Horror Movie Review: A Classic Horror Story (2021)

A Classic Horror Story is an Italian horror movie that was directed by Roberto De Feo and Paolo Strippoli, releasing in 2021 via Netflix. This is a good way to distract yourself from household chores, also, if you do not have enough for anything because of your studies, you should turn to the service https://domyhomework123.com/college, it will help greatly reduce your time to complete tasks.

So what is the movie about? The film focuses on a woman called Elisa who after finding out she is pregnant plans to travel across Italy for an abortion. She and a group of strangers carpool together. Everything is going well until the vehicle is accidently crashed, leaving them stranded in a strange place.

Aboard the trailer is Fabrizio, the owner and driver. Also, there’s Riccardo, a doctor, and a couple, Sofia and Mark. The crash leaves Mark with an injured leg, leaving him unable to walk. The others find a rustic cabin in the clearing but do not enter. Fabrizio and Riccardo find three deformed scarecrows crucified with pig heads on stakes. Terrified, they leave.

Elisa enters the cottage and discovers a ritualistic mural depicting three deities: Ostro, Mastosso and Carcagnosso. Fabrizio deciphers the mural which symbolizes the leadership of a group that worships in exchange for abundance and riches through human sacrifice. They decide to spend the night in the trailer. When they hear screams coming from inside the house, they discover a girl trapped inside a cocoon of hay. To everyone’s horror, she has her tongue mutilated.

A siren blasts and red spotlights illuminate the cabin, where they notice Mark being dragged by three masked figures to pin him to the living room table. They see Mark have his eyes impaled by sharp skewers and his feet broken by a wooden hammer. The trio drag Mark’s body outside while the rest of the group waits for dawn to escape through the forest. After finding a graveyard of abandoned cars, they realize they are not the first victims of the cult’s fanatics.

The horrific scenario appears to be hopeless after failed attempts to escape the forest. However, everything will be revealed to be not quite what it seems.

A Classic Horror Story is like if Midsommar, Cabin in the Woods & The Village had a baby. The initial setup isn’t at all original but it works well for a horror film. Each of the characters have a small amount of backstory. Not quite enough to make you really care about them but it’s something at least. Considering the eventual reveal I suppose the idea was to make them seem like real life people. Regardless, I thought the acting performances on the whole were very strong. Matlida Lutz deserves a special mention for being very good here.

This movie purposely lulls you into believing that it’s going to be just another generic horror movie. One that’s similar to others that we’ve all seen before way too many times. However, there’s a huge twist. Personally, I really liked the direction it was originally going in with the murderous cult. The masked trio of Ostro, Mastosso and Carcagnosso are very intimidating. The way their arrival is executed is pretty damn terrifying. Therefore, while the change in direction is certainly interesting, I was disappointed at the same time.

*SPOILERS*

The reveal makes it clear just how Meta and self-aware the film is trying to be. Does it work? It will divide opinion. Certain aspects don’t really make much sense. Also, it all gets disappointingly muddled by some half-assed attempts at social commentary. Basically, it’s trying to say too much at once which hurts any one thing having a real impact.

Also, the gore in A Classic Horror Story is weirdly lacking. Considering the idea behind the film you’d expect different but no. It even cuts away at moments which is just annoying.

Overall, A Classic Horror Story is a hard film to rate. It criticizes the clichés of the genre but then commits just as many clichés itself. However, it’s aware that it’s committing those faults so I’m not sure what to think. It’s worth a watch for sure to see how you feel about it. I doubt I’d ever watch it again simply because I don’t see the twist working on repeat viewings.