The Paganini Horror (1988) - Colourful and cheesy

I have a bit of a soft spot for Italian eighties horror, so I may be biased when I say that 'The Paganini Horror' is an enjoyable piece of nonsense.  In terms of real film-making excellence - it's awful.  In terms of how much it entertained me - quite a bit.

An all female Italian rock band is under pressure to come up with their next 'big hit' so they reuse an ancient song that was never released by its long-dead composer.  The only problem was that the composer sold his soul to the devil - or something - either way, supernatural shenanigans follow.

The first thing you'll notice is the dubbing.  Or the acting - whichever hits you like a sledgehammer in the face first.  I'm guessing it was shot with the Italian actors speaking English (which, obviously, wasn't their native language, but done simply to get more sales in English-speaking countries, like America) only to have American actors re-dub their lines at a later date.  Therefore, the acting/dubbing is cheesy as hell and every line comes off ridiculously stilted and wooden.

There's little in the way of anything that will really scare you and even less in terms of gore.  The mask the killer wears is kind of creepy I guess and much of the 'special' effects were probably used on this lightning effect that the film-makers must have really been proud of, based on how many times they used it.  

One major plus is - like many Italian horror films - it's beautifully-shot.  The colours on display and general shot composition really are a treat for the eye.  Just because there's not much in the way of scares or gore doesn't mean there's nothing worthy of looking at here.

It's cheap, it's cheesy, it's dubbed and it's a foreign B-movie horror.  Pretty much all those descriptions should put most people off, but if you're a fan of 'so-bad-they're-good' flicks then this is right up there just for the awful acting/dubbing alone.

Oh, and somehow they managed to get horror legend Donald Pleasance to star in this.  Naturally, if you look at any of the marketing, his name is 'top billing.' But don't get too excited - his role extends to little more than an extended cameo, but fair play to him for getting a pay-day out of this!

6/10 Should probably keep you awake if Freddy Krueger was haunting your nights