Alice Cooper: The Nightmare

This is by far one of the Great Alice Cooper concerts. If there ever was a showman who was able to cast murder, mayhem and some damn good rock and roll into one thing then Alice Cooper was that man. From Guillotines to stranglings, Alice knows what the crowd is wanting he gives them that ten-fold.

I have had the honor of actually seeing Alice Live not once..but six times in concert. Better to see the show live but video is almost just as good.

Out of 10..........10/10!

Alice Cooper is one of the greatest rockers of all time, and is probably the penultimate theatrical shock-rocker legend. I rented this in middle school and thought it was so kickass. It's always neat when somebody takes a handful of songs and makes a trippy horror movie out of them, as is the case here. Some of the songs showcased are among the best of Alice, but some of them were (even in my opinion) some of his lesser musical moments. At the same time, one of the great things about "Alice Cooper: The Nightmare" is how what becomes musically weak at times remains visually strong throughout. Vincent Price is one of the greatest actors associated with horror, so it would make sense to have him introduce Alice Cooper's classic horror rock, and it all amounts to a fun, freaky blast that I would highly recommend to all the weirdos out there... like me!

Some people might remember this (or not), but back in the Seventies ABC had a late night variety series called "ABC's Wide World of Entertainment." It showed after prime-time, mostly on Friday and Saturday nights, and featured a rotating roster of specials, series and concerts. It was this show that first introduced me to "ALICE COOPER: THE NIGHTMARE." I don't think I had bought the "Welcome To My Nightmare" LP yet, but "Only Women Bleed" was already a Top 40 hit. I was sort of familiar with Alice as one of those Gothic rock figures that made anything BUT sunny-happy pop music, and I'd heard some songs of his I'd liked ("School's Out", "I'm Eighteen", "Elected.") But when I found out that my childhood horror hero, the one-and-only Vincent Price was involved with this "video movie," I was completely sold.

Time has dimmed my memory of that initial experience somewhat, and I'm sure that if by some happy twist of fate that this program were to be re-released at last on DVD, the images would look pretty dated, even cheesy by comparison with today's videos. Nevertheless, there are still images that stick with me: Alice as the fly stuck in a glittery web with glistening, black body-stockinged beauties during the "Black Widow" segment; the cool and chilling dance with a dead lover in "Cold Ethyl," and the spooky ballerina of "Only Women Bleed." But best of all was Vincent Price lending his ghoulishly gleeful presence as the "Spirit of the Nightmare" from which there is no escape for Alice as "Steven." And someday I have to thank Alice personally for that particular number, should I ever be fortunate enough to have the chance...I was so inspired by the song and the performance, that I recreated "Steven" in high school drama class. And got an 'A'.

Which, in spite of its age, I would give to ALICE COOPER: THE NIGHTMARE. If it were available on DVD.

I hope that someone heard me say that...like the folks at ABC, or Dark Sky Films, who seem to specialize in finding this stuff.

This is NOT the concert film "Welcome To My Nightmare," but rather a prime-time special from 1975. "The Nightmare" is sort of a revue of the songs from the popular "Welcome To My Nightmare" album within the loose framework of Steven (Alice Cooper) being taken on a tour of his nightmares by The Master Of The Nightmare (Vincent Price).

"The Nightmare" lacks the strong, cohesive plot of "Tommy," "Jesus Christ Superstar," "Hair," and other rock musicals, and some of the "monsters" look cheesy and dated in this day and age, but it's still a lot of creepy fun, like an EC Horror comic book set to music. Linda Googh is frighteningly sexy as Steven's necrophile lover, Cold Ethyl. Perfect for rainy autumn afternoons.

This one is a kind of visualization for whole track list from the classic Alice Cooper's concept album "Welcome To My Nightmare". Made for the television, it;s quite cheap, but it also has Vincent Price as some kind of "Nightmare Master". Price gave his appearance also on the album with his talk introducing "Black Widow". Lots of fun, surreal decorations and Cooper's performances with songs from his greatest long play. Maybe it's not really musical movie with regular plot, but if you like when horror mixes with some good rock'n'roll music then this one should satisfy you. "Cold Ethyl", "Department of Youth", "Some Folks" and "Devil's Food" - I guess this titles are enough for good recommendation. A must see for every Alice Cooper's fan.