In a rented motel room in the desolate desert, a lonely and depressed woman (Ashley Judd) spends most of her time drinking, grieving the loss of her son and fearing her abusive ex-con husband. When she meets an awkward and equally lonely man (Michael Shannon), they form an instant connection. After making love, he finds a bug in her bed, which leads to several confessions from both parties. This marks the couple's descent into paranoia and maddening codependency. This may not sound like the plot of a horror film, and many folks were apparently bummed by the allegedly "false advertising" in the trailers, but "Bug" is really the scariest movie I've seen so far this year. Movies like this-and not the same old heralded crap by Zombie, Aja, and Roth--should comprise a new wave in horror. I'm not the biggest follower of director William Friedkin, but someone needs to give him more money to make genre films! Hell, the man deserves some kind of award, if only for pulling such a fantastic performance out of Ashley Judd. It isn't that I think she's a bad actress, but she's been typecast in the "serial killer thriller" and romantic dramedy genres for the majority of her career and most of what I have seen her do has been very uninspired. She proves here that she's a fantastic actress and she really sinks her teeth into this incredibly difficult role. Michael Shannon (who played the same role off-Broadway) is equally amazing. I didn't know that "Bug" was based on a play, but that makes sense after watching it. It's great that the producers saw fit to hire the stage actor in the lead, even though he isn't particularly famous. Judd and Shannon give two of the best and bravest performances of the year in any genre. The supporting cast (including Harry Connick, Jr. and Lynne Collins) fares just as well. It's an incredibly upsetting film to sit through, but it's ultimately rewarding. There's nothing like this out there right now. I'm shocked it even got a theatrical release. "Bug" would make a great companion piece to the excellent 1993 drama "Clean, Shaven."
Review of Bug
