Review of Bug (1975) by Spangle — 08 May 2016

An unsettling and truly hypnotic film on occasion, Bug is far too willing to descend into madness with its characters and prefers graphic violence over subtleties and atmosphere. For a psychological thriller to work, it has to have a truly chilling atmosphere that really messes with your mind.

Bug does mess with you a good bit as it reaches the end, but far too often, it feels more comedic than thrilling as you have to laugh at the fact somebody thought this would be scary. That said, Michael Shannon and Ashley Judd are phenomenal here, but the film's hypnotic and wholly claustrophobic setting wears out its welcome eventually and becomes more of a grating experience than a truly horrifying one.

While it has its occasional high notes, Bug takes a lot of shots and misses on most of them, though Friedkin knows how to craft good horror and does so here on occasion, just not with regularity. Overall, Bug may nick, but never bites.