Rating summary
| Movie |  | 4.0 |
| Video |  | 3.5 |
| Audio | | 4.0 |
| Extras |  | 2.0 |
| Overall | | 4.0 |
Super Duper Alice Cooper Blu-ray Movie Review
Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 6, 2014
There was an article many years ago in Life Magazine or some such publication that profiled Alice Cooper in a
rather unexpected way which I can still recall to this day. The photograph accompanying the article found Cooper out on
the golf course in typical doubleknit attire, and furthermore the iconic rock musician detailed his love of Burt Bacharach
albums in the interview, something which just completely caught me off guard. There’s a bit of that same ironic shock
value running through Super Duper Alice Cooper, an enjoyable overview of the life and career of erstwhile Vincent
Furnier. Told through a series of archival footage and stills, but graced with some latter day commentary by Alice himself
(as well as others), the documentary fills in some surprising informational gaps in terms of Alice’s formative years and some
of the trials and tribulations he withstood on his trek to the podium of the Rock Gods.
While there’s nothing overly revelatory in any of the information offered in
Super Duper Alice Cooper, the film charts
an interesting enough cautionary tale of a kid who longed for rock stardom and got in spades, along with the
accoutrements (both good and bad) accompanying such a status. Parts of the documentary are a bit too on the nose (the
comparisons of Vincent and his alter ego Alice to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), but overall there’s a rather insouciant sense of
humor gracing this piece courtesy of Alice himself, where the excesses of the rock lifestyle are seen now from the vantage
point of middle age and scoffed at with appropriate hindsight. Anyone who grew up with Alice Cooper is sure to enjoy this
documentary, even if its “shocks” are considerably more mundane than the kind Alice used to provide during his legendary
live performances.
Super Duper Alice Cooper Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality
Super Duper Alice Cooper is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eagle Rock Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p
transfer in 1.78:1. As mentioned above in the main body of the review, the documentary features archival footage and stills
that are highly variable in quality, with many looking pretty fuzzy and ill defined, as well as rather badly faded a lot of the
time. There's some visual ingenuity here, though, as well, courtesy of some more flashy animation and the like which
considerably heightens the visual appeal. With an understanding that the source elements here are in fairly shoddy shape
quite a bit of the time, there's nothing overly problematic and most fans will probably delight in seeing a lot of this old
footage, much of which has a certain inherently nostalgic quality. The Blu-ray itself offers no issues like artifacts to warrant
any concern.
Super Duper Alice Cooper Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality
Anyone expecting a knock your socks off soundtrack full of uncut Alice Cooper tunes is going to be at least partially let down
by this documentary's approach, for this is by and large a voiceover affair, with a variety of interviews and confessionals
sounding fine but certainly not incredible via either the included LPCM 2.0 or DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks. The 5.1 track
does open up the musical segments significantly and also provides an expected boost to the low end, but this is after all a
documentary and not a music video, so audiophiles should set their expectations accordingly.
Super Duper Alice Cooper Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras
- Deleted Scenes (1080p; 20:44)
- Rare Footage (1080p; 11:05)
- Metal Evolution Interview Scenes (1080p; 11:43)
Super Duper Alice Cooper Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation
For such an intentionally provocative persona, Alice Cooper actually comes off as an almost mundane guy, albeit one with an
obviously very colorful history. While rabid fans will probably find little here that they didn't already know, Cooper provides
some piquant commentary on his own life and there's a generally enjoyable air to this piece that elevates it above typical
rock hagiographies. Recommended.
