A fun thing about Netflix is that it gives viewers the chance to see what horror is like
in different parts of the world. The streaming service has horror movies and shows from all
across the globe, from Indonesia (such as "May the Devil Take You") to Egypt (like "122"),
and some of these international chillers hit in ways that English-language horror simply
doesn't. If you're not a seasoned horror fan already used to to the creepy takes and jump
scares dealt by Blumhouse and other American purveyors of fright, international horror
might quickly become your next big obsession.
The latest international horror sensation just added to Netflix comes from Italy and
is called "A Classic Horror Story." It's currently sitting at No. 8 on the streaming service's
daily top 10 movies chart, and with good reason.
The meta, openly referential film follows a group of five strangers traveling in a ride-share
RV together through a mafia-plagued part of southern Italy. Elisa is traveling to undergo
a medical procedure she's not sure she wants to go through with. A Ukranian woman named
Sofia and her British fiancé Mark, are on their way to elope. Riccardo is a doctor who's
much older than his fellow passengers and doesn't want to have anything to do with them.
And the dorky driver, Fabrizio, is filming the whole trip on his phone to post on social
media.
During the trip, Mark, who's been drinking, takes over the driver's seat and crashes the
RV into a tree, which knocks them all out. When they come to, they find they're inexplicably
miles away from where they were. They walk through the woods until they come to a creepy
cabin, and discover that they're in territory that belongs to a satanic cult. And when the
cult shows up, things get really gruesome.
As its title indicates, "A Classic Horror Story" isn't subtle about drawing inspiration
from horror movies that came before it. "Midsommar," "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre," and "Saw"
are just a few of the movies viewers picked up similarities to in "A Classic Horror Story."
Dread Central writer Michelle Swope posted on Twitter,
"If you take 80s slashers, THE WICKER MAN, THE VILLAGE, EVIL DEAD, SILENT HILL, and MIDSOMMAR
and put them in a blender, you get the oh so meta Italian horror movie within a horror
movie, A CLASSIC HORROR STORY, now streaming on Netflix"
One Twitter user wrote,
"I just finished watching 'A Classic Horror Story' and I really enjoyed it: it has Midsommar
& The Village vibes all mixed with that 80s slasher movies feel. Also, the photography
is great."
In recent memory, "A Classic Horror Story" is most reminiscent of "Midsommar," the unforgettable
2019 horror film that's rapidly ascending to classic status. It's so much like "Midsommar,"
in fact, that filmmakers Roberto De Feo and Paolo Strippoli should probably pay "Midsommar"
writer-director Ari Aster royalties the way musicians do when they sample a song. There's
stuff in the movie that's so obviously lifted from "Midsommar" that some viewers were turned
off by the level of plagiarism-adjacent homage.
On Twitter, referencing the online marketplace for cheap goods, a user wrote,
"A Classic Horror Story is just the Wish version of Midsommar."
Another Twitter user said,
"Just finished watching a classic horror story, rather than being scary in any way it just
kinda took popular plotlines from a number of movies and put it together like 'haha see?
we did it on purpose! it's supposed to be cliched bc but i'm not sure if it was done
well."
People also had thoughts about the twist ending, which we won't spoil here beyond saying there
is one and it's weird.
Despite all the complaints that elements from "A Classic Horror Story" might feel a little
too familiar, there's a lot to appreciate in the confrontational film. Horror has always
been a genre rife with homage, after all. It's a place where filmmakers gleefully borrow
and contort popular elements to craft experiences that satisfy viewer expectations, while also
giving them their own twists. "A Classic Horror Story" viewers will have to decide for themselves
whether the film has enough unique concepts to justify its appropriation of established
tropes, but for those who can get past all the creative borrowing, they'll find a chilling
story with a fresh, Italian aesthetic.
The film currently holds a middling 43% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, though several reviewers
still found much to admire about it, especially for horror movies. Brian Costello of Common
Sense Media wrote,
"In a genre known more for heart skips and adrenaline, this is surprisingly thought-provoking."
While Roger Moore of Movie Nation thought that aforementioned twist really stuck the
landing:
"'Classic' comes a tad closer to that label thanks to a boffo finish."
"A Classic Horror Story" is now streaming on Netflix.
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