A Classic Horror Story – Film Review

Five people traveling by camper crash into a tree. When they recover, the road they were driving on has been replaced by an impenetrable forest and a wooden house.

Roberto De Feo and Paolo Strippoli‘s A Classic Horror Story is certainly a movie that has a lot of qualities to it. On one hand, it’s a terribly uninspired movie that essentially copies the exact formula and even some shot recreations from Ari Aster‘s Midsommar, and on the other hand, it’s just plain and simply a boring film with no entertainment value anywhere in sight. The fact that this movie even got off the ground is a little surprising, to be honest.

We live in a day and age where filmmaking is harder than it has ever been before. Perhaps another filmmaker has already made a film based on an idea that you thought you came up with on your own or if not, there’s still a lot of work to be done. Writing the script, getting a good crew, hiring the right actors, editors, cinematographers, etc.

But because there are so many remakes and sequels out these days, film lovers like myself find themselves appreciating an original movie more and more even if the outcome isn’t so good. I can’t even give brownie points to A Classic Horror Story for being original and taking a solid and respectable jab at telling an original and innovative story. The title suggests it’s going to be one hell of a masterwork but it’s anything but.

I had seen the trailer for this film quite a while ago while browsing through YouTube and my first thought was “Wow, this looks exactly like Midsommar“, and I wasn’t sure if I was liking that or not. As I’m sure you all know, Midsommar and Hereditary, Aster’s other horror feature, are my two favorite films of all time. But Aster’s writing and directing talents are out of this world good, but I got the bad feeling that A Classic Horror Story was going to come across as a lifeless imitation of Midsommar. Sadly, I was right.

As I eluded to earlier in this review – this film has some shots in it that are almost quite literally ripped straight out of Midsommar. Remember the scene where Dani and the rest of the commune are eating at that long dinner table? Not only was it a well-framed scene, but the imagery and the outfits were striking as well. Guess what? This film has a scene that’s practically a shot-for-shot recreation of that iconic scene.

And there are a few other scenes in this film that are just like that as well. Look, I know Midsommar is a great film. I’ve probably talked about that film online more than any other film in history. But if I were going to make a film inspired by Midsommar, I’d make sure that first and foremost – I had my own, original story to tell that doesn’t come across as a bland imitation.

Sadly the acting doesn’t impress either. It’s not as if the performances are bad or anything, but absolutely none of them stand out whatsoever. Each actor sort of feels like they’re just kind of there and at times, it seemed as though the actors themselves weren’t too enthused about having to work on this project. If I had to choose the best actor in this film it would have to be Matilda Lutz who gets a few entertaining things to do in the role of Elisa, but mostly, doesn’t get a whole lot of thrilling moments.

This could have been a genuinely riveting movie if it had been written and directed by somebody else, because the screenwriters and directors that we ended up getting didn’t understand the assignment. This is Diet Midsommar in every sense of the word. Sometimes people will opt for a diet soda at a restaurant, but trust me when I say that you won’t want to opt for Diet Midsommar aka A Classic Horror Story.

Overall Grade: D+

MPAA Rating: TV-MA

Cast: Matilda Lutz, Will Merrick, Yuliia Sobol, Justin Korovkin, Francesco Russo, Alida Baldari Calabria

Directed by: Roberto De Feo, Paolo Strippoli

Written by: Roberto De Feo, Paolo Strippoli, Lucio Besana, David Bellini, Milo Tissone

Distributed by: Netflix

Release Date: July 14, 2021

Running Time: 95 minutes