Archive · 8 Sep 2026
The Spiral Turns Family Bargains Into A Devilish Horror
The Spiral is a scary movie about a wealthy family in Italy.
Anna’s daughter Alice is badly hurt after an accident.
A mysterious woman offers Anna a way to save her.
Anna must agree to strange trades involving her children.
The trades seem helpful at first, but they cause more trouble.
Anna keeps accepting new bargains to fix the family’s problems.
The mysterious woman twists the deals in frightening ways.
The review says the movie warns people to think carefully before agreeing to something.
Paolo Strippoli’s horror-thriller The Spiral is screening in the Venice Competition.
The film follows wealthy mother Anna after her daughter Alice suffers a devastating injury.
A mysterious stranger offers Anna supernatural bargains involving Alice and her son Tobia.
The bargains appear to help the family but repeatedly create new and dangerous problems.
The review praises Valeria Bruni Tedeschi’s devilish performance and calls the film a morality play about consequences.
- Who
- The film centers on Anna, her children Alice and Tobia, and a mysterious stranger played by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi.
- What
- The Spiral is a horror-thriller about supernatural bargains that bring increasingly dangerous consequences to a wealthy family.
- When
- The film is being presented at the Venice festival; no specific date is given.
- Where
- The story is set in Bari, Italy, and the film is screening in the Venice Competition.
- Why
- The film uses a grand guignol morality tale to explore choices, consequences, vanity, and the need to read the terms of agreements carefully.
- Film
- The Spiral
- Director
- Paolo Strippoli
- Festival section
- Venice Competition
- Screenwriters
- Paolo Strippoli and Salvatore De Chirico
- Cast
- Jasmine Trinca, Romana Maggiora Vergano, Adriano Giannini, and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi
- Sales agent
- Le Pacte
- Running time
- 1 hour 55 minutes