Rare Scare At Alice Cooper's House

Alice Cooper promises to make Halloween even scarier this year.

The rock star, who has frightened audiences for years with gruesome concert performances featuring guillotines, lopped-off heads and infant dolls gushing blood, has opened his latest haunted house attraction.

"The whole key of our haunted house is to scare people in many different ways," said house director Steve Kopelman. "And you try to get them when they least expect it."

"Alice Cooper's Nightmare: The Breakdown," which opened Oct. 2 and runs through Nov. 2, is the sequel to 2001's "Alice Cooper's Nightmare," the Phoenix shock rocker's first foray into the haunted house business. Cooper executives first came to Kopelman three years ago to create the attraction.

This year, the effects are better, Kopelman said, with lifelike props, high-tech robots and computer movement systems staffed by the same company used by major theme parks.

The house's budget has also been increased, and a second house has debuted in San Antonio. House operators hope Cooper-themed attractions will show up in other areas of the country for future Halloweens.

Cooper, 54, is touring and won't be at the houses, but there are about 30 actors at each one to handle the task of frightening the roughly 1,000 people who go through each night.