Holy Spider

Holy Spider begins as an investigation of an alarming crime, then zooms out to implicate a very troubled society. In Mashhad’s red light district, sex workers are alert to a dangerous client. He kills brutally, but at home he plays the attentive family man. Dogged journalist Rahimi (Cannes 2022 Best Actress winner Zar Amir Ebrahimi) is determined against widespread apathy, and worse, to stop him. This troubling and very effective film is based on true events, and was filmed outside Iran to circumvent censorship. Directed by Ali Abbasi (Border, LIFF 2018).

The story goes back all the way to 2000, 2001. I was still living in Iran. There was this actual guy who murdered 16 women in a year and was labeled the “spider killer” because he would lure women into his house and strangle them, sort of trapping them in his own web… How can a man kill so many people and get away with it, while still having a functioning life with a wife and three kids, neighbors and all that, and how can people react the way they did?

Director Ali Abbasi, from an interview with The Hollywood Reporter