Holy Spider: A Chilling Real-Life Reflection
The third feature film by Iranian-born, Danish-naturalized director Ali Abbasi manages to impact even the least sensitive of viewers—especially considering that it tells a true story from his native Iran about the extreme misogynistic ideologies that led to the serial killings of many sex workers.
“Holy Spider” is the nickname given to the serial killer, whose real name—both in fiction and in real life—is Saeed Hanaei, a man who believed he was cleansing the world of “sinners” based on his fundamentalist beliefs.
The film doesn’t beat around the bush—a storytelling choice that places the viewer in a deeply vulnerable position. In a scene prior to the opening credits, we follow the day in the life of a sex worker: with her daughter, enduring abuse, trying to navigate her violent daily existence, and ultimately, being murdered.
It is precisely in this opening sequence that the tone of the film establishes itself with brutal honesty: we will not see her again, and this is a story about misogynistic violence.
Abbasi, who also wrote the screenplay, brings a sense of mature filmmaking that may stem from his unique perspective. Although this is only his third feature film, he treats the subject matter with notable respect. Referencing theorists like Harun Farocki in his essay collection Doubt About Images, which compiles his writings between 1980 and 2010, Abbasi reflects on the power that a represented story holds. A single image can shape the collective imagination, and thus, by retelling a real-life event with a perhaps more just perspective, the filmmaker engages in a kind of historical rewriting for the world.
Farocki, a German filmmaker and photographer known for his experimental and documentary work (and as editor of Filmkritik), discusses the impact of repeated exposure to graphic imagery in the news—how viewers can become desensitized to violence.
In this context, Abbasi succeeds in cutting through that desensitization. He delves deeper, showing the multiple layers of discrimination endured not just by sex workers, but by women in general in Iran—especially through the eyes of the female journalist investigating the murders.
Holy Spider is undoubtedly a difficult film, but it offers a second chance to reimagine an atrocity that, tragically, still occurs in Iran today.
