Bug (Special Edition)

A shattering of the soul
First off, totally exterminate any preconceived notions of the extreme horror you might be accustomed to. Bug is more of an alarming psychological journey into the human mind, an intense exploration of a broken soul. It's closer to the films Beautiful Mind and Conspiracy Theory than something like Aliens or The Fly. Director William Freidkin opens the crazy door and dares you to step inside.

The acting and character development in this movie is outstanding. Ashley Judd gives the performance of her lifetime as Agnes, an emotionally battered waitress who is hanging on by a thread. She has a trainwreck of a past, from her abusive ex-husband to her missing child.

She meets a mysterious loner named Peter, and he might offer a hand toward gaining some mental stability. Or he might push them both over the edge. We quickly realize it's most likely the latter, as this romance doesn't take long to unravel. Peter is a war veteran, and claims to be the victim of some...

Know The Difference Between Horror and Psychological Thriller? No? Watch This Film and Learn...
***CONTAINS SPOILERS***

Based directly on the stage play by the same name, BUG will most certainly get under your skin. Although thriller in nature, horror fans should be warned that there are no supernatural or superhuman elements in the story. Looking at the DVD cover, one gets the impression that it might be a spin-off of something along the lines of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, but Bug couldn't be further from it. No mutant grasshoppers. No aligning of planets that results in bloodthirsty arachnids.

Stage play actor Michael Shannon reprises his role on the silver screen as drifter Peter who falls for lonely waitress Agnes played by Ashley Judd. Agnes is damaged goods to begin with; a woman who's lost her only child to a kidnapping and drowns herself in liquor and cocaine. And when she meets Peter, she believes she may have found someone to connect with other than her abusive ex-husband...

"Bug" will get under your skin.
William Friedkin returns with a vengeance in this highly disturbing tale of mental illness, self-mutilation, depravity, and isolation.

The story is deceptively simple in that Ashley Judd, who still looks beautiful no matter how sickly she's made up, plays an isolated, abused and tortured woman who has a history for making awful decisions and eventually makes one too many when she hooks up with a paranoid stranger who is at first shy, tender, and compassionate, but quickly becomes as domineering as Judd's criminal ex-husband who is very well played by Harry Connick, Jr. As I said, this is a deceptively simple tale, because nothing is as it seems in this incredibly violent and disturbing film.

Things very quickly spiral out of control with both Judd's character and the mysterious stranger believing that the government has arranged their relationship in order to produce some super bugs. This, ironically, appeals to Judd's character who has been seeking, in her own...

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