Film
Holy Spider (18)
Dir. Ali Abbasi, Denmark, 2022, 118 mins, subtitled. Cast. Mehdi Bajestani, Zar Amir-Ebrahimi, Arash Ashtiani.
Abbasi’s second film is a terrifying retelling of the case of the Spider Killer, a serial killer hunting down sex workers in Iran. Mashhad, early 2000s, despite being the country’s holy city, its residents are ill at ease. A serial killer is on the prowl, reporting their crimes, as well as the location of the bodies, to a local newspaper. When no-nonsense journalist Rahimi is transferred to the paper following a misogyny-related scandal at her last workplace, she immediately immerses herself into the city’s underbelly. Journeying deeper into the case, humanising the murdered women and attempting to navigate the city’s complex judicial system, Rahimi discovers that some don’t believe the Spider Killer’s actions to be crimes. With blistering intent, Abbasi reconfigures the tropes of the serial-killer genre, creating a film that not only grapples with the attempt to bring a criminal to justice but examines what really stands for ‘justice’ in this world.
For detailed information about the film's age rating and potential triggering contents, you can visit the BBFC website and search the film title, then scroll down to the “ratings info” section: www.bbfc.co.uk
Abbasi’s second film is a terrifying retelling of the case of the Spider Killer, a serial killer hunting down sex workers in Iran. Mashhad, early 2000s, despite being the country’s holy city, its residents are ill at ease. A serial killer is on the prowl, reporting their crimes, as well as the location of the bodies, to a local newspaper. When no-nonsense journalist Rahimi is transferred to the paper following a misogyny-related scandal at her last workplace, she immediately immerses herself into the city’s underbelly. Journeying deeper into the case, humanising the murdered women and attempting to navigate the city’s complex judicial system, Rahimi discovers that some don’t believe the Spider Killer’s actions to be crimes. With blistering intent, Abbasi reconfigures the tropes of the serial-killer genre, creating a film that not only grapples with the attempt to bring a criminal to justice but examines what really stands for ‘justice’ in this world.
For detailed information about the film's age rating and potential triggering contents, you can visit the BBFC website and search the film title, then scroll down to the “ratings info” section: www.bbfc.co.uk
