Itsy Bitsy (2019) (Movie Review)

Itsy Bitsy (2019) This mysterious horror thriller and fantasy film that appeared five years before the similar Australian film Sting (2024).

It centres on a family, who move into an old isolated mansion where they are stalked by an ancient entity that takes the form of a giant spider.

The film itself was inspired by the poem The Itsy Bitsy Spider, and is released in the US on 30 August 2019 by Shout! Studios, and has received mixed reviews from critics. Note that in Sting, the spider came from outer space in a sort of mini meteorite.

Recommended age for this film: 16 and over… otherwise you’ll be an arachnophobe for life! Indeed, it’s hard not to check every nook and cranny of the house after turning on all the lights after this kind of film. Kara, a young mother, moves to the countryside with her two children to look after Walter, an old ethnologist. His villa is home to an arsenal of mysterious relics. When one of these relics gives life to a giant prehistoric spider, Kara’s family finds itself in mortal danger.

One thing’s for sure: the lead actress, Elizabeth Roberts, who plays the mother, is extraordinary in her role as a woman traumatised by an accident and addicted to drugs. The children are not bad, if not quite correct most of the time.

The son is played by Arman Darbo and the daughter by Chloe Perrin. Denise Crosby, the Sheriff, has good charisma and a great role, but we don’t see that much of her. Her character is a pleasure.

As for Bruce Davison, I was delighted to see him in a leading role here. This actor, producer and director (active since 1968, after all!) left a lifelong impression on me just for playing in two episodes of the old series V in 1983. He also played Senator Robert Kelly in three mutant films, namely : The Mutant Watch , which was a series in 2000; the same year he appeared in the first X-Men and made another appearance in the second in 2003. In short, It’s impossible to talk about his entire career, but he’s known for appearing in horror and science fiction. Here, he has a role to match.

Quite a scary film, with a good pace and good tension. There are fewer scenes of action and violence than in Sting, but their endings are very similar. More horror movie codes that we always feel obliged to respect! ;-D There are some very good links made between the difficulties of being a single mother, addicted to painkillers, creating conflict with the oldest child, the desire to do one’s best, while remaining human with limits. But this film also shows that a mother would do anything to save her children.

So the second time I saw this film, it seemed less exaggerated than the first. It shows that after going through such ordeals, there are things you need more and bonds that inevitably grow stronger. Micah Gallo doesn’t seem to have done much else as a director, at least for the time being.

Well, when I say that, it’s just that I can’t find anything else (music videos, short films) without doing a lot of research. On the other hand, he is known as a screenwriter and producer for Frozen (2010), Butcher: The Legend of Victor Crowley (2006) and The Perfect Host (2010). Enough said. A very good movie.

My Rating