Movie Review: Paganini Horror

When it comes to trashy Italian horror, there are a number of names you can look up and find plenty to be entertained by. One of those names happens to be Luigi Cozzi, often credited as Lewis Coates. He may not have been quite as prolific as some, and his name does not come up as often as, say, Lenzi, Bava, Fulci, or even Mattei, but he is not to be overlooked. I would highly recommend Starcrash and Contamination, these are fantastic and goofy flicks, and do not forget his pair of Hercules movies with Lou Ferrigno. The movie at hand is the final fictional feature he helmed, Paganini Horror. It is a lesser film to be sure, but still one to be savored.

Movie Review: Contamination (1980)

An abandoned ship floats into New York harbor. A few intrepid souls board the ship and begin to search it, looking for clues to what happened. Then they find it. Reading that, it sounds an awful lot like 1979's Zombi 2, but it is actually the start of Contamination from 1980. Instead of Lucio Fulci it is Luigi Cozzi (or Lewis Coates as he is often credited). It has also been known as Alien Contamination (in a cut version) and Toxic Spawn when it was on VHS way back in the day (also cut). The movie begins as an Alien rip off, but manages to have a life of its own, holding your attention through to the ending credits.