MOVIE REVIEW: Bug

So you may be asking yourselves why I didn't review "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End." You want a review? It was boring. Nothing new to show for the franchise and a terrible way to end it. Think of "X3." Instead I choose to review a film that deserved the words printed on the page. I heard about "Bug" months ago and the preview peaked my interest. Ashley Judd in a horror movie directed by William Friedkin, who also directed the original "Exorcist."

The film stars Ashley Judd as Agnes, a lonely and trashy waitress who lives out of a motel in Oklahoma. She has a jail bird for an ex husband, who is played by Harry Connick Jr. For such a nice guy, he also seems to play the freaky assholes. So anyway, Agnes meets a drifter by the name of Peter (Michael Shannon). Peter is a shy guy, also extremely neurotic, who takes a liking to Agnes and he stays with her for the night. They begin to talk and fall in love and the next thing we know they have sex. Then Peter starts acting crazier. He confides in Agnes because he trusts her. He tells her of an army experiment where he was force fed pills and tortured. The results are bugs that are in his system that feed off of his blood. Sounds scary enough to me, that is, until we realize that the bugs do not exist. Peter is mentally unstable, delusional and schizophrenic. The problem here is that Agnes is also off her rocker. She has gone through an abusive marriage and the loss of her first child, so she clings to Peter because she is just happy to have someone to take care of and be taken care of in return. What follows is a downward spiral of sanity.

This has to be the weirdest movie of the year by far. If you have seen previews or read anything, it will not prepare you. Not even close. This movie is not what you expect it to be, nor is it for everyone. What stands out in the film are the performances. Ashley Judd is a great actress, but this is the best I have seen her in awhile. She gives an almost over the top performance that goes from a lonely bitter woman, to an absolute nutcase of the most psychotic proportions. Michael Shannon also shines here as Peter, who we can tell from the get go is not quite right.
There is not much gore here. No real blood. One scene in which Peter kills a man, then some pretty disturbing self inflicted wounds. Nothing that “Saw” hasn’t already fucked us up with.
Like I mentioned above, the movie is not for everybody, but the critics seem to love the film and its performances so far. I enjoyed the movie on a certain level, but would not recommend it just based on its weirdness factor.