Paganini Horror
- 1988
- 1h 22m
IMDb RATING
4.4/10
1.5K
YOUR RATING
When a female rock band uses an infamous old piece of sheet music to record their new album in an old mansion, they accidentally open a portal to hell.When a female rock band uses an infamous old piece of sheet music to record their new album in an old mansion, they accidentally open a portal to hell.When a female rock band uses an infamous old piece of sheet music to record their new album in an old mansion, they accidentally open a portal to hell.
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This one has been hard to find for years (at least in semi-watchable form), so I'm happy to say I've finally seen it and it's ok. A dubbed Donald Pleasance plays a creepy music peddler or something who gives an all-girl pop band an old piece of sheet music that was apparently composed by a crazed composer who used human heartstrings for strings on his violin. They end up in a secluded country estate owned by Daria Nicolodi to shoot a music video for their newest hit and they end up opening up a portal to hell or something to that extent.
To be honest, this movie was confusing as all hell. I never knew what was going on or what the rules were, but it's a pretty short movie and there are some fun effects and sequences that kept my interest. It's definitely far from the worst horror movie I've ever seen, but it's hard to not see it as a missed opportunity. The ending has a fun twist, too.
To be honest, this movie was confusing as all hell. I never knew what was going on or what the rules were, but it's a pretty short movie and there are some fun effects and sequences that kept my interest. It's definitely far from the worst horror movie I've ever seen, but it's hard to not see it as a missed opportunity. The ending has a fun twist, too.
Bad. But not bad enough to be good.
The acting is definitely below average. The one exception is Donald Pleasence, but he's only in like 3 scenes.
The characters are much dumber than the average dumb horror movie character. However, this creates a fun random quality. The film is quite unpredictable - this is its main strength. You have no idea what will happen next. And some of these random moments are pretty great. There's an underground secret passage and flesh melting fungus. But the film does not save the best for last. It's ending is underwhelming compared to the chaos that came before it.
But my biggest problem with this film is the music and sound design are simply not good enough. The premise of the film is a haunted song and selling your soul to the devil for fame. Nailing the music is an absolute must, and they did not deliver.
The acting is definitely below average. The one exception is Donald Pleasence, but he's only in like 3 scenes.
The characters are much dumber than the average dumb horror movie character. However, this creates a fun random quality. The film is quite unpredictable - this is its main strength. You have no idea what will happen next. And some of these random moments are pretty great. There's an underground secret passage and flesh melting fungus. But the film does not save the best for last. It's ending is underwhelming compared to the chaos that came before it.
But my biggest problem with this film is the music and sound design are simply not good enough. The premise of the film is a haunted song and selling your soul to the devil for fame. Nailing the music is an absolute must, and they did not deliver.
Do you want the bad news or good news? Bad news is there isn't much good news for this Italian horror flick. The good is some of the scenes and direction feel proper for a good giallo as well as the killings , soundtrack is decent, and you have Donald Pleasance giving a decent cameo with a twist, as well as Daria Nicolodi, and the girl at the beginning. The bad is the English dub makes the dialogue very bad in turn making it look like bad acting, too much unnecessary dialogue takes away from the atmosphere of the film. The producer is the most hated character was hoping for her to die first, but her death was pretty impressive. Not the worst film I've seen but wasn't as good as I was expecting as the plot sounded promising. 2/5.
A mainly female rock band film their latest music video "Paganini Horror" at the former home of the famous composer but in doing so open a portal to Hell.I had been tempted to buy this on blu ray but instead opted to watch it online and I am glad that I did because this is an awful movie. Having seen other reviews I kept my hopes low but hoped that there may be some redemption in the form of sex, blood and cheesiness. Sadly this wasn't the case. Our female musicians all look like models, but the characters are very annoying and get to keep their clothes on. Horror legend Donald Pleasence has a small part yet in the English language version he has been dubbed - BADLY! It sounds like somebody trying but failing miserably to do a Pleasence impersonation. As a fan of his I found this to be an abomination and unforgivable.The film is has 1980's cheese but not in a good way. The gore is pretty minimal, some sets are strangely draped in curtains (I think they were trying to mimic the look of Suspiria) and as already mentioned zero nudity. One of the few good points is Italian Scream Queen Daria Nicoldi among the female cast. Italian horror movies had nosedived by the late 1980's, this being a prime example
This movie is so bad.... The acting, the story, the dialogues, the special effects, the direction, the sound.... Everything in this movie is soooo bad that I LOVE it!! It's supposed to be a horror movie but it's the best and funniest comedy I ever seen!! I can't stop laughing every time I'm watching it and I'm so in love with it that I ended up buying the video! If you want to laugh for 80 minutes, watch it!! The best line?? "Spirito del Male.... TI DETESTO!" - Italian people will understand.
Did you know
- TriviaEven though he was hired for one week, Donald Pleasence was able to shoot all his scenes in about 3 days.
- GoofsThe legend is that Paganini sold his soul, not for wealth and fame, but for the talent to play the violin, the talent which , of course, brought him wealth and fame.
- ConnectionsEdited into Blood on Méliès' Moon (2016)
- SoundtracksStay the Night
(uncredited)
Written and composed by Vince Tempera and Lucia De Masi (uncredited)
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