Bug

Working at the theater showing this film, I get to ask what people think when they come out of the theater and everyone coming out of this one has said the same things- “It’s slow”, “EEWW”, and “That is a terrible movie.” It made me a bit nervous about seeing it, but I went anyway and am very glad about it because it is very good. It is not without flaws but it is incredibly effective in its mission to freak you out! Adapted from an off Broadway success, Bug is a movie about paranoia, conspiracy theories and the effect they have on souls who believe them. It essentially takes place in one room and only has 5 actors which puts a whole lot of pressure on the actors and the director. Luckily, they are almost all up to the task.


Ashley Judd is a woman living out of a motel. She loves to drink and snort coke and only has one friend. She is afraid of her ex husband and he is played by a very menacing and scary Harry Connick Jr. Her one friend, Lynn Collins brings over a guy one night and Ashley and he hit it off. Michael Shannon is the man and as the two get to know each other we get some great awkward moments of dialogue. The dialogue feels natural coming from these actors and feels right at home in the dank, sweaty and musty motel room. Shannon is a former army soldier and as we learn quickly, he is a bit crazy. Eventually he has a complete meltdown and convinces Judd that they have been infested by bugs and that the government planted them there. I really liked how the script started planting those conspiracy theory seeds early in the film and how we get to see Ashley as someone who just needs something to hold on to or someone to believe in. Without a character or an actress who can give us that wanting, that needing, this movie would quickly derail into the absurdity it almost turns into. Judd is phenomenal in every way. She goes for the gusto and is unafraid of how she looks or how sounds. It is incredibly raw and crazy effective. Shannon, on the other hand, is just a bit too over the top for me. He keeps trying to push the movie further and further into Crazyland and risks the credibility they built early on.


This movie really belongs to the director, William Friedkin and his return to the creepy movies he made famous with The Exorcist. The shots in this thing are excellent, especially the shots coming down from the fan, or looking up at the fan. I am not sure I entirely understand the symbolism of constantly going back to the fan, other than that it could represent the helicopters Shannon hears during his delusions. While relying mostly on cool camera shots, Friedkin is not afraid to let things get bloody as we gruesomely watch Shannon attempt to rip his own tooth out, or as we watch him repeatedly stab a man in the stomach. It is good to see that Friedkin has not gone soft as he has gotten older. Save the last 10 minutes when things get just too over the top for me, this movie latched itself on to me and I enjoyed the ride. It is a shame most people are not enjoying it.