Alice Cooper picks his 5 favorite horror films of all time

It doesn’t come as a lot of a shock to be taught that Alice Cooper, a person who (legend says) decapitated a reside hen onstage, is a fan of horror cinema. Mixing components of vaudeville, glam, and industrial rock, the performer efficiently purchased theatre to heavy rock, establishing himself because the progenitor of a brand new style, shock rock, within the course of.

Again in 2011, he opened up about a few of his favorite horror movies of all time: 5 spine-chilling picks sure to frighten the pants off even essentially the most battle-hardened horror fan.

Cooper’s ardour for horror cinema has cropped up all through his profession. He popularised a Kensington-gore model of rock music, utilizing spooky costumes and weird stage antics to make his exhibits completely unforgettable (and deeply haunting) experiences, laying the inspiration for the likes of Marilyn Manson, 9 Inch Nails and Rob Zombie. With out Cooper, the world of rock would undoubtedly be a a lot much less attention-grabbing and much much less camp place.

This choice covers the expanse of traditional horror, from the noir psychological thrillers of the early Sixties to the slasher movies of the Nineteen Seventies and the gore bonanzas of the ’80s. Some will flip your abdomen, others will go away you sleeping with the sunshine on for weeks on finish. So, let’s get to it.

Alice Cooper’s 5 favorite horror films:

Salem’s Lot (Tobe Hooper, 1979)

First up, Salem’s Lot. The Nineteen Seventies was a golden age for the TV film, particularly when it got here to horror. Many kids of the period will bear in mind slinking downstairs late at evening to quietly change on the TV and watch some late-night horror flick in opposition to their mother or father’s recommendation. This sinister providing from the pen of Stephen King tells the story of Ben Mears, who returns to his former hometown of Salem to discover a once-friendly group suffering from vampires. Apparently, Salem’s Lot impressed Josh Weddon’s hit TV collection Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

Speaking to NME, Cooper named Salem’s Lot “one of many nice vampire films. I don’t suppose they realized how good this film was till after they made it. Barlow was the nice, perhaps the scariest vampire of all time. James Mason was nice on this film, David Soul was nice on this film. So should you haven’t seen Salem’s Lot, don’t write it off as a TV film. It’s one of many actually, actually scary films.”

Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977)

One other ’70s horror traditional now: 1977’s Suspiria. This Italian slasher staple, set in a ballet conservatoire in Germany, is as unsettling as it’s artfully shot. Blood has by no means appeared redder than within the fingers of Dario Argento.

As Cooper factors out, the important thing to the movie’s eerieness is the spectral presence of a witch dwelling someplace within the constructing: “It’s simply creepy. You by no means do see a monster, and that’s what makes it creepy. The actually good horror films are those the place you don’t see the monster,” Cooper stated.

The Haunting (Robert Smart, 1963)

The Haunting is a movie that takes not seeing the monster to the acute. Launched in 1963, this free adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s unbelievable novel depicts the gradual disintegration of two specially-selected visitors of Hill Home, a reportedly haunted mansion. It’s the home itself reasonably than what lurks inside its partitions that ultimately drives the visitors to insanity.

Whereas fairly tame by immediately’s requirements, The Haunting stays one of many best examples of psychological horror within the Sixties filmic canon. “One other film the place you don’t see the monster,” he started. “However it’s simply the best way it’s shot in black and white. It’s completely terrifying. They did a remake of it with Catherine Zeta-Jones, who’s a buddy of mine. However what they did was they confirmed the monster and it killed all of the scariness of it.”

The Evil Lifeless (Sam Raimi, 1981)

Cooper’s fourth decide sits on the reverse finish of the spectrum. Instantly recognisable by these lengthy, low-slung POV photographs of unspeakable creatures working via the woods, Evil Lifeless has bought to be probably the most iconic horror movies of the Eighties.

Full to the brim with gore, that is one to show the abdomen. “For pure enjoyable, you possibly can’t beat the Evil Lifeless, the unique Evil Lifeless. It’s so excessive bloody that there’s one level the place I used to be sitting there going ‘there can’t be any extra blood on this film’. Proper as I stated {that a} pipe breaks over the man’s head and he’s coated in blood, drowning in it. Nice film.”

Carnival of Souls (Herk Harvey, 1962)

Rounding up Alice Cooper’s checklist is one other chilling instance of early ’60s psychological horror. Carnival of Souls, launched in 1962 inform the story of Mary Henry, who survives a automotive accident and strikes to Utah to take up a job as a church organist. Her desires of a traditional life are scuppered when she begins experiencing unusual visions of a pale-faced man.

Quickly, she finds herself drawn to the abandoned carnival on the outskirts of city, which can maintain the important thing to her previous. Spoiler alert: she’s been useless all alongside (cue eerie string vibrato). “There was a scene I bear in mind after I was a bit of boy watching it the place she is dancing on this ballroom with these useless folks,” Cooper stated of the movie. “She doesn’t notice she is useless. So should you get an opportunity…Carnival Of Souls. Good film”.