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A family man goes on a religious mission to cleanse Mashhad of street prostitutes, but resorts to murder when met with public indifference.
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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.
"After directing the sensitive fantasy realism drama Border, Iranian filmmaker Ali Abbasi embraces another genre: suspense detective. In Sacred Spider, we follow a journalist (Zar Amir Ebrahimi) trying to uncover the identity of a serial killer, who is killing prostitutes in the sacred city of Mashhad. Even if suspense is not so much - the killer's identity is revealed in the first minutes of the footage - Sacred Spider remains full of tension. How? Only by showing how these women, even in an extreme vulnerable situation and being murdered under the same modus operandi, continue to be discredited by a society that simply ignores them. It is worth noting the great performance of Amir Ebrahimi, who carries the whole plot. Read more in our full review of Sacred Spider."