TORONTO – Italy might yet have another highly influential horror filmmaker on their hands, and his name is Paolo Strippoli. Much like in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, when Argento’s and Bava’s “Giallo” films introduced stylish visuals, graphic violence and suspenseful narratives to the genre, Strippoli’s most recent (A Classic Horror Story & Piove) and next two films (The Holy Boy & The Spiral) feel positively reminiscent.
Not long after graduating from film school in Rome and making several short films, Strippoli won the Franco Solinas award for his screenplay L’Angelo Infelice. Soon thereafter he co-directed his first feature film A Classic Horror Story alongside Roberto De Feo. Fans of the film were mostly impressed that Strippoli’s instinct wasn’t to rely on gore and jump scares (which he also utilizes), but rather to build psychological tension and unease for more satisfying payoffs.
His latest film The Holy Boy (La Valle dei Sorrisi), on the precipice of a world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, follows a Teacher (Sergio) who’s tormented by his past. Sergio is transferred to a remote town called Remis, declared the “happiest town in Italy”, which he soon discovers has a “dark and disturbing secret”. The setup brings to mind famous fictional towns like “Summerisle” from Wicker Man, or the nameless Pennsylvania town where M. Knight Shyamalan’s The Village was set.
“The Holy Boy was born from a desire to explore horror not merely as a tool for suspense, but as a symbolic space to tell a story about the fragility of identity and the desperate need for belonging. In an apparently idyllic community where pain is forbidden and serenity is treated like a religion, Matteo’s journey unfolds”, says Strippoli. Adding that it’s a film about “the vital role of pain in our lives. And about those brave enough not to smile”.
Strippoli isn’t simply writing horror, he’s framing his storytelling within the confines of the genre. His stories draw from relatable, real-life circumstances and unravel in disturbing and haunting ways. Family trauma, grief, resentment, survival and exploitation are some of the common thematic threads which unspool throughout his films. Fandango Sales Managing Director Raffaella Di Giulio describes The Holy Boy as “having the most crossover potential, including beyond the genre space, of any of Paolo Strippoli’s work so far”.
Just as American Filmmaker M. Knight Shyamalan expanded the horror genre in the 90s with his sharp storytelling, signature twists and focus on character depth, so too is Italy’s new Maestro of Horror. The signature Strippoli scare is rooted in the façade of normalcy, which like a candle slowly melts away and leaves its audience to cope with a disturbing and underlying darkness. The horror that lingers in the psyche long after the credits roll…that’s what Strippoli is after.
The Holy Boy will be released in Italian theaters on Sept. 17 by Vision Distribution.
(Images courtesy of Fandango And Vision Distribution)
Massimo Volpe is a filmmaker and freelance writer from Toronto: he writes reviews of Italian films/content on Netflix