Holy Spider
Cinéart | Release Date: October 28, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
66
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
9
Negative:
2
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The Irish TimesTara BradyJan 20, 2023
It’s a cracking, effective thriller, powered by uneasiness, and made all the more potent by the recent death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old killed in police custody after being detained for violating the Islamic Republic’s dress code for women. Read full review
100
The TelegraphTim RobeyMay 26, 2022
It’s profoundly compelling, expertly made, and quite intentionally horrifying. Read full review
90
Film ThreatAbhishek SharmaJan 5, 2023
Despite some fictionalization, it is a brutally honest take on the deep-rooted, orthodoxical ideals and their fatal outcomes. Read full review
90
Film ThreatAndy HowellSep 13, 2022
The brilliance of Holy Spider is how it takes all the gripping, lurid suspense of the serial killer thriller, turns it on its head, and takes it to the next level as symbolic of a corrupted, misogynistic society. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenNov 10, 2022
As we begin to follow the trail of journalist Areez Rahimi (Ebrahimi, who received the Best Actress award at Cannes for this role), the film becomes a very effective thriller. Through her, we also experience the country’s entrenched misogyny. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comGodfrey CheshireOct 28, 2022
Holy Spider’s rendition of this grisly tale is powerful and precise, commendably lacking the sensationalistic tone of some serial killer movies. Read full review
88
Movie NationRoger MooreOct 26, 2022
It’s impossible not to see this character and this riveting performance by Amir-Ebrahimi and not think of the brave women protesting their treatment and status right now on the streets of Iran’s cities. Arezoo, like hundreds of thousands of her sisters, persists. Read full review
83
ColliderNate RichardOct 14, 2022
Even with some questionable choices, Holy Spider still packs a powerful punch, particularly in its third act, and one of the most disturbing final scenes you'll see all year that feels like the perfect summation of the past two hours. Read full review
80
We Got This CoveredAlejandra MartinezOct 3, 2022
Spider is a heavy watch, and is guaranteed to haunt you long after you leave the theater. Read full review
80
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganMay 26, 2022
Abbasi has made an Iranian noir which, even though it dares to poke around the spiritual capital of Iran with its largest mosque in the world, isn’t an assault on the Iranian government per se, but a crime thriller which shows how far fundamentalist morality can be twisted and how banal the face of evil really is. Read full review
80
SlashfilmRyan LestonMay 26, 2022
Holy Spider shines a light into the murky corners of a society that emboldens its aggressors. In that sense, the film is essential viewing. Even if it is completely devastating. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerMay 26, 2022
It’s far from subtle filmmaking, but Holy Spider is equal parts gripping and disturbing, and not always for the squeamish. Read full review
80
Time OutPhil de SemlyenMay 24, 2022
Abbasi offered a brilliantly leftfield perspective on immigration and otherness with his 2018 debut Border, and his follow-up takes no prisoners in his critique of Iranian society’s built-in misogyny and fake piety. Read full review
80
Total FilmNeil SmithMay 23, 2022
An intense and gripping dramatization that, a few liberties apart, does justice to a disturbing true story. Read full review
75
ObserverOliver JonesOct 27, 2022
Holy Spider, a grungy Persian noir from Tehran-born and Copenhagen-based filmmaker Ali Abbasi, celebrates the humanity of that killer’s victims, and of Iranian women in general. It also shines a harsh and unforgiving light on a patriarchal society that refuses to do the same. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineMark HansonSep 9, 2022
Holy Spider trickily manages to bridge the gap between social realism and exploitation cinema in a way that hints at how both are rooted in a similar place of gritty authenticity. Read full review
75
IndieWireDavid EhrlichMay 26, 2022
If the first half of the film shies away from the cheap thrills of its serial killer story, the pointed banality of its final chapters proves as horrifying this genre ever gets. Read full review
70
VarietyJessica KiangMay 26, 2022
Before a final act dealing with the fascinating social fallout once Saeed’s crimes are known and he becomes, in some quarters including his own household, a hero on a righteous moral crusade, Abbasi’s film hews close to this established template. Read full review
67
The PlaylistJihane BousfihaMay 26, 2022
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. Read full review
More From This Movie

66 Critic Reviews

6.7 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 77 Project Hail Mary
2 75 Send Help
3 73 Hoppers
4 71 The Sheep Detectives
5 68 Crime 101
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL