Alice Cooper urges his fans to dress to excess in Wolverhampton

When it comes to hosting the region's best Halloween party, Alice Cooper has covered all of the bases.

The rocker will line up at Wolverhampton's Civic Hall on Thursday with Duff McKagan's Loaded and Ugly Kid Joe.

Alice said: "We'll be playing the hits, of course, but there will also be surprises, costume competitions – so dress to excess – and as usual you never know who else might show up."

Cooper's Halloween Night of Fear tour will be his third. He has established the event as an annual institution of the macabre.

Each night turns into a giant costume party, as thousands of fans bid to outdo each other for the most ghoulish outfit and outrageous Halloween costumes, with cash prizes for the winners.

The tour follows Cooper's appearance in Dark Shadows, the American comedy/horror film that was released earlier this year.

Cooper said: "It is one of those things where if you remember Dark Shadows from when it was a soap opera on television, it was the strangest hit of the time.

"In the 70s, think of it, everything was like General Hospital and All My Children. It was the same plot formula every single night.

"All of a sudden there was a sister that came out of nowhere, the niece gets pregnant and all of that.

"All the same things happened in Dark Shadows except they were vampires and they were in the 18th Century. They had the same family problems.

"The daughter shows up that no one knew was there and she is a witch. A son is born out of wedlock and on full moons he turns into a werewolf.

"I just thought that was the funniest idea that every family has it's dynamics of problems.

"The idea is that Barnabus Collins (Johnny Depp) comes back after 300 years of being buried to the year 1972.

"Of course every single thing in the world is new to him. Barnabus says in the movie 'We must have a ball. A giant Collinswood ball.'

"His granddaughter who is Chloe Moretz says 'We don't have balls anymore, we have happenings now.'

"He asks 'What do we need for a happening?' She said 'Well, we need booze, cool people and we have to have Alice Cooper.'

"In 1972 School's Out came out and all the big hits for Alice Cooper were in that year. They hire Alice Cooper to show up at this giant ball.

"I think the funniest line in the previews was when Barnabus says 'Alice Cooper is the ugliest woman I have ever seen!'

"It was really a lot of fun working on the film. Johnny is great."

Alice Cooper plays Wolverhampton's Civic Hall on October 25 and tickets are available from the venue at www.wolvescivic.co.uk

By Andy Richardson