Holy Spider
Like other taut psychological thrillers about serial killers, HOLY SPIDER (<PERSON>, 2022) delivers a gut-wrenching twist – that works NOT on plot level, not for what the killer did, but what he incited on people. Too bad it indulges too long on the killer's mind. 269
The problem with films that depict serial killers (especially inspired by true events) is that the story tends to humanize them, finding (or sometimes providing) motivation. HOLY SPIDER does exactly this; there's where it suddenly falls into an exploitative & misogynistic shaft.
The fact that it also follows a feminist protagonist gives a hint on what the film tries to actually do; but, in the end, her existence feels like a mere resonance of how the titular killer bizarrely polarized public opinions. (2/4) 387