Bug (1975) is about prehistoric cockroaches that emerge from deep below the surface when an earthquake strikes a small desert town in California. The ancient bugs can start fires by rubbing their legs together as they fart methane gas. Neither the movie nor the book the movie is based on explicitly mentions fire-farts, but someone had to and it might as well be me.
Directed by Jeannot Szwarc, who directed and continues to direct a stunning number of episodes of some of my favorite televison shows, Bug makes the most of its miniature menaces and claustrophobic setting. The roaches are genuinely scary and, when they are about to do their fire-farting business, the world around their victims seems to close in on the viewer. This is very unsettling in a most entertaining way.
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
Bradford Dillman is the stand-out member of the cast as Professor James Parmiter. You think Dillman’s character is the hero who will save us all. You then watch in horror as he turns into a crazy-ass megalomaniac who imperils the world further. When the cockroaches are dying off because they weren’t constructed to survive above the surface of the earth, Parmiter breeds them with regular cockroaches and creates a new breed of fire-farting roaches that can also fly.
Parmiter’s experiments, more so in the novel than the movie, also reveal the roaches are intelligent enough to understand language and communicate with him. It’s terrifying to see the roaches lining up a wall to create words like “Parmiter” and “We live” and “More Doritos please.” Because I am a scamp, I made up one of those.
Parmiter comes to the expected bad end. In the movie, we are left with the feeling the peril has not really passed. In the novel, where our nutsy scientist does at least try to make amends for the countless deaths and massive destruction caused by his creations, it seems the cockroaches are content to live below the quake crater from which they came.
SPOILERS OVER
SPOILERS OVER
SPOILERS OVER
SPOILERS OVER
SPOILERS OVER
SPOILERS OVER
Bug is the last film worked on by producer William Castle, who is deservedly a “B” movie icon with such favorites as The Tingler and 13 Ghosts among his credits. He was also known for adding special effects to theaters showing his films. According to The Internet Movie Database, Castle wanted to install brushes on theater seats. The brushes would rub against the legs of the audience to simulate bugs crawling on them. Castle’s idea was turned down.
Bug is based on The Hephaestus Plague by Thomas Page, who co-wrote the screenplay with Castle. Page would also write the documentary Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story [2007]. The novel has a lot of scientific jargon, but is an enjoyable read and slightly better than the movie made from it.
I enjoyed Bug and recommend it to you. It might be ever be worth a second viewing. Caution: even without the brushes, you might feel like bugs are crawling up your legs from time to time.
I’ll leave you with a final bit of Bug trivia from the informative IMDB...
The interior of the Brady home from the ABC series The Brady Bunch (1969-1974) was used for Parmiter’s home. The series was cancelled a few months before filming on Bug got started. Because The Brady Bunch is more popular in syndication than during its initial run, the Parmiter house is recognizable to Brady Bunch fans.
Mom! Peter threw a fire-farting cockroach at my face! These burns clash with my prom dress!
I’ll be back tomorrow to get Jurassic on you.
© 2015 Tony Isabella
Directed by Jeannot Szwarc, who directed and continues to direct a stunning number of episodes of some of my favorite televison shows, Bug makes the most of its miniature menaces and claustrophobic setting. The roaches are genuinely scary and, when they are about to do their fire-farting business, the world around their victims seems to close in on the viewer. This is very unsettling in a most entertaining way.
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
SPOILERS AHEAD
Bradford Dillman is the stand-out member of the cast as Professor James Parmiter. You think Dillman’s character is the hero who will save us all. You then watch in horror as he turns into a crazy-ass megalomaniac who imperils the world further. When the cockroaches are dying off because they weren’t constructed to survive above the surface of the earth, Parmiter breeds them with regular cockroaches and creates a new breed of fire-farting roaches that can also fly.
Parmiter’s experiments, more so in the novel than the movie, also reveal the roaches are intelligent enough to understand language and communicate with him. It’s terrifying to see the roaches lining up a wall to create words like “Parmiter” and “We live” and “More Doritos please.” Because I am a scamp, I made up one of those.
Parmiter comes to the expected bad end. In the movie, we are left with the feeling the peril has not really passed. In the novel, where our nutsy scientist does at least try to make amends for the countless deaths and massive destruction caused by his creations, it seems the cockroaches are content to live below the quake crater from which they came.
SPOILERS OVER
SPOILERS OVER
SPOILERS OVER
SPOILERS OVER
SPOILERS OVER
SPOILERS OVER
Bug is the last film worked on by producer William Castle, who is deservedly a “B” movie icon with such favorites as The Tingler and 13 Ghosts among his credits. He was also known for adding special effects to theaters showing his films. According to The Internet Movie Database, Castle wanted to install brushes on theater seats. The brushes would rub against the legs of the audience to simulate bugs crawling on them. Castle’s idea was turned down.
Bug is based on The Hephaestus Plague by Thomas Page, who co-wrote the screenplay with Castle. Page would also write the documentary Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story [2007]. The novel has a lot of scientific jargon, but is an enjoyable read and slightly better than the movie made from it.
I enjoyed Bug and recommend it to you. It might be ever be worth a second viewing. Caution: even without the brushes, you might feel like bugs are crawling up your legs from time to time.
I’ll leave you with a final bit of Bug trivia from the informative IMDB...
The interior of the Brady home from the ABC series The Brady Bunch (1969-1974) was used for Parmiter’s home. The series was cancelled a few months before filming on Bug got started. Because The Brady Bunch is more popular in syndication than during its initial run, the Parmiter house is recognizable to Brady Bunch fans.
Mom! Peter threw a fire-farting cockroach at my face! These burns clash with my prom dress!
I’ll be back tomorrow to get Jurassic on you.
© 2015 Tony Isabella
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