Legendary director William Friedkin (‘The French Connection’ and ‘The Exorcist’) makes a return to the horror genre, but instead of the epic, searing, theological scares of ‘The Exorcist’, he churns out a claustrophobic, haunted vision of paranoia.
Which is not to say that Friedkin hasn’t made a scary movie since 1973, I think we can all agree that ‘Jade’ had more than it’s fair share of frightening moments, they just weren’t intentional. With the mildly commercial successful action pics ‘Rules of Engagement’ and ‘The Hunted’ released in the past seven years, Friedkin hasn’t released much of note since 1985’s great cop thriller ‘To Live and Die in L.A’. At 71, ‘Bug’ maybe seems to be a reinvention for him, indeed, the film seems to be a young man’s picture with the shock-cut editing and verve-infused close-ups.
Based on the award-winning off-Broadway play of the same name by Tracy Letts who also wrote the screenplay, there was very little attempt to open the film up, to defy its stage-bound origins. On its theatrical release, I remember a lot of criticism directed at the pic because of this, because the film largely takes place on one set, in one dingy hotel room but this approach is more than appropriate to the story. The isolation and claustrophobia could only really work, I think, with these geographical constraints that act as psychological shackles.
After an impressive opening helicopter shot where, from a bird’s eye view, we swoop in on a ramshackle hotel to find Agnes (Ashley Judd) standing outside her hotel room. Dressed in short jean shorts, an ill-fitting tank top and a cigarette hanging out of her mouth, it’s obvious that Agnes is teetering on the edge of survival. The sound of a phone call from her hotel room pierces the air. When Agnes answers, there’s just static on the other end.
Her already doubtful clear-headedness is challenged by these phone calls that she assumes is her threatening, violent ex Jerry (Harry Connick Jr.) who just got out of prison. Tending bar at a hole-in-the-wall lesbian bar, no doubt an ideal career choice for a woman used to past physical and mental abuse from a man, she spends a lot of scared nights lonely or with her lesbian pal R.C. (Lynn Collions) where they share drug-filled nights as a party of two.
One night, R.C. brings along a strange stranger, Peter (Michael Shannon, who returns to the same role from the play), who seems to occupy a different subdued reality. Agnes is cautious of this oddness at first, but Peter’s seemingly benign frankness, who instills his speech with peculiar pauses and punctuation and admits that he’s not much good for women and has little interest in sex, grows on her and her desire for some pretense of protection provokes her to ask him to stay with her.
Sure enough, Jerry appears with violent tendencies still intact. Peter, not confrontational, does little to dissuade Jerry from his visits but Jerry becomes the least of Agnes and Peters worries as soon it will be all about bugs. Peter, fresh from a stint in the Middle East slowly introduces his paranoia about a “bug”, an aphid that may or may not have been injected into him through government experiments.
It doesn’t take long before he starts to get Agnes to believe it too. The film slowly degenerates into a series of increasingly paranoid rants. Peter scratches and cuts at his body with selfless abandon, becomes covered with nasty, bloody cuts and marks with Agnes following suit where they believe they have the tiny little bugs crawling under their skin. This self-mutilation paranoia reminded of very similar sequences in Scott Smith’s great novel ‘The Ruins’.
With a clever way to change up the locations but not really, Peter and Agnes soon cover their hotel room in aluminum foil and insect-zapping machines as to scramble the signals of the bugs. With a now completely different lighting scheme, the one set now feels completely different.
The presence of the menacing government shows up in the form of Dr. Sweet (Brian O’ Byrne, preacher of ‘Million Dollar Baby’), the man who supposedly injected Peter with the bugs, which prompts the couple into a grotesque downward spiral of sacrificial symbiosis.
Mis-marketed as a routine creature feature by Lionsgate this past Winter where scenes from the trailer and tv spots weren’t even in the final film, I find this type of horror much more haunting than any supernatural/actual monster movie antics where this type of unrelenting, raw psychodrama can really disturb as opposed to just jump.
The performances of Michael Shannon and Ashley Judd are disquietly exposed and vulnerable. Shannon, who honed this role on the stage, perfected every odd nuance of the character and the transition from shy guy to rampaging schizoid is quite convincing. Judd, who thankfully has abandoned her crutch of mediocre woman-in-jeopardy flicks, also really shines in easily her most brave role that exposes more than just skin. Her crazed monologue towards the end of the pic has her go toe to toe with Shannon, the stage vet, with amazing precision.
The direction from Friedkin might be slightly overwrought as the subject matter is tense enough, but he probably rightly suspected that the audience might get bored with one set if the camera wasn’t constant playing games.
The film is presented in 1.78:1 widescreen and is enhanced for widescreen televisions. Special Features include a Audio Commentary from William Friedkin, a short making of ‘Bug: An Introduction’ and a half hour ‘A Discussion with William Friedkin’ where Friedkin is interviewed about his career and his thoughts on how the film industry compares to the perceived golden era of the 70s.
The film has a love it/hate it reputation that I can understand although I also think perception had a lot to do with it. People were going in expecting a killer bugs routine horror flick and what they got was a slow-burn psychodrama. If I was in the mood for killer bugs and I got this, I would probably be upset too. That being said, I found this nightmarish trip into paranoia quite effective if you know what you’re getting ahead of time.
Bug (Special Edition) is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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