User Reviews

Every person shall meet what they wish to avoid. - Ancient Persian proverb

On the surface Saeed is a devout Shia Muslim and devoted family man, but when night falls he gets on a motorcycle, looks for sex workers, murders them, and dumps their bodies in fields. A one-man jihad against vice and immorality. In the ensuing media frenzy a lone female journalist from Tehran, Rahimi, vows to track the killer down, alone.

Holy Spider is based on real events in Mashhad, Iran, where in the space of a year 16 sex workers were murdered. The film is realistic in another way in that it uncovers the age-old misogyny that runs rampant in Iran. Protests are currently raking the nation after a woman was arrested by the "morality" police for failing to wear her headscarf properly and ended up dead in a prison cell. Many Iranians, including relatives of the victims, believe the women who died are worthless and deserving of their fates because they were "immoral." Rahimi fights this extreme prejudice as well as a mass murderer.

Holy Spider combines everything I love about film; glimpses of the underground, a distant and diverse land, an underdog protagonist, well written dialogue, stylish photography and costumes, a fantastic and unconventional story based on a graphic novel, and chilling, hypnotic music. The language of Holy Spider is Persian and it was shot in Jordan. Director Ali Abbasi is Iran born and Denmark based. Sar Amir Ebrahimi (Rahimi) won the best actress award this year at Cannes for her performance. Both were present at the Toronto International Film Festival screening I attended. Apparently Ebrahimi wasn't Abbasi's first choice for the role. He thought she was too nice to be Rahimi, but then she got so angry with him, and was so convincing in her anger that he gave her the role. Everything worked out well in the end.

'Persian noir' is not my description - it was used by this Iran-set film's director, Ali Abbasi, when he introduced it at the 2022 London Film Festival. It is an accurate description, at least in that a lot of the action takes place at night. Since it was made, the film, which focusses on violence against women, has gained added resonance due to the death of young Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the Iranian so-called 'morality police' and the protests that have ignited as a result.

It is based on events in Mashhad, Iran's second city, where between 2000-1 construction worker Saeed Hanaei strangled to death at least sixteen prostitutes. Whereas in many thrillers of this sort the killer remains little more than a cipher for deep evil and general nastiness, Saeed is given more of a personality: he is a family man with young children of whom he is clearly fond, and in-laws he does not particularly like. This does not necessarily make him likeable, but it does provide a more rounded character and was a good decision on the part of the film-makers.

The other main character in the film is Rahimi, a female journalist. She seems to be in a permanent state of exasperation, although this is understandable given the petty annoyances with which she has to deal ("please cover your hair" off-handedly orders a hotel receptionist). Determining the police are not doing enough to capture the murderer, it is little surprise when she sets up herself as a target. At this point the viewer may think the film (which at over two hours is rather long) is finished, but instead it goes on to portray society's depressing reactions to Saeed's crimes.

There are a few flaws: for instance, it is never explained why friends of Saeed promise to help him escape but then do nothing. But I appreciated the attempts to make Saeed a more rounded character than might have been expected, and I note that the Iranian judiciary of the time come out of things reasonably well, portrayed as determined that Saeed will answer for his crimes despite the huge amount of support he has among the public - so I think the film-makers have tried to be even-handed rather than forcing their own opinions down the throat of the viewer. That is important, particularly when Western audiences know so little about day-to-day life in the Islamic Republic.

A serial killer in Iran is the subject matter as a religious zealot strangled sixteen prostitutes before being caught by the police.

A journalist wearing a head scarf is the main character throughout the film and I do not know how much of what is presented is fact and what is fiction.

The reporter hounds law enforcement to solve the series of brutal murders against the backdrop of a theocratic society with little regard for women selling their bodies in order to feed their drug addictions.

The people of the sacred area where the hookers offered their wares were, for the most part, supportive of the killer.

Religious fanaticism in all of its forms are equally dangerous and Holy Spider portrays them in a realistic manner.

I think the scariest part in this thriller is this sentence: 'inspired by real events'. Let me preface this with this: the main actress and the killer are amazing actors. About the story: a mad man decide to get rid of prostitutes within Mashhad in Iran. He picks them up on his motorcycle and kills them with their hijab. A female journalist decides to investigate the matter, clearly against the fundamentalism shown by almost every party in the case (from police, to judge, to criminal). And here the scary part starts: the killer is found, most people are on his side, saying that he is doing God's work, and the only reason why he is sentenced is because the government, close to re-election, is taking the case as a political one, while the people outside chant for the killer's freedom. A very scary window to what women are living through in some countries.

When this very acclaimed director announced he was going to make another feature, I naturally rushed to the theater to see it. And it was sure a great start to the 2023 movie season.

