The Spiral

Why I took it off the list:

I’d been hearing great things about this Italian horror film from friends who had caught it early on at Sitges 2026.

So I decided to make seeing it a priority at the closing marathon on the last day of the festival, which screens some of the more popular titles as a kind of last hurrah!

So let’s dig in!

Review of The Spiral (2026)

The Spiral starts dramatically, with a woman (Jasmine Trinca) scurrying through torrential rain to reach her estranged daughter’s apartment in Rome, insisting that she has a long-held, dark secret to tell about their family. And it pretty much never lets up with the dramatic developments as the film progresses.

As the woman, Anna, tells her daughter Alice the “true” story of their lives, we see it play out in flashback. In four chapters named after each member of the family.

In 1999, Anna and her husband Walter (Adriano Giannini) are leading a charmed life. They are obscenely wealthy from running a successful boutique, and have just moved into a vast villa in Bari with a huge garden and a swimming pool.

What’s more, they have a beautiful, seemingly happy family. Their son Tobia is a promising young footballer, and aspiring actress Alice has just landed a coveted role in a commercial.

To celebrate their good fortune, the couple throw a lavish garden party. But things don’t go to plan as Alice falls victim to a horrible accident. And at the hospital, they are informed that she may lose a leg.

Distraught and overwhelmed, Anna retreats to the hospital’s chapel. And falls to her knees to pray in front of a statue of Mary.

It’s here that the film’s best character is introduced: a middle-aged woman (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) who lights up a cigarette despite the holy setting. After she offers Anna one, the two women get talking, and Anna eventually opens up about the awful news about her daughter.

The Stranger (as she is credited) at first offers gentle condolences. But she soon starts to talk in a rather vulgar way. And then appears to divulge information about Alice’s condition that she couldn’t possibly know.

Anna is somewhat disgusted, but she stops in her tracks when The Stranger offers a her a deal: Alice can keep her leg, but for a price. Anna must sacrifice Tobia’s future health in turn.

Anna is skeptical of this “deal”, but in her desperation, she eventually agrees. The Stranger quietly leaves, and Walter bursts into the church to tell her Alice will be alright after all.

Life goes back to normal, and Anna basically writes off the strange encounter. And happily gets on with pushing her children to be the best they can be. However, Tobia soon displaying signs of the malady The Stranger had described to Anna, and their perfect life begins to sour.

After another life-threatening event, The Stranger eventually appears to Anna once again. And proposes another deal. But this also requires another sacrifice, and has consequences Anna didn’t see coming. Leading into the nightmarish spiral of horror of the title.

Thought-Provoking and Fantastic Performances

The Spiral can be quite heavy-going, and its horror feels a little too real at times. The plot includes vicious teen bullying, a descent into alcoholism, and an attempted suicide. So trigger warning if you are sensitive to any of these issues!

However, at other times, the film can be incredibly playful. Mostly in the scenes with Tedeschi’s The Stranger, who is an absolutely delicious character. She speaks with a soothing cadence, but some of the things she utters are beyond horrific. And at other times she can also act incredibly sensual towards Anna.

It’s pretty clear, from her apparitions in the chapel and her unnatural knowledge, that she is some type of devil character. And she’s one of the best depictions of a Faustian deal-maker put on film.

Although in a different, less fun way, Trinca is also superb as the matriarch who goes from care-free socialite to a broken shell of a person. She’s totally convincing in both her 1999 youth and as a fearful older woman. And absolutely deserved the Festival’s Best Actress prize.

A tense thriller for most of its runtime, The Spiral veers into full-blown horror in the tense climax, which is incredibly satisfying. And it ends on a surprising note that makes you question everything the film has shown you up to this point, and Anna’s reliability as a narrator.

The Spiral is Italy’s official selection to compete in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 2027 Oscars, so it’s bound to find a well-deserved large audience. I also wouldn’t be surprised if a (sure to be inferior) Hollywood remake is announced in the near future.

Score: 8/10