Movies
[Popcorn Frights Review] ‘Itsy Bitsy’ Creature Feature Keeps Arachnophobia Alive and Well
Despite the widespread fear of spiders, horror movies that tap into that fear are surprisingly minimal. Of the ones that do exist, the majority incorporate a lot of camp or humor to offset the unrelenting arachnophobia. Which is what makes Itsy Bitsy so refreshing, regardless of its cutesy kiddie rhyme title. It takes a folkloric base to spin a web of (mostly) practical effect driven, spider induced nightmares.
After a cold open that sets up the deadly spider’s origins, the movie introduces its key players; single mom Kara Spencer (Elizabeth Roberts) and her two kids Jesse and Cambria. Kara has uprooted her family from New York and whisked them off to small-town America, where she’s picked up a new job as the caregiver to older archaeologist Walter Clark (Bruce Davison). Walter happens to be on the receiving end of the stolen object from the opening scene, which lets loose one deadly spider the size of a small dog. And it’s taken up residence on the property of both households.
Director Micah Gallo makes his feature film debut with Itsy Bitsy, but he has an extensive background in visual effects (Hatchet, The Innkeepers). That background, combined with the creature effects crew, vfx and makeup effects teams, means that the spider work is fantastic. Or rather, extremely creepy. Even though the cold open is indicative of something more supernatural, it’s clear Gallo wants this larger-than-life creature to behave as authentically as possible. The hunting, the movement, the dangling from its silk thread, molting, and the biological instincts to ensure its species’ survival. The deaths are few, but satisfying.
The downside, though, is that Gallo takes a Spielberg/Jaws approach to this creature feature. Meaning less is deemed more for the creature as it puts the human characters front and center. It makes perfect sense as the cast is pretty small, therefore not a whole lot of fodder for spider chow, but the drama isn’t quite strong enough to sustain the bulk of the runtime. It’s clear from the outset that Kara has some serious demons to work though, and enough clues are layered in to connect dots long before her secrets are revealed. In trying to ignore those demons, though, Kara puts herself at odds with her eldest, Jesse, who’s left to parent his younger sister nearly round the clock. The third act is a thrilling showdown, but when the dust settles, it feels as though a band-aid was slapped over the conflict that the film had spent so much time building up. There’s no real resolution to a messy setup.
Gallo closes out with a post-credit hook that teases the potential for a bigger scaled sequel, but it’s one that almost makes you wish you got that movie instead. Davison and Denise Crosby, in a small role as the town sheriff, bring their experience to help balance the oft grating Spencer family drama. It’s well shot and looks like a bigger budgeted feature than it is. Above all, though, the true star of the film is the spider effects. Itsy Bitsy handles its monstrous spider with terror-filled precision and gruesome effects that aim to instill arachnophobia in even the toughest of viewers. The movie warrants a watch based on the creature effects alone; it’s just a shame the scenes that feature the spider are fairly sparse. We don’t care as much about the Spencer family as we should, so the emotional pull is lost. Even still, it’s a big step in the right direction.
Itsy Bitsy will be available in select theaters, digital and on VOD August 30.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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