It is a very disturbing and graphical depiction of a serial killer-mystery thriller, and it doesn't shy away from the gore, yet doesn't wallow in it. It's certainly not for the faint of heart, but all is in service of the important and terrifying script.

The script is, in itself, astonishing. Based on a true story, it's a paralel tale between the killer and the journalists chasing him. You actually feel some kind of sympathy for the serial killer, something that is not easy to convey.

It's a very beautifully made film, with great cinematography, incredible award winning acting and an important yet hard to fathom theme.

It's certainly bound to be one of the best films of the year.

"Holy Spider" is a co-production between a pretty massive total of six countries and Jordan is the one that comes closest to where the action is set here and it is pretty telling that Iran is not among the production countries. I am pretty sure they are not too much in favor of the outcome. Language is Persian though and the film was also shot in Jordan. The country credited first is Denmark and this film is also the Danish submission to the Oscars this year. I think a nomination is possible, but I doubt this film could actually win the foreign language Oscar. If you have seen other Danish films from the last years or even decades, this one here is obviously very different. There is no Danish impact to the story whatsoever. The writer and director is Ali Abbasi and he was born in Tehran, so it is maybe a bit of a personal movie for him too. Still there is at least one short film with a Danish title in his body of work, from really early during his career and this may explain his background and why Denmark is moving forward with this film. It is a really international production though. There's two other writers. The first would be Afshin Kamran Bahrami for whom it is the first and only writing credit so far and the same is true for Jonas Wagner, who is credited as a story supervisor here. The name sounds German and maybe this explains why Germany is also a production country for this movie. Also no other credits to him. Abbasi, however, has the series "The Last of Us" now in his body of work too and judging from the rating it turned out as a huge success. Would be cool if this results in more video games being turned into movies.

But now back to this one here: It runs for under two hours and scored a great deal of awards attention elsewhere too, not only in America where at the Oscars it made the top10 (or nine even) foreign-language films of the year. The biggest waves came maybe at the Cannes Film Festival where it was nominated for the prestigious Palme d'Or and also lead actress Zar Amir-Ebrahimi won a Palme. The four nominations at the European Film Awards are also not too shabby. Most of the awards recognition for the outcome went to Abbasi, but the aforementioned actress also scored successes on quite a few occasions. The male co-lead Bajestani won an award in Sweden and that was already it. At least, this way he won 100% of the nominations he got. Amir-Ebrahimi's awards recognition was a bit exaggerated all in all. I think she played her part well, but it was nothing too groundbreaking and maybe some awards bodies mistook the actress for the character because it was a really headstrong female character. What makes this film kinda special is that the story is based on actual events. The killer that the film is all about existed indeed and all his killings took place between summer 2000 and summer 2002 and it is also not the first time that a movie about him got made. What is fictitious here, however, is the female protagonist I believe. Correct me if I am wrong, but the entire character was added for dramatic purpose. It is a woman who is a journalist that decides to investigate the killings and try to help in making sure the killer eventually gets caught and arrested. On one occasion (or maybe on more than one), we hear that the police is not really too interested in catching him because he really cleans the streets from prostitutes and as a consequence they won't have to do it. You can see that the killer really had gigantic support even and I will get to that a little later. Not necessarily or not only with the police force, but also in terms of the people in general. His idea that prostitutes are worthless and do not deserve to live is supported by many and this becomes especially visible after the killer is caught.

This is never a whodunnit film. We get to know the killer from the very start. The violence in here is also really graphic. We see on a few occasions how he strangles his victims and the camera is as close as it gets. In a bit of a revenge act, the camera is also really close to his face then towards the end when the execution takes place. Abbasi did not stretch the hunt for the killer longer than necessary which was a good decision. His method was always pretty much the same anyway and slight changes happened only when the killer was up against physically stronger prostitutes for example. But he got them all. However, he did not get the female protagonist. He lured her into his apartment and this scene was surely on the shocking side, but also maybe a bit too exaggerated and too much for dramatic purposes, especially if we take into account that this scene was really fully invented. She does get out of course. I was not sure she would though. It was also possible for example that she gets killed, but the fact that it took place at the killer's home could have led her colleague there and this way she would have traded her life for the ensuing arrest. But the colleague was a bit of a fool too with how he does not manage to follow on his motorbike. Not the best writing. Anyway, the praise and support the killer is getting in the second half is absurd as it gets. People who complain about women being treated not fair in Europe and America should take a look at how women are treated in countries like Iran and many other Muslim-dominated countries. And it's not just the violence coming from the killer, but also what happens to wives and sisters for example and the biggest irony is that people who criticize this are often those who happily invite the ones who commit such acts to their homes. That is another story though. Here we just had the example at the start when the female protagonist wants to stay at a hotel, but without a husband she is not allowed to. Maybe they also thought she was a prostitute there or it was probably already enough that she was a single female. When she tells them that she is a journalist, then things change. Bad press they want to avoid at all costs That much is safe. It was one of the better moments from the film I would say.

