Tuesday, January 26, 2010

PAGANINI HORROR

(Luigi Cozzi, 1989)
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Written by Luigi Cozzi and Daria Nicolodi(!), and with Donald Pleasence in a supporting role... how could they go wrong? Where did they go wrong? Here we have another "young people locked in a creepy old house with a killer on the loose" story with bad 80's EVERYTHING... the clothes, hair, music, overuse of glowing geometric objects, and badly-animated electricity effects. And you know what? I changed my mind. I LOVE Paganini Horror, with its dark, muddled look, and its nonsensical, nightmare-like plot that creates more questions than it answers. It almost has that surreal, Inferno-ish quality about it (albeit on an even smaller budget!)
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An all-girl rock band have just purchased some accursed music written by Nicolo Paganini, and are looking for the perfect creepy house to shoot their Thriller-inspired video. Accursed music is played, Paganini rises from the tomb with his switchblade-tipped violin, and it's all gravy from there. Holes open in floors, coffins catch ablaze, and there's even a room full of mannequins that brings Mario Bava's Blood and Black Lace to mind! Daria Nicolodi also has a small role in this, and I have to admit the movie wouldn't have been as watchable without her and Pleasence.
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Cozzi actually manages to milk some atmosphere out of this, making good use of shadows and bold primary colours (again, a nod to Bava?) We are treated to some creatively cheesy deaths, my favorite being when one of the girls is "squashed" by an invisible force (aka a sheet of glass!) The uninspired 80's music, I must say, has never grown on me. It just hurts. You'll see. Worth a watch or two. Trailer here.
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