Holy Spider

Directed by Ali Abbasi, Holy Spider follows a journalist (Zar Amir Ebrahimi’s Arezoo) as she attempts to uncover the identity of a serial killer (Mehdi Bajestani’s Saeed) targeting sex workers. Filmmaker Abbasi, armed with his and Afshin Kamran Bahrami’s screenplay, kicks Holy Spider off with a striking opening stretch that culminates with a fairly shocking act of violence (ie it’s impossible to predict where the story is heading, to be sure), and it’s clear, certainly, that the picture benefits substantially from Abbasi’s stylish visuals and a series of above-average performances – with, in terms of the latter, Ebrahimi and Bajestani’s strong work here ensuring that the somewhat hit-and-miss midsection never becomes as problematic as one might’ve feared. There’s little doubt, however, that the 117 minute runtime ultimately does wreak havoc on the picture’s overall impact and forward momentum, although, to be fair, Abbasi does a good job of peppering the movie with impressively compelling, tense interludes that generally compensate for the less-than-consistent atmosphere. (Arezoo’s misguided yet captivating decision to use herself as bait certainly stands out as a high-water-mark within the proceedings.) By the time the surprising (and satisfying) finale rolls around, Holy Spider has confirmed its place as a stirring drama that is perhaps, on the whole, not quite as taut as Abbasi has undoubtedly intended.

*** out of ****