Bug (2006)
William Friedkin's one of those old Hollywood anomalies. For every lackluster film he directed, he seems to put out a classic. The Exorcist clearly being his pièce de résistance. He straddles that line between sexuality and violence probably the best. Killer Joe being a killer example of just that. Even the Exorcist with a young possessed Linda Blair stabbing herself in the you-know-what with a cross. It's very offensive stuff, but for a man like Friedkin, it's almost just a slap on the wrist. Maybe because the way he films such scenes come off disturbingly watchable. There's a grittiness that permeates throughout some of his best films.
Cruising is a great example of controversy overload. Exposing the world to late night gay bars in seedy 1980's New York where lubing up your arms to fist men spread eagle all the while still trying to be a by-the-books investigation film didn't sit well with many. It sure sat well with me I can tell you that. But William Friedkin's M.O is to punish you. His M.O is to make you never forget the films he makes. His M.O is to be controversial for controversy's sake. I think he nails that with
Bug.
Bug tells a convincing story of white trash locals stuck in a Podunk town they can't seem to get out of and the main protagonist Ashley Judd reeling with an abusive husband who just got out of jail she most likely sent him too in the first place. The film starts off with a shot of a dead guy on the floor in a bathroom. The film later on explains the context but to simply begin the film with that shot is completely attributed to Friedkin. He wraps you up in this small, claustrophobic hotel room immediately and sets the tone for what you aren't going to expect. As the film progresses, Ashley Judd's character meets a shy, tall timid man in the form of Michael Shannon (who puts on his most manic performance and a performance I've not seen in a loooong time) who with his knowledge of bugs and trivial things sweeps Judd off her feet and into the bed. Perhaps through this sexual contact, a bug (or is there even a bug at all?) is transmitted from Shannon to Judd and now together they start to undergo extreme body lacerations and bruises and something that's eating them from the inside. I don't want to delve into too many details because I implore anyone whose a fan of Friedkin and films in general to go see it as soon as you can.
Given the small scale of this film, it doesn't surprise me that it was adapted from a play who Shannon also starred in before filming this movie. It's a low-budget, grimly disgusting film and I think the smallness of it actually makes it more terrifying. It never feels like these characters can escape from what's eating them from the inside and that's in no small part due to the claustrophobia of this tiny hotel room they're trapped in. The supporting characters all make there mark as well. Harry Connick Jr. playing his best I-Don't-Give-A-S
hit abusive ex-husband role to the Tee. Lynn Collins is fine as Judd's sorta lesbian lover, but the focus of this film is between Judd and Shannon. They bring this bloody, sticky chemistry I don't think any two other actors would've been able to pull off. Not that Friedkin is used to making huge grandiose "Lawrence Of Arabia" scope films but to see him scale it back a bit and film inside one location is hugely rewarding.
Bug doesn't go for silly jump scares or torture porn that was prevalent throughout the 00's, he goes for something deeper. More psychological in nature. Deep rooted terror that no matter what can be done and is done, it won't stop until these characters are completely lost within their own minds. To bring it back to The Exorcist for a sec, that film was psychologically terrifying as well but the underlying tone of it was rooted in religion. So to compare these two films just because they share that same type of horror is like apples and oranges. The one thing this film has over The Exorcist is the paranoia. Paranoia drives this film until it all goes up in flames. The dialogue between Judd and Shannon in the final act is complete made up mumbo jumbo. Something about the Government out conspiring against Shannon's character and implanting him with bugs and nano-machines. It's wild stuff, and basically dialogue that would only be said from someone suffering from a severe debilitating personality disorder. I would imagine that's what Friedkin's trying to convey with this film, but to try and describe the way these characters bodies are becoming bruised and deteriorated from this microscopic bug is what's truly terrifying. This takes us to the end of the film now. This third is completely devoid of any logical sense, especially the dialogue. It's the paranoia that makes it watchable. To try to understand such nonsense that is being said is a chore, but a chore you eventually give up on and just let ride out. The final shot happens with not even the slightest of climactic clarity. It just happens. There you go. Credits roll. Have a great rest of the day. It's powerful stuff especially for a horror film.
All In All,
Bug is a great later career effort from Friedkin who still has brilliant ideas stored inside him. To go from this to Killer Joe just a few years later only goes to show that as long as William Friedkin is alive and making films, he won't stop haunting all of us.
B+