Bug

Bug is the latest film to suffer the wrath of dishonest marketing. Though it’s been packaged and served up as a horror film from the director of The Exorcist, it’s more accurately a claustrophobic and very creepy drama based on a stage play by Tracy Letts. It contains elements as horrific as those in director William Friedkin’s classic, The Exorcist, but terror is not the blueprint here, it’s merely a consequence of the desperation and deep loneliness embodied by the film’s paranoid, psychologically damaged leads. Michael Shannon stars as Peter Evans, a man who starts out looking like a harmless loner and gradually reveals a darker penchant for conspiracy that will ultimately send him over the edge. By chance he finds himself sharing a hotel room with Agnes White, (Ashley Judd) a woman trying to escape an abusive marriage and cope with the loss of her young son. Peter’s paranoia is the one thing in her crumbling life she can grab onto and share with someone, and thus it spreads from person to person, turning them into crazy recluses confined to their “bug proof” hotel room.

This transformation, beginning with the introduction of Peter and ending in truly tragic form, is the real core of the movie. It’s the story of lost souls who slowly grow to comfort each other and eventually goad each other further into madness. However unsettling the film might be, it’s still much more sad than scary. It’s painful to watch these people unravel so completely, behaving beyond reason and turning themselves into unbelievably deranged “bug fighters.” The bulk of the movie really isn’t at all like the highly advertised closing minutes of the film in which Peter and Agnes have spun utterly out of control. In no way does it compare to the viciousness of contemporary horror films like Saw and Hostel (with which advertisers have desperately tried to link it). Bug is actually a very methodical character drama up until its breaking point and its strength lies in its ability to create characters and emotions true enough to sustain the ridiculousness of what’s to come. There’s more than a few times when Peter and Agnes’ staunch paranoia drifts so far into lunacy that it becomes hard to fathom and maybe even laughable. It’s actually a film that succeeds much more as a straight drama than as a suspense thriller. The big finale is not just madness, it’s somewhat silly madness. Your appreciation for the film is likely to hinge almost completely on whether or not you can believe the characters enough to go along with the remarkably vicious and outlandish story progression. My guess is that it'll play better to more adventurous moviegoers than traditional horror fans.

Even with a few titters along the way, this is still a very solid and well crafted film. Friedkin has a very sharp eye for moody atmospherics and proves brilliant at making the intensely small hotel room that serves as the primary setting for the film feel like a menacing, contained little world of its own. This is a film that could have felt trapped by its own minimalism, but Friedkin finds fresh ways to film his tiny setting and impress upon us how lost in the desert, and truly isolated and alone these two people are. For their part, Judd and Shannon are stunning in their roles. They make an instantaneous connection to their broken hearted characters and once their paranoid love affair takes hold they portray madness in all its horrifying brutality. They are seriously uncomfortable performers to behold once they’ve made the leap. Shannon has such an animalistic aggression in his speech and body language that he can make the tiniest movement seem threatening. Despite its credibility straining finale, I could not help but feel for these characters. I suspect many people will just dismiss the over the top ending and move along, but for some this will be a truly haunting cinematic treasure.

Grade: B-