Good Lord!

William Friedkin brought it again. What a trip and a half.

This poor movie has been accused of false advertising, a la Primeval, and while I can see where these people are coming from, I have to disagree. The trailers for the movie made it seem more like a horror movie than it is, but there was no doubt in my mind that I wasn't going in for a movie about bugs (neither the insect or rabbit kind). In any case, if you didn't get the movie you wanted...that's not always a bad thing!

Like I said, Bug is hard to categorize as a horror movie, though the case can be made.

I've said this many times before, and I'll say it again: real horror is what humans do to each other. That's the horror of real life, and it happens every day. And that's what you get here with Bug. With a premise of "bugs are crawling under people's skin," it could've literally gone anywhere, and to be honest, at the end of the movie it kind of DOES go everywhere. The last 20 minutes are so intense and bizarre, I thought I had switched into a Lynchian nightmare. It sort of had me flashing back to Possession, though Bug isn't nearly as symbolic (or insane) as that one. The end gets close though.

Just watching what would usually pan out into a typical "oh the random stranger will save the day and make everything ok" cliche VERY quickly turn on its head was very fun to watch, if not difficult. The characters are so fleshed out and quirky (and they have to be - there are a total of seven characters in the movie, and we only see two for the duration) that when things go...bad...it's hard not to feel bad for them.

Friedkin's direction blew me away, honestly, when it came to certain elements. There were a few POV shots that made so much sense and so strong I was secure that I was in the hands of someone who had found their mark again. Lesson: William needs to stay in genre work.

I know I'm being awfully vague about everything here but it would be a real shame to not just experience it for yourself. I definitely suggest seeing it, but just remember: it isn't just a movie about killer bugs! And make sure to stick around til after the credits; it could possibly change your perspective on the entire flick.

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