Bug (M18)
Ashley Judd/Michael Shannon/Harry Connick Jr/101 minutes
The award-winning play makes the leap to feature film under the direction of William Friedkin, best known for helming the seminal horror flick, The Exorcist (1973).
So it’s worth noting that he calls this the “most profound and disturbing film” he has made.
Friedkin explores here the “mask of sanity” which he proceeds to rip right off in a terrifying descent into the heart of madness.
Judd plays Agnes, a waitress living in a rundown motel, and Shannon is Peter, a shy drifter whom she hooks up with.
But there’s more to Peter than meets the eye and things begin to unravel, innocuously enough, with him discovering a bug in bed.
It’s nice to see Judd going for a meatier role after the string of rote thrillers she had been churning out.
And Shannon, who reprises his stage role, so fully inhabits the character that he seems to be Peter even in the making-of interviews.
As the film builds towards its climax, the two actors tap into an ecstatic hysteria that is both magnetic and disturbing.
The extras include a discussion with Friedkin on his film-making career as well as an audio commentary by him.
While some of the comments are a literal description of what’s unfolding onscreen, you also get the director expounding on the themes of Bug and “the thin line between good and evil”.
(ST)