White, older Aaron, his younger, Black partner Malik and Aaron‘s teen daughter Kayla move from the city to the countryside in a huge wooden house in a small community. Malik has post-traumatic stress disorder after an experience with homophobic criminals, but he seems calm on the outside, regularly takes his meds and has a loving, trusting relationship with Kayla. However, he has nightmares and his work as a ghostwriter makes him feel morally conflicted. When he notices that an old man is observing the couple and is sneaking around the house, he confronts the old man. He panics but manages to put a seemingly empty note in Aaron‘s hand. That night, Malik sees a strange ritual in the house across from him. The next morning, the old man is dead. Malik experiences increasingly awful things and he finds out something terrifying about the friendly-seeming neighbors.

Canadian director Kurtis David Hardner shot his first film at 18, in the following 10 years he produced 13. SPIRAL is the third film he directed. SPIRAL is a horror film with ritual and folklore motifs that recalls Jordan Peele‘s GET OUT in many ways. It tells a story about gaslighting and the terror experienced by outsiders and minorities, but is less complex than GET OUT and not as funny. However, SPITAL is effectively directed with believable characters and excellent actors, especially Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman, whose Malik is incredible charming and is convincing at being shocked. SPIRAL is better than the current mainstream horror franchises, but it‘s not in modern horror‘s first league since it‘s missing the inner abysses. The horror is gazed at from the outside here.

Tom Dorow

Translation: Elinor Lewy