We all know the cautionary horror story that is the “deal with the devil”: a desperate person strikes a bargain with the devil, who offers wealth, health, fame, knowledge, or some other coveted prize. But no matter what the devil offers, it always comes at a cost. In many cases, that cost is the person’s soul or the soul of an innocent. Whatever the price, the deal inevitably ends badly for the person foolish enough to make it. It’s a tale as old as time. Italian director Paolo Strippoli, however, manages to inject this classic tale with enough nastiness and mean-spiritedness to make it feel both refreshing and genuinely horrifying.
The Spiral is told over four chapters, titled “The Daughter,” “The Son,” “The Father,” and “The Mother.” Each chapter is narrated by Anna (Jasmine Trinca, House of Tolerance), who recounts the story of her family to her daughter, Alice (Romana Maggiora Vergano, There’s Still Tomorrow). When Alice was just a child, the family dog attacked her, nearly causing her to lose her leg. Alice vividly remembers the traumatic experience, but what she doesn’t know is the deal Anna struck to save her daughter’s leg.
Covered in blood and hiding inside the hospital chapel, Anna desperately prays for her daughter’s leg to be saved. Alice has recently been cast in a high-end commercial, and as Anna waits anxiously for news, she is approached by a mysterious stranger (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Munich). The stranger offers Anna a choice: her daughter’s leg can be saved, but in exchange, her highly athletic son, Tobia, will become overweight. At first, Anna is confused by the bizarre proposition, but desperation ultimately wins out, and she accepts the deal.
To Anna’s surprise, Alice’s leg is saved, and the family rejoices. However, as the months and years pass, Anna begins to notice disturbing changes in her son. Tobia secretly binges on food behind her back, slowly gaining weight. Eventually, he becomes so overweight that he can no longer participate in sports. As his physical condition deteriorates, so does his mental health, sending him into a seemingly endless spiral of depression. He becomes the target of relentless bullying, and the constant stress and humiliation eventually take a devastating toll on his health, culminating in a heart attack. As Anna scrambles to deal with the crisis at the hospital, the stranger returns, offering her yet another choice.
At first, all of the deals the stranger offers Anna seem straightforward, but there is always a hidden cost. Each bargain creates a new problem, forcing Anna to run back to the stranger again and again in an attempt to preserve her family’s perfect image. With every deal she makes, however, the consequences become increasingly cruel, vicious, and downright nasty.
Strippoli doesn’t reinvent the wheel when it comes to this story, but he manages to make it feel fresh and entirely original. He accomplishes this by injecting the film with just the right amount of mean-spirited nastiness, enough to make your skin crawl and leave you gasping at each horrifying consequence that befalls Anna’s family. Strippoli shoots the film like a psychological thriller, using intimate camerawork to thrust us into the terrifying parental headspace Anna finds herself trapped in. The sound design is intense and often overwhelming, making us feel the full weight of Anna’s increasingly desperate decisions. The editing is frantic yet controlled, mirroring Anna’s state of mind as she struggles to comprehend the increasingly sinister deals she has made.
While the film does eventually fall into a somewhat repetitive groove, and once you recognize the direction it’s heading, the ending becomes fairly predictable, none of that diminishes how effective the film is. Throughout the screening, I was genuinely disturbed by what I was witnessing. I may disagree with Anna’s decisions, but there is an uncomfortable sense of relatability to them. When backed into a corner, she makes choices that many parents might find themselves making if they believed it was the only way to protect their child.
Overall, The Spiral was one of the best films I saw at the Toronto International Film Festival. It’s a nasty, mean-spirited little horror film in all the right ways, constantly pushing its characters into increasingly horrifying situations while forcing you to question just how far you would go for your family. Even when you think you know where the story is heading, Strippoli finds ways to make the consequences feel cruel and disturbing. I genuinely walked away from this film thinking about Anna’s decisions and wondering what I would do if I were put in the same impossible situation. The Spiral is destined to become a future midnight classic. The kind of film that will haunt you long after the credits roll, leaving you to wonder whether you would have made the same choices as Anna.
My Rating: A-
The Spiral is currently seeking US distribution.
The Spiral had its North American Premiere at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival.
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