The Haunting of Helena

The story unfolds in contemporary Italy as Sophia navigates divorce and motherhood while the apartment’s haunting escalates. The past, rooted in Fascist Italy, casts a long shadow, hinting at violence tied to the building. The timeline alternates between current events and the echoed crimes that haunt the living.

An aging apartment in Italy serves as the central haunt where Sophia and Helena live. The crumbling building houses a hidden closet and the lingering presence of a brutal history from Fascist Italy. The setting blurs the line between home and nightmare, reappearing in new locations as the haunting deepens.

🕯️ Memory & Guilt

The film probes how memory shapes identity and can trap the living in a web of guilt. Past violence embedded in the building bleeds into present actions, influencing Sophia’s decisions as a mother and investigator. The narrative shows how recollections, whether accurate or distorted, drive the search for truth.

🩸 Haunting & Trauma

The house acts as a vessel for trauma, turning everyday spaces into sites of terror. Symbols like the teeth motif reveal how harm lingers physically and psychologically. The haunting intensifies as personal histories collide with supernatural triggers, forcing characters to confront what they carry from the past.

🏚️ Place as Prison

The apartment and the hospital wing function as confining spaces that trap the living in fear. Doors, closets, and hidden caches become active antagonists that shape the characters’ movements. Escaping the place proves difficult as the past continues to reach into the present.

🗝️ Truth & Revelation

The plot builds toward a grim unveiling of the killer’s history, reframing earlier events. The discovery that the deceased wife was a serial killer redirects the meaning of the haunt. New revelations force Sophia to reassess safety, memory, and what it means to survive a place that won’t stay buried.