Alps, Grappa, and Hollywood
TORONTO – Italy has always been a major muse for global storytellers, a cinematic empire whose culture and landscapes continuously captivate the imagination of the world. The latest testament to this enduring fixation is Connor Martin’s upcoming comedic horror-thriller The Dregs, which has just sparked major industry buzz ahead of its global marketplace launch at the American Film Market.
Starring Stephen Lang and Nava Mau, the film centers on a scenic holiday in the Italian Alps that transforms into a nightmarish battle for survival after a group of friends consumes a cursed bottle of grappa artigianale.
Yet, beneath the snowy peaks of South Tyrol portrayed on screen lies an open industry secret: the production primarily wrapped principal photography in British Columbia, Canada. Far from a cultural slight, this geographic sleight-of-hand represents a beautiful, ongoing artistic dialogue between two filmmaking superpowers.
It is a vibrant celebration of mutual respect, showing how modern global storytellers remain completely spellbound by Italy’s atmospheric mysteries and deep-rooted folklore.
To anyone tracking international cinema trends, this cross-continental collaboration marks a poetic reversal of history. In the 1960s and 1970s, Italian producers like Dino De Laurentiis and Alberto Grimaldi forged a legendary era by doing the exact opposite. Operating out of Rome’s Cinecittà Studios, Italian filmmakers utilized the rugged landscapes of Lazio and Abruzzo to “cheat” the American Wild West.
These cross-cultural masterworks, most notably Sergio Leone’s iconic Spaghetti Westerns, actively reinvented a foundational Hollywood genre and shaped the trajectory of global cinema history. Seeing a North American team now use the Canadian wilderness to stand in for Italy shows the film world coming full circle. It proves that the artistic bond between these two storytelling cultures remains as collaborative as ever.
More importantly, The Dregs highlights a vital lesson regarding the power of local heritage on a global stage. Too often, contemporary filmmakers shy away from mining their own regional culture, operating under the false assumption that hyper-local traditions cannot captivate a broad global market.
Yet, here is an international production turning a spotlight on the ancient alchemy and witchcraft buried deep within Alpine history, transforming a staple Italian digestif into a premium mass-market vehicle.
By looking at Italian roots through a high-concept genre lens, the film proves that regional authenticity is the ultimate gateway to universal appeal.
The lesson to be learned on both sides is clear: stories born from a specific soil possess an enduring commercial power that effortlessly transcends borders.
As The Dregs prepares for its international marketplace rollout, it stands as a testament to an enduring creative friendship, reminding us that whenever Italy and Hollywood share the frame, the results are nothing short of magical.
Images courtesy of Astral Plane and Anwar Pictures
Massimo Volpe is a filmmaker and freelance writer from Toronto: he writes reviews of Italian films/content on Netflix
