The Spiral Movie Interview - Chicago International Film Festival 2026
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The 2026 Italian horror film The Spiral (L’estranea), directed by Paolo Strippoli, was featured in the International Competition program at the 62nd Chicago International Film Festival, held October 14 - 25, 2026, with screenings on October 20th and 21st. Blending psychological horror, family drama, and supernatural suspense, the film explores the dark consequences of a mother’s desperate attempt to protect her family. Gaining further international recognition, The Spiral was also selected as Italy’s official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 99th Academy Awards in 2027, marking a significant milestone for Strippoli and his work.
The Spiral (L’estranea) received the Silver Hugo for Best Visual Effects in recognition of its creative and impressive visual style. The film immediately draws viewers into a world that feels different from reality, taking them into spaces that resemble the characters’ minds. According to the award announcement, the film moves into “spaces that more closely resemble states of mind,” highlighting how its visuals reflect the psychological aspects of the story. The visual effects gradually become more noticeable, with the “transformation or distortion of reality” described as “masterfully executed.” These effects help create the film’s unsettling atmosphere and strengthen its horror elements.
The story follows Anna, a mother who unexpectedly visits her daughter Alice during a storm to reveal a secret she has kept for twenty years. Anna explains that, following a tragic accident involving Alice, she made a supernatural pact with a mysterious stranger. What initially appears to be an act of maternal love gradually reveals devastating consequences for the entire family.
Interview Transcript with Director Paolo Strippoli
AtZ: I think you’ve done a great job in the horror space from A Classic Horror Story, The Holy Boy and now The Spiral which are all very distinct. What was your approach for this one as it tackles more of a psychological thriller?
PS: Well, I didn't work on this one thinking of it as a horror. Right now the genre space is so fluid and I love it. I felt this one was more a psychological thriller with horror incursions. My north star was to try and create an elegant style for this movie. A family who tries to appear perfect and breaks constantly. They want to be shiny and then violence breaks out! And I wanted the violence to be abrupt, a bad taste violence. To me this movie was a cheesy good-taste. A melodrama. This is a throwback to older, campy and trashy styles. Less dramatic and more fun.
AtZ: I really liked that contrast of the family. Especially filming a lot of the violent moments in broad daylight. That said, I was curious on the title as it’s THE STRANGER originally, and instead was translated to THE SPIRAL.
PS: I like the title THE SPIRAL. But to be completely honest with you, I had to change it. This movie is a co-production of France and the French released another movie titled L'Étrange. And so we had to come up with another title and I came up with The Spiral as it is the state of mind of the two main characters. It is also the structure of the movie. We have this chaptered structure that gets shorter and faster than the previous. We wanted this film to feel like a spiral.
AtZ: I was curious, for the stranger, how you came up with the hand movements that come into play when a decision needs to be made. What was the inspiration?
PS: Valeria Bruni Tedeschi wanted to cast a spell and so we came up with this movement. I am obsessed with the building Laura Palmer is in Twin Peaks.
AtZ: The Lodge
PS: And if you remember the entrance gesture and the way hands cross these two cross paths. It’s like they want to penetrate each other.
—SPOILERS AHEAD—
Screenshot from THE SPIRAL Trailer
PS: Of course, at the end, the picture suggests they are the same person. So it's like they want to get into each other. And the gesture is like two things blending into each other. A duplicity, like two ends coming together and closing.
AtZ: A ying and yang. Or a spiral coming in on itself
PS: Yes. And also the idea of the double that is breaking
AtZ: Makes sense why she’s the only one seeing her. I also thought there was several inciting incidents that revolved around the mother catching the daughter finding herself. Either with a personality or a sexuality that triggers her spiral downward. Are those moments what instigates the violence?
PS: It's a good question. Of course. Yeah. This film is about, a woman that wants to emancipate from the role of the daughter. She escaped the mother for all her life. She ran from her mother for all her life. And like the spiral it all comes back. She tried to find her own identity and of course, this is sometimes not what the parents want.
And I think it’s what the movie is about. You see a number of tragedies but everything that happens is never as bad as it gets. It gets worse and worse because of the parents behavior. Because they see their children going in a different direction than they expected. Instead of being with them and caring for them and adapting they push them back into their original trajectory. And of course this doesn’t end well.
AtZ: They want control and end up losing control.
PS: Yes, because you cannot have control. This movie is about seeing your parents as human beings with demons. And Parents seeing their children as human beings not just sons and daughters.
AtZ: It reminds me a bit of your previous film The Holy Boy where things really start to go wrong when he doesn’t follow the path that the town wants him to be on.
PS: Yes, and also another movie I made before The Holy Boy called Flowing that is about a common theme where a father and a child don’t speak to each other because they don’t see each other after the mother’s passing. There is also a big rain that activates a big vapor and that causes things to lose control.
AtZ: Where does that fear of rain or water come from?
PS: (laughs) It's because it's a beautiful element. My cowriters and I had three themes: it's about control, controlling others and losing control. All 3 films have an obsession with control and bad weather. You always have to find a new element in the projects. Outside of the characters what's the emotional temperature, you know, and the rain is perfect for that. If you think about it in this movie, the rain becomes the storm. And it gets worse and worse as the fight gets worse until it becomes apocalyptic. You are at the end of the spiral and there is no way back. It’s a projection of what is happening inside of them.
AtZ: Was there anything that changed through the editing? Any sequences that may have been more over the top?
PS: Yes. We had a couple of jump scares we cut. In the editing room we found them to be unnecessary. For example, the blood in the sink scene. It was a jump scare, it was violent, it was completely different. But we understood it wasn’t right for the moment. It was reedited but not cut like some others.
AtZ: What set off the dog?
PS: I don’t know
AtZ: I’ve been in that scenario as a kid. I know things happen fast. And I know who started it… Me.
PS: We gave some explanations, but the viewer has the point of view of Alice who doesn’t remember. She says it probably was her startling the dog, but the truth is these kinds of things happen. Life is like that. Sometimes, just like Alice says, it is no use to find the why or blaming who is guilty. Things happen. You have to take life as it comes.
AtZ: It’s what you do in the aftermath.
PS: Yes.
A Still from The Spiral
AtZ: This has also been chosen as Italy’s Oscar submission which is awesome considering it’s a genre film. How has the rollout been?
PS: We’re hoping to get on the shortlist and know it is going to be difficult to get to the nomination. What’s really important is that the Italian committee decided to send this movie. It’s a great sign for genre movies. As you probably know, we haven’t been a genre industry since the early ‘90s. The decision makers didn’t see an interest in reviving that market but now the same people have chosen this. I’m really happy for my movie, but I’m really happy for the chances and opportunities for other directors who want to work in the genre space. I don’t want it to just be a one and done.
AtZ: So if you had a stranger come to you, would your spiral be to get the Oscar or for Italy to win another world cup?
PS: Oh, the Oscar. But you know what, I make deals with a stranger every day.
This movie is a biopic.
