David Cronenberg's grim little psychodrama "Spider" is a cinematic maze whose dark, cramped passages spiral toward a terrifying cul de sac. Brilliantly realized but bone-chillingly bleak ... the story corkscrews from a straightforward narrative into a garish Freudian hall of mirrors ...

As in earlier films by the Canadian director, the outside world mirrors the interior climate ... the film's palette is all faded grays, greens and browns. The streets are empty of people and of traffic, the halfway house nearly bare, with sparsely strewn pieces of rickety furniture and crumbling wallpaper.