Reviews

They must have paid Klaus Kinski some major dinero for this stinkeroo. YIKES!!!! It is hard to imagine that the great Kinski and Uli Lommel could team up and have a product so sorely lacking in any professionalism whatsoever. I've seen better acting and directing on the TBS monkey channel. I am not going to begin to comment on the movie itself which is so ridiculous as to not even warrant any type of review so as to justify it as a real movie. Based on what I watched (painfully so), the movie should have been filmed on video tape using a hand held home video camera. The budget of this film; about 3 or 4 dollars after Kinski's salary; was more than this disaster deserved. Klaus...you done yourself wrong buddy. But...if you are the Kinski completist then this is definitely a must own...if you can find it. Actually it does exist on PAL vhs and was, believe it or not, released on home video. Hard to imagine that this film ever had a theater debut. If it did I am certain the every movie goer wanted their money back. And I am doubly certain that if there were a premier of this movie, Kinski most certainly did not attend out of shame.

If you are a fan of Klaus Kinski as I am then you must own this movie. Watch it once, check it off your list, then never watch it again. What a waste of celluloid, time, and effort. Quite simply this is an enormously huge waste of time. Think of all of the hungry children the budget of this film could have fed.......

I recently saw this in the German language version titled, oddly enough, "Killer Truck." Although a truck driver and his truck do play a role in the film, the title of "Haine" or "Hate" is much more appropriate. Klaus Kinski plays the role of a drifter on a motorcycle who happens to be passing through town immediately after a young school girl has been run over and killed by an unknown person on a motorcycle. The parents of the girl conspire to get rid of Kinski with the help of some of the locals including the town bully who recently had a run-in with Kinski in a pub over a woman. Kinski's only ally is the woman whose honor he tried to defend. Trapped in the town due to sabotage on his bike and a number of other incidents, Kinski soon realizes he is in real trouble. Although I do not speak German, I was able to follow the movie quite easily as it is not overly dominated by dialogue and has a surprising amount of action. I strongly recommend this movie as you will see Kinski in the surprising turnaround role of a victim as opposed to the predator or villain he most notably plays.

Filmed entirely using natural lighting, the film Paganini is an honest attempt by writer/director/actor Klaus Kinski to portray the life of the legendary violinist. Some of the scenes filmed indoors, particularly in the theater have an eerie surreal feel to it, much to Kinski's foresight to film it without any electrical lighting and often using only candle light for illumination. I've read Kinski's autobiography. The parallels between the two (Kinski and Paganini) are eerie and more than coincidental. Both obsessed over young girls; the younger the better. Both were and are considered to be geniuses in their respective fields. Both gave impassioned performances to the point of being referred to as being "demonic" in nature. Both made enormous sums of money, but inevitably squandered it away. And both had young sons late in life whom they absolutely and without doubt, worshipped. Originally Klaus had presented this film as a very long 3 hour plus movie. It would have been interesting to see exactly what he had in mind if this version had ever been released, but alas, producers only allowed a very sparse 82 minute cut version of what Klaus Kinski described to be the work of his life. It really is too bad that the original longer version isn't available. After viewing this film one is left with a very unfulfilled and empty feeling. Too often, there is little character development within Nicolo Paganini's aquaintances and conquests. In particular an affair with a member of a royal family. While this film outwardly appears to be little more than a tawdry, lewd effort on Kinski's part, it more importantly portrays Paganini as a suffering shell of a human being; never satisfied with anything and all too often left unsatiated, unfulfilled, and all too often, spiritually dead The film has a remarkable soundtrack thanks to the efforts of virtuoso violinist Salvatore Accardo. It also features performances by Kinski's lolita wife, Deborah Caprioglio Kinski and his son Nikolai "Nanhoi" Kinski, who both perform their roles admirably. This is a definite "must see" movie, regardless of whether or not you are a fan of Klaus Kinski. Sadly, it is the last film he ever made.