Title: Bug
Year: 2006
Director: William Friedkin
William Friedkin back in the day he could do no wrong with film lovers. He scored big with hits like Boys in the Band, The French Connection, Cruising and to horror lovers The Exorcist which even today is considered the scariest movie of all time. Like so many great directors his latest out put is spotty at best. When the "buzz" around Bug was mainly horrible I just skipped over it. But thanks to a friends telling me to give it a look at and the miracle of netflix streaming and some time to kill I gave it a look at.
I`m glad I did.
Be warned if your looking for a fast paced horror film with music video style edits and a murder every two seconds then this may not be for you. Bug starts out at a crawl, but gives us a nice in depth character study of two very different yet broken people and there struggles. But what starts out as a drama quickly takes a hard left turn into creepville and it only gets worse-much worse.
Gore hounds you`ll have to wait til towards the end but when the red stuff starts to flow it will not be disappointed. Watching Shannon self mutilate himself is cringe worthy and something you wont likely to forget. I wont spoil it, but there is some cringe worthy moments that will pleasure even the most jaded film lover.
Bug is based on a stage play and it shows in the film, as there is very few scenes outside of Ashley Judds motel room and even with limited scenery it doesn't hamper the films watchablity.
The final set piece in the bug proof motel is nothing short of disturbing and visually amazing. Its really something that has stuck with me since.
This is not without its flaws, firstly some of the scenes between Judd and Shannon are at times laughable.
The sex scene between her and Michael Shannon is very strange and he delivers thee most unbelievable pick up line to get her in bed..And it works?? Its almost so bad you gotta see to believe.
Secondly I see they tried to dirty up Judd to make her less pretty and while she looks trashy its almost impossible to fully buy her white trash down and out character. She still is the same pretty actress. But thats really not the fault of either director or Judd herself.
And scenery is truly chewed at great length by both Judd and Shannon. They are over the top at points where the director should have reined them in.
Where the film is weak its made up for in other areas. Friedkin has done a rare job at filming people spiraling into deepest blackest madness and were there with them at every weird and painful moment. And it does get painful! The amount of tension that is created is on par with Hitchcock and will leave you guessing at every twisted turn. What really sells this film for me is the ambiguous nature and that at the end we the audience are left to make up our own minds. Is there really government planted "bugs" or are both people just mentally broken to the point of no return? You decide.
Though not popular when it came out, I think people are finally starting to see this as Friedkin in top form. Bug will certainly get under your skin and lay its egg sacks in you. So check it out, or the government may be after YOU
