The 'Alice Cooper's Brutal Planet' Haunted House, 1999.

Over the years there have been several official Alice Cooper haunted house experiences. The first official one to my knowledge were around 1999-2000 and became known as 'Alice Cooper's Brutal Planet' due to the then current album. They guys who designed this one, Distortion Unlimited, also worked on the 'Brutal Planet' stage show. After 2000 some of the haunted houses continued (such as the one shown to the right, in St. Louis, MO) but without Alice's name attached.

In fact this wasn't just one but a string of similar haunted houses at 'Six Flags' venues across the United States. In 1999 on the 'Frightfest.net' website (now gone) they listed eighteen different locations for 'Alice Cooper's Brutal Planet' as follows:

  1. Atlanta, GA - Six Flags over Georgia
  2. Buffalo/Rochester, NY - Six Flags Darien Lake
  3. Chicago, IL - Six Flags Great America
  4. Cleveland, OH - Geauga Lake
  5. Columbus, OH - Wyandot Lake
  6. Dallas, TX - Six Flags over Texas
  7. Denver, CO - Six Flags Elitch Gardens
  8. Houston, TX - Six Flags Astroworld
  9. Lake George, NY - The Great Escape
  10. Los Angeles, CA - Six Flags Magic Mountain
  11. Louisville, KY - Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom
  12. Agawam, MA - New England Riverside (aka Six Flags New England)
  13. "New Jersey Six Flags New Adventure" - Presumably this is Jackson, NJ - Six Flags Great Adventure
  14. Oklahoma City, OK - Frontier City
  15. San Antonio, TX - Six Flags Fiesta Texas
  16. San Francisco, CA - Six Flags Marine World
  17. St. Louis, MO - Six Flags St. Louis
  18. Washington D.C./Baltimore, MD - Six Flags America

A news article from Fangoria and The Oklahoman in September/October 1999 suggest that the 'Brutal Planet' concept may have came not from Alice, but from the haunted house's designers, with Alice's endorsement coming later in the production process. Certainly the haunted house existed before the album was released, although Alice mentioned the title in 1999 while promoting the haunted houses.

Fangoria: "Brutal Planet has proven so prosperous for "Elitch Gardens" parent company, Premier Parks, that this fall they plan to expand into 16 more Six Flags theme parks from coast to coast. Busy rocker Alice Cooper, who is getting wealthier by the minute with all these Halloween endorsements, has also sold his name to the franchise."

The Oklahoman: "Starting as an independent show out of Denver, it attracted the attention of Six Flag Theme Parks, part of Premier Parks Inc., which purchased the rights. Varying versions of 'Brutal Planet' are now being featured in 18 parks across the country.

The house was created by Distortions Unlimited, who also designed the 'Brutal Planet' live show. In fact 'The Controller' seen at the start of the live show also welcomed people to the haunted house. From there you proceeded through various areas including the Blood Sports Bar, Mayhem Medical Clinic and Massacre Motel. "Brutal Planet [was] an elaborate production of carefully crafted sets, lighting, music, and a cast of 40 people, including dancers, demons and real security guards who blend in with the dreadful denizens."

There was also a haunted house next to Cooper'stown in Phoenix for a few years. While Alice occasionally made appearances at these events more often then not his connection to them went little beyond licencing his name to them.

Cooper's Haunted House Is a Hit
(The Associated Press)

PHOENIX (AP) - In the last room at Alice Cooper's haunted house, where a chainsaw-wielding maniac chases screaming customers onto the street, there's a 'wall of shame' - A cell phone, beeper, glasses and some jewellery dangle on rusty hooks. For the actors portraying the haunted house's freaks and ghouls, it's evidence of a good night's scare: personal items left behind by customers too frightened to stop.
Cooper, the makeup-wearing pioneer of shock rock, is on tour this Halloween promoting his new album. But Alice Cooper's Nightmare, the haunted house the 53-year-old left behind in his hometown of Phoenix, is so frightening, "People pay us their money and then thank us for scaring them" haunted house director Steve Kopelman said.
About 1,000 people show up nightly for the show, which runs through Saturday. Children under 13 must be accompanied by an adult. Admission is $13.
The production cost $250,000 and took 15 months to finish, said director Ted Kelley. High-tech robots, sound and lighting fill the house, but Kelley said its success stems mostly from the 30 actors and crew.
"It's like an eight-hour aerobics class for the actors," said Kelley. "Granted, it's a 30-second show that they'll do hundreds of times a night, but it's in their blood. They love to scare."


Advert for the 2011 Universal Haunted House, in Los Angeles.

Universal Studios Haunted House 2012

In 2011 Universal Studios in Los Angeles built an Alice Cooper 'Welcome To My Nightmare' haunted house/maze as part of their annual Halloween festivities. There was also a Rob Zombie house and large double page adverts for both were published in the major LA papers at the time. They repeated this is 2013 with the 'Alice Cooper Goes To Hell 3D' maze which was created partially with leftover sets from the previous years Cooper and Zombie mazes. Alice shot various promo clips for the mazes most of which can still be found on YouTube.