When David Cronenberg directs a film, he gives you the assumption like you know him only to to find out at the last minute that he caught you off guard. Here in "Spider", he perfectly created a thriller with so many twists it would make Alfred Hitchcock green with envy. It truly is a film that you could easily get invested into and keeps you glued to seat in its entire duration.In the opening scene, we see passengers getting off the train who looks like they know where they want to accomplish whatever is on their busy agendas. These civilians would rather be anywhere than loitering around a train station. We watch these individuals progressively pour out of the train all the way up to the very last person as he shyly and slowly get off the train. Here we are introduced, to a mentally disturbed gentleman named Dennis Cleg (Ralph Fiennes) whom everyone refers to as "Spider".While everyone's rushing off, Spider takes his time, collecting his items he clutches dearly to him which includes a cylindrical candy tin with possessions inside wrapped up into a sock stuffed in his trousers and carries on after everyone's gone.Along the way, Spider picks up other assorted items along the way as he walks in the rain as he enters into a halfway house for the special needs who could walk in and out whenever they feel pleased. The patients are under the supervision of the well-meaning Mrs. Wilkinson (Lynn Redgrave) even though the residents think she's a cruel tyrant. The resident is not far from where Spider grew up and the horrid memories from his past continues to haunt him.Spider reminisces the time he was an introverted little boy (Bradley Hall) living with his sweet mother (Miranda Richardson) and his always inebriated, philandering father (Gabriel Byrne). His father's favourite hangout is at the Dog and Beggar where he's friendly towards a vulgar blonde hussy named Yvonne who seems attracted to him.If I give too much away I'm spoiling it all for you. What I will tell you is that the manifestations in his mind are not entirely real. Back to the present, Spider, hidden in his room, often keeps a plethora of notes that are written indecipherable that only he could comprehend. He often smell gas and is very protective about his domains from any incoming intruders. Fiennes truly shines in his performance combining the quirks and tics we get a better understanding of where he's coming from. Richardson is memorable in her performance as his mother and has great scenes.The acting may be mesmerizing, the life of the party is to director David Cronenberg. He's done several great classics like "Dead Ringers", but this film he has truly outdid himself. But he didn't come to the party alone. His usual alums joined in including his sister, costume designer Denise Cronenberg, cinematographer Peter Suschitzky and composer Howard Shore. The film's pastiche has a nostalgic vibe similar to the silent film era. The atmosphere is just pure gold. From the opening credits to the closing scenes every shot is done in detail.Spider is the character that stands alone from everyone and his at times incoherent mutterings brings this character to life. This compliments quite well to the settings of a darker side of London that has not aged one bit."Spider" is a mystery film that isn't really about solving crime scenes, but about special case trying to piece together images of his past in the wrong direction. Spider's problem solving is executed in a non-linear fashion but in a rather piece-by-piece pattern almost like solving the complex puzzle or the web of strings he has stretched that he performed in his youth and adulthood. But through it all we're never tired of following this sad soul in his journey as he's searching for the truth.

i caught this on telly, luckily i could record it,as it quite long and dull, i was intrigued, but not enough to watch it in one sitting, long expanses of nothing happening, which maybe true of most mentally ill people, but very boring to watch, the twist at the end, explains it all, but not enough to bother watching it.The acting is good, and Fiennes plays mad very well, and we've all seen people like this in town, muttering to themselves, spoiler alert, im not sure about the halfway house, as its supposed to be nowadays, but it looked very 1970's as health and safety would never allow a home like that,and building sites in the passed didn't have mesh fencing around them, i wouldn't recommend this film to anybody ,unless they liked film noir,reminded me of Swedish films on bbc 2, years ago,

I watched this movie a couple of nights ago. The Miranda Richardson's characters did give a clue about the outcome. But I think the performances were uniformly good, particularly Ralph Fiennes, although he does seem to be a bit type cast now. One minor but disconcerting flaw- unless someone can enlighten me. When The Father and the tart are making out under the bridge, she apparently gives him masturbation to the point of ejaculation, which she after he comes shakes off her hand. Well, if the Fiennes character, did not observe this, and the tart was a creation, this incident would not have occurred, so in fact it would appear to have been inserted without any logical explanation as to why it's there.

Spider marks David Cronenberg's inevitable move from body horror and dark fantasy into more realistic (if that term can be used) realms, and further into the human psych, even more so than 1996's Crash. Over the following decade Cronenberg would go on to make A History of Violence, Eastern Promises and A Dangerous Method, three films which would move further away from the body and into the mind, into the roots of human violence and psychosis, and all three would achieve more commercial success than anything Cronenberg made before. Spider isn't quite as communicative as those three, and it suffers from some pacing problems, but by its own right it's a fascinating film and a unique one in Cronenberg's filmography.Spider has many flaws, but it excels wonderfully in two aspects. First, a truly powerful twist ending, which never feels far-fetched, and in fact can be anticipated some time in advance by an observant viewer, and yet manages to shock even if you knew it was coming, much more so than most famous twists in more recent films. Second, in that it creates real tension and interest while nothing much ever really happens on screen (and in that regard it's easy to compare it to Shutter Island, which is based around some similar themes, with a much more complex and contrived plot and with a much less effective ending). It doesn't always work; the pacing is off sometimes and some parts of the films drag by and lose the viewer's interest. It takes a lot of patience to go through, more than classic Cronenberg fantasies like Videodrome or The Fly, and more than the more fast-paced A History of Violence and Eastern Promises. But it's more rewarding in its own way, and the ending is good enough that you might want to watch it a second time.