Netflix Original horror content can be extremely hit or miss. Some of it, like the Mike Flanagan Haunting of series, is absolutely stellar. Other works, like 2018's Open House, are among the worst of the worst. While Flanagan's work is always highly marketed and very easy to find, not all the streaming service's better pieces are so lucky, and viewers might have to look outside their comfort zones a little to find some gems.
English-speaking viewers don't always seek out foreign-language content, but those who disregard subtitled works are really missing out. There are so many foreign-language films, especially in the horror genre, that are truly top-tier. One of which is a clever Italian horror film that was released straight to Netflix in the summer of 2021 called A Classic Horror Story. This film is designed to appeal to real horror fans, paying homage to some fan-favorite tropes and themes.
A Classic Horror Story isn't the typical trashy Giallo flick that many will think of when they hear "Italian horror". Those films are influential and groundbreaking in their own right, but that isn't the direction this movie takes. It's not a murder mystery, nor does it pack on the cheesy moments that one might expect. Instead, the subgenre of A Classic Horror Story is somewhat hard to define, save for the fact that it delivers on exactly what its title states.
The film is about a group of strangers in Italy, carpooling in an RV. In the nighttime, they unfortunately get into a car accident. When the group wakes up they find themselves nowhere near a road but in the thick of a dense forest. In a clearing stands a suspicious wooden house. The young adults soon figure out, the residents of the house are not friendly. It becomes a game of survival with a lot of twists and turns, a lot of fun horror references, and certainly a lot of gore. This film won't be the most disturbing thing a horror fan will ever watch, but it's not for the faint of heart either. It's bloody and brutal with some shocking moments, and it's genuinely scary.
The gore and brutality take off right from the beginning and, while there are some lulls throughout, it is relatively unrelenting. Viewers see a lot of blood and gore, but most extreme acts of violence aren't generally shown on camera. However, the implication is effective enough--and this is actually a pretty rough technique to pull off well. One of the most notable examples of maintaining a gory feeling while not showing too much is the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, which A Classic Horror Story clearly takes a few nods from.
On top of just having a lot of violence and gore in general, A Classic Horror Story is shocking because of the twists in the plot. There are some really messed up decisions made regarding certain characters, and what happens to them. When the grand nature of what is going on is revealed, it's also quite shocking and changes a lot of what the movie might mean to people. Not all of this is executed perfectly, but it's overall really effective.
The film doesn't necessarily have an extreme message that relates to sociopolitical topics, but it does have a message relating to horror movies. Having a knowledge of the current horror field will definitely make this a better watching experience, but it would probably be enjoyable for anyone with an interest in horror movies. There are a lot of little nods and references, some more subtle than others. Though they can be criticized for being a bit cheap, at the end of the day Easter eggs like that tend to be pretty fun for most viewers.
While ratings and reviews for A Classic Horror Story have been a little mixed, enough people are really loving it that horror fans should at least give it a chance. And beyond that, fans of all genres should look past the "Most Popular" pages to seek out something different. Viewers looking past what's most mainstream to find things are different is important in keeping the world of cinema diverse, and something unexpectedly going viral on a streaming service can launch the career of an otherwise unknown filmmaker or actor. It also widens the audience's taste and palette, introducing diversity into the lives of the viewers. A Classic Horror Story was not a flop or totally unknown, but given more marketing, it really could have taken off, and hopefully, someday it still has that opportunity.