Paganini Horror (1989)

When a female rock band use an infamous old piece of sheet music to record their new album in an old mansion, they accidentally open a portal to hell.

Director:

Luigi Cozzi

Writers:

Luigi Cozzi (screenplay), Raimondo Del Balzo (story)

Stars:

Daria Nicolodi, Jasmine Maimone, Pascal Persiano

Cast

Cast overview:
Daria Nicolodi	...	Sylvia Hackett
Jasmine Maimone	...	Kate (as Jasmine Main)
Pascal Persiano	...	Daniel
Maria Cristina Mastrangeli	...	Lavinia
Michel Klippstein	...	Elena
Pietro Genuardi	...	Mark Singer
Luana Ravegnini	...	Rita
Roberto Giannini
Giada Cozzi	...	Sylvia as a child
Elena Pompei	...	Sylvia's mother
Perla Costantini
Donald Pleasence	...	Mr. Pickett

Storyline

The female rock and roll band formed by Kate, Elena and Rita want to release a new album, but their producer Lavinia refuses since their songs are very poor. Their friend Daniel buys a piece of music from a stranger called Mr. Pickett that explains that the music was written by Paganini himself and never released. Lavinia believes that the music will become a hit and she hires the filmmaker Mark Singer to make a videoclip in a manor she has hired from her acquaintance Sylvia Hackett. Soon Rita and Daniel disappear and the floor collapses beneath Kate that also vanishes in the hole. The survivors try to flee from the real state but they discover that they are trapped in hell.

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Plot Keywords:

supernatural power | psychotronic film | crashing into an invisible barrier | inspired by real person | paganini | 

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Genres:

Horror | Music

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Even though he was hired for one week, Donald Pleasence was able to shoot all his scenes in about 3 days.

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Connections

Featured in FantastiCozzi (2016)

User Reviews

Satan plays the fiddle!

Yup, here it is...another movie that wasted 80 minutes of my life. Paganini horror is a typical and meaningless horror movie. Nothing special, unoriginal and pretty annoying most of the time. It's the kind of movie that is hidden on the lowest shelf at your local videostore, covered in dust. There's a reason why it's down there, by the way...

Although I do believe Paganini Horror has a bit of potential in it, it fails to show it on every possible level. The story is about a female rock band who uses the old Paganini mansion as the location for their newest video clip. Paganini was a violin player who once sold his soul to the Devil himself, in order to become world famous. Satan is still present in the house and he terrorizes everyone who dares to enter the mansion...Pretty dumb of course but some of the aspects that are related to Satan ( like playing the violin -- symphony of the dead ) prove that some tiny elements in this movie show potential. But you cannot believe how cheesy the special effects and the make-up in this movie look !! Blue flashy lights stand as most of the "horrific" effects and the blood shed is rather limited. Even though this movie was shot rather recent - in 1989 - it looks incredibly dated and above all cheap !! And I don't mean the charming kind of 'cheap'...No, I mean the laughable and pathetic kind of cheap. The use of music is damn annoying as well. The stars are supposed to be talented singers and their hits are shown in the movie very detailed. Those are ideal "fast forward"-moments !! The songs suck and they don't really fit in a horror movie anyway...

I keep on wondering how Donald Pleasance got involved in so many ludicrous horror productions !! This guy was such a great actor but he starred in so much crap ! Where does he find these roles ? Does his agent used to tell him stuff like : "Hey Donald, I've got another annoying Italian Cheese ball for you...interested ?" "Yeah sure, sign me up" It's really weird...I'd like to tell you his performance was the only positive aspect about Paganini Horror, but it's not. His acting is as terrible as the rest of the cast. Furthermore, the movie suffers from an amazingly stupid ending ! The ugliest girl survives and she has to face an utterly stupid plot twist...the poor thing. Anyway, you don't care about it anymore at that point. If you managed to sit through it till then, you'll laugh away the stupid ending as well.

I always knew Satan was a musician. Can't really explain why but I always figured Him to be a violin player. It has a really spooky effect, if you ask me...That simple plot idea is the best thing this movie has to offer. I really advise you to skip it.

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 June 1989 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Paganini Horror

Filming Locations:

Venice, Veneto, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fulvia Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color