Curse of the Black Widow

Over the past four years, Los Angeles has been terrorized by a series of murders. Victims are found with huge puncture wounds in their chests, their bodily fluids drained, and the wounds filled with spider venom. The pattern suggests something far more supernatural than a typical killer.

Private detective Mark Higbie is in a bar when a dark-haired woman with a German accent asks for help with her car. He declines her advances, but minutes later his friend who went out to assist is found dead. The night hints at a danger that will pull Mark deeper into the case.

Mark digs into the case and learns Lieutenant Gully Conti knows who the killer is but is actively concealing details. The MO—drained fluids and venom-filled wounds—points to something mythic, not merely criminal. Clues begin to tie the murders to a woman named Valerie Steffan appearing in the area.

As investigators focus on the Lockwood twins, Leigh and Laura, Leigh hires Mark to steer the investigation away from her. Mark becomes entangled in a case that could implicate powerful locals and a dangerous secret. The choice pits him against both the police and a family with a dark history.

A former bartender who witnessed one of the killings claims there was a suspect who might be more than human, describing a man-sized black widow spider. The unusual testimony reinforces the idea that the killer uses a spider-like method. Mark reads between the lines and senses a legendary danger at play.

The investigation reveals that Leigh and Laura's father died in a plane crash years earlier, and one of the sisters was nearly bitten by spiders. The plane had landed in an old vineyard owned by the Lockwoods, where Mark meets an aging Native American who guards a chilling backstory. This hints at a family curse rather than random violence.

The Native American explains an old legend: certain women, under stress and during a full moon, transform into giant spiders, kill their victims, encase them in webbing, and feed on them. They bear a red hourglass birthmark on their abdomens, matching marks found on victims. The tale provides a supernatural framework for the murders.

As Laura experiences convulsions and visions of the men who died, it becomes clear she is the killer, with Valerie as the expression of her feelings of inadequacy. Valerie has the knowledge to wield the curse and begins to manipulate events from the shadows. The only other people in the know are their mother and Olga, the former nanny.

Valerie taunts Leigh and their mother by revealing Laura's traumatic backstory. Laura had seduced Gianni, who then raped her, leading to Laura's pregnancy and Valerie's expansion of the curse. The revelation shatters the family dynamics and fuels the deadly spiral.

Olga arrives at an old farmhouse and realizes Laura's danger. Valerie takes over, turns into a spider, and kills Olga. Mark finds Leigh alive but terrified inside the house as Valerie arrives in spider form and encases Leigh in webs. The confrontation tightens the noose around the survivors.

Mark fires repeatedly at Valerie in spider form, but she proves nearly indestructible until he hurls a lantern and sets her on fire. Leigh and Mark escape as the farmhouse erupts in flames. The police later declare the immediate threat over, ending the nightmare for now.

Sometime later, Leigh and Mark share a dinner at Leigh's beach house. Their daughter Jennifer plays on the beach as Leigh describes how she is adjusting to life with her, despite nightmares. A final glance shows Jennifer waving from the balcony, revealing a red hourglass birthmark—Laura's daughter, and the child of the curse—implying the danger has crossed generations.