Bug

For many horror fans, William Friedkin’s Bug was a tremendous let down. The blame for this can be clearly blamed on the vague and, I admit it, misleading, advertising. A movie about a smarmy hotel filled with deadly creepy crawlies? Standard horror. The film was billed as a fast paced fright fest-- a far cry from what it turned out to be. An extremely slow burn, immensely smart psychological character study.

And that's exactly what it was. An agonizing trip down the rabbit hole of paranoia and self-destruction.

I almost missed this film. Honestly, I didn't want to see a movie called Bug. It conjured images of tired plot lines and buzzing antagonists relying on human aversion to insects. Cheated uneasiness. A title says a lot about a piece, whatever medium it may be. The problem with the title was that it was vague enough to bring about facetious assumptions. Bug, as in hidden surveillance. Bug, as in insect. Bug, as in annoy. The title, coupled with the marketing was preposterously misleading giving this film an aura of dumb, panicked and generic film. Upon viewing, the title was proven relevant-- and certainly appropriate but it nearly caused me to electively miss out. I clearly remember seeing the theatrical trailer for this and it was the presentation name that prevented me from watching it for years. Horror films come in four flavors-- camp, slasher, paranormal and psychological horror, with the latter being the purpose I sit through all the shit. The psychology of fear is absolute fascinating and frightening in itself and there is a lot to be said for media that wades into that darkness with a serious intent to explore it. If a horror film has the balls to leave tired expectations at the door and attempt a sober approach I'll give it instantaneous credit. Most horror films that do so fail, but this was not one of them. The title presented the contents of it's package in a way that was wildly discrediting.

Phenomenal acting, disturbingly tragic story, and sickly claustrophobic.

Why it's scary: This film leaves all of the gimmicks at the door. It's raw, it's ugly and it's real. This isn't a frolic into dark fantasy, but an uncomfortably close look at vulnerability and paranoia.