A.V. Club
As in The Exorcist, Friedkin establishes a tone of hard-edged, almost documentary-style realism before ratcheting up the horror to nearly unbearable levels.
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Bug
Oscar-winning legend William Friedkin (The Exorcist) directs this 2006 horror starring Golden Globe nominee Ashley Judd (Heat) as a woman who arrives at a rundown motel in Oklahoma after escaping her abusive ex-husband. There, she meets a quiet drifter (Michael Shannon) and engages in a romantic relationship. Then the bugs arrive...
FIPRESCI Prize, Cannes 2006
2007Rating: R16, Violence, offensive language, drug use & sex scenes98 minsUSA, Germany
HorrorThriller
Bug / Reviews
Salon
(Bug is ) supposed to be... an unsettling little number designed to creep us out and make us think. But it's really just junk.
Full reviewThe New York Times
With Bug, William Friedkin continues to be more fascinated by the evil inside our heads than the boogeyman outside.
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San Francisco Chronicle
Bug goes exactly where it needs to go... and gets there brilliantly.
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Seattle Times
Bug may not be a big deal, but it is a sublime and remarkably disturbing small deal...
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USA Today
(Bug) will assault you with its ghastly claustrophobic drama and over-the-top performances.
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The Washington Post
We find ourselves in the fascinating no man's land between horror and comedy - right where this movie wants us to be.
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The Guardian
The sheer freakiness and psychotic commitment of the actors keep you watching.
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Vulture
Has the feverish compression of live theater and the moody expansiveness of film. The mix is insanely powerful.
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New York Post
Buzzes around in random menace for an hour until its third act, when - zzzzzt! - it flies straight into the zapper.
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Variety
A ranting, claustrophobic drama that trades in shopworn paranoid notions, William Friedkin's overwrought screen version of Tracy Letts' play assaults the viewer with aggressive thesping and over-the-top notions of shocking incident, all to intensely alienating effect.
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Entertainment Weekly
The enjoyably icky heart of Bug is still contained within the airless, increasingly ''bug-proofed'' room that becomes Agnes and Peter's whole world.
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Roger Ebert
Begins as an ominous rumble of unease, and builds to a shriek. The last 20 minutes are searingly intense: A paranoid personality finds its mate, and they race each other into madness.
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