Spoilers prefer a holiday at the beach.

I’ve been trying to find a half decent horror film lately for October. I’ll tell you why this one comes very close, and given the fact that I’ve been watching a ton of stinkers lately it has enough pep to make the cut this week. It’s not bad and more of a tribute but we’ll keep the spoilers low during this cold open and save any insight for after the break. It’s not without flaws, but well… let’s get into it.

(Credit: Netflix)

A Classic Horror Story (2021) is directed by Roberto De Feo and Paolo Strippoli. They wrote it with Lucio Besana, David Bellini and Milo Tissone. Elisa (Matilda Lutz) is taking a rideshare to get to Calabria to meet her parents and have a procedure done. The rideshare is on board an RV captained by travel blogger Fabrizio (Francesco Russo). Also on board are Riccardo (Peppino Mazzotta), a doctor, Mark (William Merrick), a jerk (okey the starting jerk), and his lively girlfriend Sofia (Yuliia Sobol). The group eventually gets into an accident and end up lost in the woods where a sinister house with cultish paraphernalia beckons.

The subgenre here you’re thinking about here is definitely folk horror, which accounts for most of the movie until we get a twist. Horror movies with genre-switching twists are loaded powder kegs, because you either mention the twist or you don’t. When it comes down to it, I always assume you’re reading reviews because you’re not sure if you want to spend time on this, so I have to tell you something without giving it away. My recourse is to mention there is a twist, which might mean you’ll watch the film expecting one, but without telling you what it is to avoid completely exposing the film.

It works decently. The film itself ends up becoming a bit of a tribute to horror films, being aware that it’s borrowing from other films. The twist actually livens it up adding some entertainment value as it was becoming a little too close to other films right up to that point. As such the twist is not completely unique but enough to make it stand out. There’s a point in which I wished the film would have ended, but it chooses to just add more stuff trying to make some sort of commentary that breaks your sense of disbelief.

Recommended with reservations. It starts very much like a known premise, fully goes all in into the folk horror subgenre and just as it feels we’re just familiar with the ride makes a sudden left turn into a twist. I found the twist welcome enough to add some entertainment value. Instead of finishing just as it wraps up the story, it decides to add some stuff in the ending that will take you out of the film. Worth a watch as a mixed bag so makes a good backup film when you need it.

That will do for now.