DVD Review: "Bug"

"Bug" is legendary director William Friedkin's adaptation of Tracy Letts' play of the same name. It's Friedkin's first film since 2003's forgettable "The Hunted", and his first horror film in over 20 years. Often times a play adapted to the screen encounters problems due to the fact that it was written to be on one stage, so there usually isn't much leeway in terms of setting. This actually worked in the favor of "Bug", and created a sense of claustrophobia to accompany the mounds of paranoia the characters go through. However, the film does have numerous other, fatal flaws.

It isn't often that a film will get to me enough to cause a physical reaction to sitting through it. For example, 1998's "Very Bad Things" was a black-comedy scream fest that absolutely gives me indigestion every time I see it. All that yelling and lack of a moving plot- who wants to subject themselves to that? I felt much the same way about "Bug". Everybody can remember a time when they have been cornered by a crazy person. Maybe you were at the grocery store or the mall, and you were approached and subsequently drawn into a conversation with this delusional person. I think I speak for most people when I say, in that situation, all that you really want to do is walk away from the person as fast as possible. Well, plunk down the 4 bucks to rent "Bug" and you've just given 2 such delusional people a captive audience for 2 hours.

The performances were over the top (and not in a good way) and the way in which Judd's character simply buys into the story about the "bugs" in her room is a little weak. Defenders of the film can play the "Was it all in her mind or was it real" card, because she is after all a depressed, delusional drug addict. But my response is, regardless of what was in her mind and what was real, the execution of the film did nothing for me but make me want to slap Judd across the face and tell her to snap out of it. Maybe that was Friedkin's point, who knows. What I do know is this film was equal parts frustrating and boring. And if you're looking for a scary movie, or even an entertaining one, keep moving because there's nothing to see here.

Score: 1 out of 5