Halloween Scene: Bug (2006)

2008-11-02
7:29:14 am

Bug's a strange movie, but it's a good one. It's based on a play and it feels like it seeing as how most of the movie takes place within Ashley Judd's apartment or hotel room or whatever the heck kind of place she lives. The basic story is that she meets this dude played exceptionally by Michael Shannon who, after a while, starts explaining to her about a military plot to plant bugs into him and other people. Basically, it's a psychological thriller as we're never quite sure whether it's real or just the rantings of a Shannon's crazy man.

I haven't seen crazy played so convincingly well in quite a while. Judd already plays a down and out woman whose kid got kidnapped and whose husband (played by Harry Conick Jr.) has just gotten out of jail. But as Shannon's tales start to effect her, she gets crazier and crazier and it's amazing. Towards the end they even reach Dr. Loomis levels of nuttiness, going so far as to cover Judd's entire place in tin foil, even as other people come in and out of their lives trying to get both of them out of there.

Oh and for anyone that might not know, director William Friedkin is the guy who directed The Exorcist. Bug is definitely no Exorcist, but it is nice to see an older filmmaker still making good movies 30 years or so after they were initially making great films.

It's also nice to see Judd playing such a great and creepy role. I don't really know her work that well, but she seems like the type that wouldn't do this kind of movie, so I'm glad she did (I'm not sure if that makes sense or not).

Even though the flick feels awfully long, it's only about an hour and forty minutes. It's mostly because the scenes are mostly in the same locale and the shots tend to linger longer than most other movies. I do recommend it, if for nothing else than seeing a master filmmaker still doing what he does best (giving folks the willies), actors absolutely killing their roles and a story that remains ambiguous and yet still convincing even up to it's non traditional ending. Oh there's also a teeth pulling scene that is way more Running Man than The Dentist. Yeesh.