Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Bug (2006)

Spoilers ahead. This might be one of the most terrifying movies (and one of the most interesting) I have ever seen. Ashley Judd, who I have never really paid attention to, is brilliant as a lonely woman who begins a relationship with a young man who seems to be all right at first glance, but the audience eventually realizes something is wrong with him. Very, very wrong. He is obsessed with bugs, sees them everywhere, believes they are in his body and in his brain. She finds her trapped in his paranoid way of thinking.

The final scene is the most brilliant. It is an awful scene of the two of them her home - it's covered in aluminum foil to "scramble the signals" the bugs give off. The two of them are bloodied from (self-induced) bug bite wounds. Judd's lengthy ending monologue is a terrifying vision of a woman overtaken with paranoia - she hyperventilates as she works frantically to connect the dots of every mystery she's ever been presented with, involving everyone she's ever known in their delusional conspiracy theory.

Brilliantly directed, written, and acted, this is one of the best psychological thrillers I've ever seen. Although I wouldn't have thought from the trailers it would be something I could recommend, I rescind that and recommend it *highly*. 4.5 stars.

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