Les nuits de Mashhad

A killer trawls the streets of Mashhad City, shows no remorse, regret or shame, there is no pity, for the women that he kills, I'm sure he gets plenty of thrills, as a self-appointed one man vigilante. A journalist begins investigations, in a culture that's built on male foundations, but she's persistent and quite brave, to stop the girls going to graves, and to suffer prejudice, of generations.

It's a brutal depiction of events, as a disgruntled, discontented and disturbed psychopath decides to take the lives of several women who have been left with no choice but to sell themselves on the streets to survive (or not as it turns out). I thought Zar Amir-Ebrahimi was brilliant as the stubborn and relentless journalist who tenaciously puts her own life in peril to track the killer down.

As someone who actually lives in the city the events of this movie happened in any bad review of this movie usually containing bad and broken english is not a real person and either is someone trying to make this movie look bad or it is someone working for the corrupt islamic regime of iran, this movie perfectly shows the social situation of iran and the city mashhad especially ,women are treated unjustly and un-equally even this movie is labeled as "dishonoring holy beliefs" and therefore is illegal and dont get me started on the cencorship laws perventing this movie ever going on screen in iran atleast under the islamic regime ,but anyways the movie.

Unfun fact the interview footage at the end of the movie is based of what the son of saeed hanaee(the spider killers real name) actually said in an actual interview...

Where to even start the cinematography ,the lighting ,the atmosphere the feeling it gives you as characters panic you are on the edge of your seat panic-ing with them everything about this movie is just perfect but a warning to anyone light hearted or anyone who gets uncomfortable easily and all that this movie for lack of a better word decimates you ,at about the halfway point I was physically exhausted and had to take a break ,I noticed I was tense and was contracting muscles in some really disturbing scenes ,This movie is just something else ,A True Masterpiece.

I congratulate the people involved in making this extremely valuable movie. Cinematic works related to Iran that are made outside of Iran without the support of the Iranian government often follow one of these two paths. Either their film is a film with formal games and a bad story (such as Women Without Men and Rhinoceros) or a film that is not refined, which is deliberately produced for an audience in a small geographical area (like almost all films that focus on Iran environment or character) The brightness of the holy spider requires another space to write but I would like to express my sincere thanks to the creators of this work for not stepping in either of those two paths.

'Holy Spider' is the kind of film where if it were a fictional tale you would think what a dark perspective of the world it has chosen to take. The fact that it is based on a true story, and a man like this was actually considered to be doing the work of God, not just by himself but by the public at large as well, is incredibly sobering.

I loved that the film chose to tell the story from two perspectives, the killer and the journalist hunting him. There are certainly times to have some mystery surround your film's antagonist, but this was not one of them. Some of the kill scenes and the scenes where he was coming to terms with what he was doing were extremely well done and some of the strongest moments the film had to offer.

Don't come into this film looking for any kind of light relief. The subject matter is heavy and the film handles itself in like-wise fashion from start to finish. It's a well told story though that will certainly leave audiences with some thinking and reflecting to do. 7.5/10.

Based on a true story of Saeed hanaei,a man who killed 16 sex workers in iran,and branded as a super hero... Though being cruel and shocking,surprisingly reaches to a tight & tense situation of what's happening in iran currently & high society conservatives influencing the monster and symbolising them as saviour of sin indulging in heroic act... Zar Amir ibrahami upholds the movie with her strong morality breaking the stereotypes of women's life in iran...she was honoured with best actress award at the Cannes too... Mehdi bajestani delivers quitely & deadly at times,his body language sends some spine chilling unsettling moments that's hard to beat out... Overall a genuine piece of cinema...