'Holy Spider' Trailer: A Female Journalist Attempts To Find An Iranian Serial Killer In Ali Abbasi's New Thriller

If you look at the previous two films from director Ali Abbasi, “Border” and “Shelley,” you are probably taken aback by the visual style and unique storytelling used by the filmmaker. And you probably wouldn’t assume that his next film would be a David Fincher-esque serial killer thriller. However, that’s exactly what Abbasi created with his latest film, “Holy Spider.”

READ MORE: ‘Holy Spider’ Review: Ali Abbasi’s Iranian True Crime Procedural Underwhelms [Cannes]

As seen in the trailer, “Holy Spider” is a film about a female journalist from Iran who goes to Mashhad to investigate the deaths of various women who are sex workers assumed to be murdered by the same killer. The film stars Zar Amir Ebrahimi and Mehdi Bajestani. Ebrahimi wowed audiences when the film debuted at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, where she took home the award for Best Actress. “Holy Spider” is directed by Ali Abbasi, who co-wrote the feature alongside Afshin Kamran Bahrami. Abbasi is probably best known for his award-winning feature, “Border.” 

In our review from Cannes, we said, “As a straight-forward thriller, ‘Holy Spider’ checks off all the boxes that make it an intriguing watch: it maintains a tense tone and has a gripping plot, it transforms into a courtroom drama halfway into its run, and features gritty and stylish visuals.”

“Holy Spider” is coming soon from Utopia. You can watch the trailer below.

Here’s the synopsis:

Female journalist Rahimi (Zar Amir Ebrahimi) travels to the Iranian holy city of Mashhad to investigate a serial killer who believes he is doing the work of God, cleansing the streets of sinners by murdering sex workers. As the body count mounts and Rahimi draws closer to exposing his crimes, the opportunity for justice grows harder to attain as the ‘Spider Killer’ is embraced by many as a hero. Based on the horrific true story of serial killer Saeed Hanaei, acclaimed writer-director Ali Abbasi (Border) unveils a gripping crime thriller and a daring indictment of a society in which rough justice is routinely a fact of life.