Italy is betting on horror in its quest to attend the 2027 Oscars ceremony on March 14 at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles. The Italian film "The Spiral" (2026) has been nominated for the Best International Film award by the selection committee of ANICA (National Association of Film, Audiovisual and Digital Industries). The committee justified the nomination by describing it as "a new genre film by a young director at the beginning of his career, whose work has been appreciated by audiences and national and international critics". Strippoli, the author of "A Classic Horror Story" (2021), "Flowing" (2022), and "The Holy Boy" (2025), has established himself as a significant character in modern Italian horror film, interpreted in a folkloric manner. "The Spiral", starring Jasmine Trinca, Romana Maggiora Vergano, Adriano Giannini, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, and Andrea Genovese, is the 33-year-old director's first entry into a family drama with a thriller rather than a horror tone, though the latter is not entirely missing. The film, which participated at this year's Venice International film Festival, will now compete for the Academy's shortlist of the top 15 international films, to be announced on 15 December.