After the chilling allure of The Holy Boy (2025), Paolo Strippoli proves with his new film The Spiral that he is a true heir to the tradition of Italian fantastique cinema epitomized by Dario Argento. A mother from a wealthy bourgeois family makes a pact with a mysterious woman to save her daughter, who is in danger of losing her leg after a dog attack. But the devil never extends a hand without demanding something in return. The price draws the entire family into an endless spiral of tragedy. Evoking Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite (2019), the film also offers a pointed reflection on the Italian bourgeoisie of the 1980s, whose selfishness invites the devil into its own home. Against hypnotic, dreamlike Baroque-ish visuals, Italy’s leading actors Adriano Giannini and Jasmine Trinca generate palpable tension, while Valeria Bruni Tedeschi transforms into a startlingly demonic presence, delivering a performance unlike anything we have seen from her before. An elegant nightmare in which horror, class, and desire coil together like a spiral. (SEO Seunghee)