We might be in the middle of July, where audiences typically flock to the multiplex to catch the latest big budget effects-driven blockbusters, which is very much still the case looking at the healthy box office returns posted by the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Black Widow and Space Jam: A New Legacy, but Netflix subscribers have been hedging their bets on horror.
Four of the ten most-watched titles on the platform are designed with the sole intention of scaring people out of their seats, proving that the genre is a winner all year round, not just during spooky season. Admittedly, 75% of the quartet is made up of the Fear Street trilogy, but it’s still undeniably impressive that the first and second chapters are still hanging on to such high positions having been released three and two weeks ago, respectively.
Unsurprisingly, Part Three: 1666 is currently sitting pretty in first position, but low budget Italian chiller A Classic Horror Story has turned out to be the platform’s latest unexpected foreign-language hit. The high concept horror follows five friends on a road trip, but their camper crashes into a tree. Once they regain their bearings, the road is gone and an impenetrable forest surrounds them, with a foreboding wooden house looming.
Unlike the Fear Street trilogy, which is currently riding a wave of consistent critical acclaim, A Classic Horror Movie hasn’t been as warmly embraced by critics. The film from co-directors Roberto De Feo and Paolo Strippoli holds a middling Rotten Tomatoes score of 43%, with audiences rating it even lower at 36%. That hasn’t made much of an impact, though, with four in-house scary movies posting seriously strong showings on Netflix.
