PAGANINI HORROR: KITSCH KILLER

When the list of famous Italian directors is made one name will most likely not be found there. Luigi Cozzi aka Lewis Coates has only made 20 films as a director and for my money none of them amount to much. Even his most famous film STARCRASH left much to be desired and was fun more for its outlandishness than anything else. Still he has his fans and many adore his film ALIEN CONTAMINATION. So when I saw this film was being released I was intrigued but not expecting much.

The film opens in the past as a young girl staying at La Casa di Sol, a Venetian house that at one time violinist/composer Paganini had stayed in, for some reason tosses an electric hair dryer into her mother’s bath. Fast forward from there to the present.

A female led rock band is in the middle of recording their new album. Unfortunately their manager Lavinia finds their new songs trite and identical to those on their previous LP. As she and the band bicker back and forth, their drummer Daniel goes out of his way to scoop a new song. Meeting a mysterious stranger named Mr. Pickett (Donald Pleasance) he buys a piece called “Paganini Horror”. The manager loves it, the band loves it, now to record it and shoot a video.

To do the video Lavinia hires the top new horror film director Marc Singer. Lead singer Kate knows just where they should shoot the film too, La Casa di Sol where she knows the new owner Sylvia (Daria Nicolodi). They begin shooting and while on a break Kate tells the rest of the band about the legend of the house, home to Paganini who supposedly murdered his bride in the building.

As the shooting progresses things begin to happen. First off the bass player Rita runs into someone wearing a Paganini mask that she assumes is David. Until he stabs her to death with a violin. The band thinks she’s run off and continues shooting. And then David is killed by the same masked figure.

The band thinks this is all a big joke being pulled on them until more mysterious things begin to happen. Suddenly they know they’re on the run for their lives. When they try to leave the property they find a force field of sorts that won’t allow them to leave. Now they must find out why this is happening and do something to deal with it before it’s too late.

Rather than being a terrifying horror film it instead seems like a kitschy look at trends that were taking place when it was shot in 1989. The girls all have big hair, too much stylized makeup and perform pop tunes rather than rock and roll. All the accoutrements of the time are on display here. Even the behavior of the director feels more like an image rather than an actual person.

While Severin has taken pains to make this release look as good as it can a 2k scan from the original film negative it can’t help the choices that Cozzi makes as a director with far too much smoke in many scenes and soft filters in others. But it isn’t just the look that can’t save this film.

The acting on display is far too over the top with the exception of the two recognizable names found here, Pleasance and Nicolodi. Both have done far better films and the odds are good that their appearance here was either for money of because of friendships. The rest of the cast do little that would make you seek out other performances by them.

The one thing that does rate well here in the film is the score and pop songs. Both should have provided a solid base for the film but the rest takes down any hope of that. Fortunately both can be enjoyed with this release as Severin is including a CD of the soundtrack with this disc. That alone makes this release worth picking up.

Extras for the film include an interview with Cozzi, an interview with actor Pietro Genuardi who plays Singer, deleted scenes, an alternate ending and the original trailer. Credit has to be given to Severn for releasing this in such great shape. While the movie itself is lacking there are fans of both Cozzi and of any and all Italian horror. By releasing the film they allow it to find a new life and to not be lost in the whirlpool of forgotten films that have disappeared.

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