I want to make this clear in advance: Spring is not a horror film with romantic elements.  It is a romantic-drama with elements of a horror film. You should not turn on Spring if your in the mood for something incredibly scary. This is The Midnight Selections you turn to when you are looking for a surprising great story, especially if you brought a date.

The film, which is written and directed by emerging horror/ sci-fi indie auteurs Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, tells the tale of Evan (Lou Taylor Pucci), a twenty-something man who is forced to re-evaluate his life after a series of poor choices and exceptionally painful circumstances. Though seemingly ill-equipped for an impromptu Euro-adventure, Evan’s sudden need to leave California lands him in Italy where he begins his search to find an uncertain something that might set his life right. Not long afterwards, Evan finds himself infatuated with a young medical student named Louise (Nadia Hilker) living in the picturesque town of Polignano. But as the relationship gets more serious, Louise behaves increasingly erratic.

Cue horror.

The first two-thirds of Spring are near flawless. Pucci and Hilker are both talented and incredibly attractive leads that have genuine chemistry together, something necessary for a story like this to work. Pucci, in particular, does a fantastic job making Evan feel like real person in his twenties just starting to figure out his potential. You always get the sense that there are untapped layers to his character. And Hilker manages to maintain a sense of mysteriousness and distance about her while never seeming off-putting. Watching the film, you understand why each of them could find comfort in one another. And truthfully, even if Spring did away with the horror elements completely, it was on a path towards becoming a good film anyways. But it is the horror elements, which come as a bit of surprise, that makes this film stand out as something truly special.

Although Spring has a small budget, Benson and Moorhead know how to get the most from it. The film is admittedly heavy in dialogue, but the dialogue flows naturally and helps to develop minor characters much more than they needed to be. The Italian town of Polignano also makes for an exquisite coastal backdrop that helps to highlight Moorhead’s ability as a cinematographer. (I read about how the filmmakers rigged a camera to a drone to do some of the film’s spectacular aerial shots.) And though they are used sparingly, the special effects in this film have an impressive realism to them. In short, there is a polish and an attention to detail in Spring makes it look more like a Hollywood blockbuster than the limited release it actually was.

But even though this film is essentially a romantic drama, Benson and Moorhead still know when to sneak in a good scare when the story requires one. In fact, there are times watching Spring that I was vaguely reminded of Let the Right One In, another film where you become fixated on the relationship that is forming only to have a flicker of violence remind you that there is an element of danger present. But Spring’s narrative has much more warmth and less co-dependent depravity than Alfredson’s masterpiece, which feels right thematically for the story Benson and Moorhead want to tell.

If I had any complaint with Spring, the film’s later revelations takes away some of the momentum built up by its 70-plus minutes. But eventually the horror elements and the romance were going to be forced to mingle and this leads to some slightly cringe-worthy final scenes. Nevertheless, it is also in this final act that the film’s true intentions are made clear and you can appreciate why the mysterious Louise would find sudden comfort in a drifter.