I am still baffled that the awards recognition difference between the male and female lead is so gigantic here. No idea why. They were pretty much equals. Bajestani was good, especially taking into account he has not acted in too many films and projects before compared to Amir-Ebrahimi. What felt almost as shocking as the killings and the support the killer received from his peers was how the killing is taken to the next generation. The son gets free food at the market because of what his father did. What individual sacrifice he risked by doing what was best in the name of Allah. Or look at how the killer's wife talks to her children about what their father did, like how she says that he did not commit a crime, that he did not do anything wrong etc. It was all really absurd, also on a few other occasions when the gruesome actions are described. The very final scene is then fairly memorable when the boy reenacts the killings for the camera with the help of his sister and she plays the part of the victims and how she says there in a playful manner that she is dead and it takes out all the gravitas and shows us that the people around them have turned the entire scenario into something where people, especially kids, do not see its seriousness at all. Another absurd aspect I think is that the killer mentions on one occasion that he killed fewer women than bodies found, but there is not really any investigation into what happened to the other(s). In the film, the difference was one (enough already nonetheless), but in reality I checked and the difference was even higher. This does not exactly say anything positive about the judicial system in Iran. Same applies to police investigations. Apparently, the cops were too busy trying to (ab)use their powers to get laid than for example checking on the phone calls that were made by the killer to the female protagonist's friend. The forensics aspect is also not progressive with how performing DNA checks is not really doable on a large scale.

If we look at the poster, we see a mix of the carpet the killer was praying on and a prostitute. This alone might have been enough for people in Iran to despise the film I guess. The killer's state of mind was depicted nicely when he attacks his son in a violent manner and also when he is not happy with his daughter disturbing him during a prayer. On one occasion they say that the police are just waiting for him to make a mistake. Well, he made many: A neighbor saw him with a prostitute, but thought he was having an affair. He hurts himself on one occasion during the stairway scene. And of course, he really messes up when confronted by the female main character. So he was far from a professional, but he said he has to keep going and that often he could not even sleep without killing in the hours before nighttime. At the same time, he was an ordinary handyman with a family, including a young and attractive wife and a somewhat solid family life. Before we finish, let's have a final look at the female lead. We understand that she is also so obsessed with the case because she does not have a lot to lose. She is single, even if her colleague is clearly romantically interested in her, which was a bit of a cringeworthy addition. She has no children. She rarely talks to her parents, let alone visits them. She is clearly a woman on a mission and it is her decision to finally make an impact by trying to make a crucial contribution to catching the Spider Killer. She has nothing to lose, maybe also does not value her life as much as she should, so she takes the risk. It is debatable if she can be called a misandrist, feminist, sociopath or none of the above. There's indicators for each. I would not say she is a particularly likable character, but opinions probably differ there. I am sure many movies-goers saw more in her than I did. The film is overall okay, worth the watch.

I watched this movie last night, amidst the 2022 Iran protests. Right now, Iranian women and men are standing together, taking to the streets and protesting against the mullahs (clerics) regime, chanting "Women, Life, Freedom". In return, they're getting shot and killed by security and militia (Basiji) forces under the direct command of the "Supreme Leader", who himself is a mullah.

It is therefore maddening how this movie paints the picture of the Iranian people vs mullahs. The only time we see people protesting in the movie is when they're chanting outside the court, asking for the release of Saeed, the religious psychopath who killed 16 women in cold blood. The people were portrayed supporting the "cleansing of streets" not giving a damn about the serial killings.

Moreover, the protagonist, Zahra, was so eager to see the imprisoned Saeed tortured by primitive Islamic rules, making sure that his lashing decree was executed before he was hanged. This is again in stark contrast with what the Iranian people and social activists have been trying to achieve throughout the Islamic Republic era, which has been the elimination of such barbaric measures as lashing and hanging.

On the other hand, the mullah judge, was portrayed as this reasonable, educated and respectable character who was concerned about social problems and would keep his word (on executing Saeed, however heinous the act was) even under pressure from public opinion. Again, mullahs in Iran are not what the movie tries to depict. People do not respect them (there's currently a flying turban challenge on the streets of Iran, where people grab mullahs' turbans from their heads and throw them away). People do not ask for their opinion. They are not educated; the current "appointed" (not elected) Iranian president, Raeisi, has only been to school for 6 years. And they're anything but reasonable; all their reasoning stem from the backwards Sharia laws.

All in all, I was really disappointed by the movie. All this movie is doing for the non-Iranian audience, is portraying the Iranian people in such a grotesque manner that would discourage the audience to follow up with the current freedom protests in Iran.