Italian Horror ‘The Spiral’ Premieres in Venice With 9-Minute Standing Ovation

Paolo Strippoli’s Faustian horror-thriller ‘The Spiral’ (‘L’Estranea’) received a nine-minute standing ovation at its world premiere on Monday night at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, where it is competing for the Golden Lion. The film, starring Jasmine Trinca and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, marks Strippoli’s first selection in the festival’s main competition.

The high-concept thriller centres on Anna (Jasmine Trinca), a wealthy mother and fashionista from Bari who makes a Faustian pact with a demonic stranger played by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi. The deal is struck to save Anna’s daughter Alice (Romana Maggiora Vergano) after a serious accident, but it triggers a domino effect of terrible events over the years that tear the family apart. The cast also includes Adriano Giannini as Anna’s husband Walter and Andrea Genovese as their son Tobia.

Venice Competition Debut

‘The Spiral’ is Strippoli’s fourth feature and follows his 2025 Venice title ‘The Holy Boy’. The director, known for the Netflix Original ‘A Classic Horror Story’ (2021), co-wrote the script with Salvatore De Chirico. The film was shot over seven weeks in Rome and Bari, with production wrapping in July 2025.

The Venice audience responded enthusiastically to the campy horror thriller, with the director and cast encouraging the crowd to keep clapping past the nine-minute mark. The film is scheduled to screen next at the Toronto International Film Festival in the Midnight Madness section.

Critical Reception

Early reviews from Venice have been largely positive, with critics praising the performances of both leads. The Hollywood Reporter called the film ‘delectably nasty fun’ and noted that Trinca delivers a ‘nail-biting performance’ while Bruni Tedeschi provides ‘wicked support’. Variety described Bruni Tedeschi’s turn as ‘divalicious’ and said the film ‘secures Strippoli’s claim to horror-auteur status’. Deadline called it a ‘fiendishly fun horror-thriller’.

In an exclusive interview with Variety, Strippoli said the story ‘was born from my fear of not having control over things in life’ and described the film as being ‘about control, about how it’s impossible to determine our destiny’. Speaking about the central themes, he said: ‘One of the themes is parenthood and a way of conceiving motherhood and parental love as control and ambition that is projected onto one’s children’.

Strippoli also discussed working with Bruni Tedeschi, who plays the trenchcoat-wearing, chain-smoking stranger. ‘She’s an amazing actress and also very generous on set,’ he told Variety.

Italian Theatrical Release

‘The Spiral’ will be released in Italian cinemas on October 8, distributed by 01 Distribution. Le Pacte holds international sales rights for the film.

The film runs 115 minutes and is an Italy-France-Belgium co-production, produced by Propaganda in tandem with France’s Kazak Productions.