First Look Teaser for Paolo Strippoli’s ‘The Spiral’ Italian Horror Film​

What’s going on with this family? What will they have to deal with? One of the big horror premieres coming up this fall is this Italian film called The Spiral (aka L’estranea), made by filmmaker Paolo Strippoli as his latest genre offering (also A Classic Horror Story, The Holy Boy). This is supernatural thriller is first premiering at the 2026 Venice Film Festival in the Main Competition, then it will also play at TIFF in their prestigious Midnight Madness section in September. A mother arrives at her daughter’s apartment during a storm to confess a lie that undermines the family’s foundation, leading to an unraveling of the relationship between them. The film stars Jasmine Trinca, Romana Maggiora Vergano, Adriano Giannini, and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi. Anna confesses that she made a pact with a mysterious stranger 20 years earlier, making a sacrifice to save Alice, and now they must undo the curse. This teaser is more of just a clip, but it is a good quick intro to the family at the center of this story. We’ll have to see how it all plays out next month…

Here’s the first teaser (+ poster) for Paolo Strippoli’s horror film The Spiral, from YouTube (via Dread):

Director Paolo Strippoli turns the screws on a desperate mother (Jasmine Trinca) as she confesses a series of Faustian bargains to her estranged daughter (Romana Maggiora Vergano) in this riveting morality chiller. Anna, 59, arrives at her daughter Alice’s house to reveal that their family history is based on a lie. She confides that she made a pact with a mysterious stranger twenty years earlier, sacrificing a member of her family to save Alice. Anna must now break the spell. The Spiral, also known as L’estranea in Italian, is directed by the Italian genre filmmaker Paolo Strippoli, director of the films A Classic Horror Story, Flowing, and The Holy Boy previously, and many other shorts. The screenplay is written by Paolo Strippoli & Salvatore De Chirico. Produced by Marina Marzotto and Mattia Oddone. This is premiering at both the 2026 Venice & Toronto Film Festivals this fall. It then opens in Italian cinemas starting on October 8th, 2026 this fall. No US release date is set yet – stay tuned for more updates. Who’s intrigued by this already?

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