smartly interweaves clips from the silent film starring John Barrymore) who would battle the twin demons of alcohol and cocaine before finding redemption. Featuring interviews with Cooper, his wife Sheryl, Dunaway, drummer Neal Smith, producer Bob Ezrin, Iggy Pop, Elton John, and Twisted Sister's Dee Snider (“we come from this man's loins!”), among others, Super Duper Alice Cooper is presented in DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 and stereo on DVD, and DTS-HD 5.1 and LPCM stereo on Blu-ray. Extras include deleted scenes, rare footage, and bonus interview clips. A solid if also unadventurous portrait of a rock star who has had a tremendous influence, this is recommended. (R. Pitman)