Michael_Elliott Super Duper Alice Cooper (2014) *** 1/2 (out of 4)This here is a highly entertaining documentary taking a look at the Alice Cooper character. Of course, he started out as Vincent Damon Furnier but soon he found himself in a rock and roll band and before long his alter ego became Alice Cooper. Through interviews with him, his wife, his mom, his band, co-writers and his manager we see the rise of the character and the eventual fall.SUPER DUPER ALICE COOPER is something that fans of the singer are going to love for a number of reasons. The biggest is the fact that there's all sorts of great concert material and a lot of it that I hadn't seen before and this is coming from someone who collected bootlegs at one time. The early concert footage of the Alice Cooper Band was fabulous and really made this something special.Another great thing is the fact that so many important people are interviewed (including Elton John talking about a concert he saw of Cooper at the Hollywood Bowl) and they help narrate this story. We get a great overview of the early Alice Cooper stuff including the pre- fame days as well as his time with Frank Zappa.The film's one weakness is the fact that it clocks in at just under 90-minutes and the "Welcome to My Nightmare" era doesn't get talked about until the 57th minute. That tells you that the later portion of the Alice Cooper story is pretty much gone through very quickly and it ends with his comeback special during 1986. Obviously there's a lot of material left out and there's no great discussion of his various albums.With that said, this documentary really does work as a "document" of the Alice Cooper character. Not really the man but the character and it's interesting to see clips from the 1920 version of DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE shown as a way to show us how Vincent was overtaken by the Alice Cooper character.

Python Hyena Super Duper Alice Cooper (2014): Dir: Sam Dunn, Reginald Harkema, Scot McFadyen / Featuring: Alice Cooper, Dennis Dunaway, Robert Ezrin, Sheryl Cooper: Documentary about one of the most enduring personalities to ever grace the concert stage. Born Vincent Furnier, the son of a pastor, the film narrates through archive footage how music has impacted his childhood with the Beatles bursting on the scene. He gets together with friends to form a band that is simply called Alice Cooper but it became apparent at the cost of his band that Vincent is Alice donned in lace, long shaggy black hair, and heavy black eye makeup. He became celebrated for his extreme stage antics that often included his own hanging or other theatrics such as taking a hatchet to a baby doll on stage. One of his most famous antics is a 1969 concert where he tossed a live chicken into the crowd and it was mangled by those in wheelchairs. Directors Sam Dunn, Reginald Harkema and Scot McFadyen capture the spirit of the performer with well edited sequences featuring Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari but perhaps some face time interviews might have helped. Maybe some more details into albums, charts, and perhaps the origins of specific songs would have been great. It also avoids less talked about areas like adding a theme song to Friday the 13th, Part 6: Jason Lives, or accompanying Jake "the Snake" Roberts to the ring at Wrestlemania 3. Otherwise this is a super duper documentary of unusual form that takes viewers into the mind of one of the industry's most bizarre minds. Score: 9 / 10

John Doey Although it featured some great film footage of the early band, the story of Alice Cooper as told here is a miserable whitewash and a complete insult to fans of the band. Glen Buxton gets little mention and no credit; Michael Bruce doesn't even get mentioned. Not even once. How can you tell the story of this band and leave them out of it? Answer: you tell the story as if Alice Cooper (the individual) was the only person who really mattered and the rest of the band just happened to be there in the beginning. (I don't understand how Dennis Dunaway could have participated so much in this without feeling like a complete traitor to the rest of the band.) Basically this smells like somebody's manager trying to sweep history under a rug while polishing his client's reputation for all of the fans who arrived after "Welcome to My Nightmare." As the documentary rolled on and it became ever more clear what a nice, quiet hatchet-job this was, Alice's la-di-da narration really started to grate on me. (I know: that isn't exactly thoughtful or deeply analytical criticism, but I found myself increasingly outraged by this travesty.) A highly disingenuous presentation.

Bobby_Dupea Probably because Bruce wrote a devastating book about his experiences in the band, and that he had written a lot of the material for the songs and that Alice 'abandoned them' after "Muscle Of Love" sessions were recorded. I think he's had an ax to grind with them ever since. Can't say I totally blame him either. He isn't even mentioned at the end of the film as if he didn't even exist.Buxton was barely mentioned at all and not having an RIP at the end had to have been deliberate slap in the face on the filmmaker's part. Maybe Buxton was as bitter over the whole thing as Bruce was and the producers of this film followed the input from the management. Some kind of fallout occurred for this to happenNot to mention, everything is done in voice-over and we don't get to see the participants as they are today. The scenes are done in that CGI diorama overlay style which is fine in some cases but I think overused here.Overall, a not very satisfying documentary. 3 out of 10 for these glaring omissions.