Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Bug 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov November 29, 2024

William Friedkin's "Bug" (2006) arrives on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include archival audio commentary with the director; archival making of featurette; vintage trailer; and more. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

This tiny bug... It can bring the whole thing down.

Even though Tracy Letts adapted his own play, it is impossible not to describe Bug as an original William Friedkin project. There are several very good reasons for this, but the most persuasive one is the gradual buildup of the paranoia that materializes in Bug, which is done through numerous very particular lensing choices. Some are obvious clues that prepare for the dramatic finale, but some are very effective misdirection plays, forcing the viewer to contemplate what-if scenarios that could be legit only in a Friedkin film. (Okay, maybe in a David Cronenberg film, too. However, Cronenberg would have quickly gone into the Weird Zone and produced a very different type of mind-bender). These lensing choices also do a lot to profile the main characters in Bug as Friedkin wishes, not as Letts’ play demands.

More than two-thirds of Bug take place in a seedy motel that is supposed to be somewhere in rural Oklahoma. In one of the motel’s rooms, Agnes White (Ashely Judd), who could be in her late twenties or early thirties, is killing herself with booze and coke. She does it slowly, usually while she is not serving drinks in the area’s only bar, but always while feeling like a wreck, which is late at night or early in the morning. The booze is cheap and most of the coke is probably fake, but when mixed up they do what they are supposed to.

On a busy night at the bar, Agnes’ only friend, a blond lesbian named R.C. (Lynn Collins), urges her to meet a customer who might be worth her time. Later that night, Agnes, R.C., and Peter (Michael Shannon) head back to the shady hotel for an impromptu ‘party’ -- they have a couple of drinks, a few lines of coke, and a meaningless conversation. When R.C. is called somewhere else, Agnes asks Peter to stay because he reveals to her that he is homeless. Then, over the next couple of days, the two quickly warm up to each other and discover that they have a lot in common.

But before Agnes and Peter can effectively become a couple, Jerry (Harry Connick Jr.), Agnes’ ex-something, unexpectedly reappears, roughs her up, and claims all of her tips. Then, while Peter quietly watches, Jerry announces that he has something to take care of but will be back soon. At this point, as Peter exits the hotel room, it very much looks like the remainder of Bug is going to be about Agnes’ struggle to stay with the right man and permanently remove the wrong man from her life. But it is not.

The remainder of Bug is a wild mind-bending trip that very effectively resets the entire film into something completely different. In fact, there are two good ways to deconstruct what happens next, though the more rational one is clearly the correct one.

After Jerry disappears, Agnes learns from Peter that for a while he has been tracked down by government agents because he is a key piece in a massive, very carefully managed conspiracy. If Peter talks, the whole thing can come crashing down, resetting how the entire world is seen and understood. A tiny bug is all it takes to initiate the process, too. After making love to Agnes, Peter then leads Agnes into the abyss of madness.

The less rational but just as effective explanation of everything that happens after the reset is that the conspiracy is real. This is why Bug is impossible not to describe as an original Friedkin project. Indeed, there are several sequences where the camera approaches the motel from above and creates the impression that someone or something is monitoring it from above. Elsewhere, someone or something repeatedly phones Agnes’ room but never utters a single word, leaving the impression that she is being monitored from afar. The discovery of the first bug, a real one, erodes the integrity of the previous explanation as well.

Bug works very well, but it is almost entirely because of Friedkin’s outstanding direction. The leads are shaky. Judd repeatedly mismanages her character’s outbursts and a few times very seriously damages her integrity. The same can be said about Shannon, which is surprising because he had already done the same character on the stage.

Bug 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Kino Lorber's release of Bug is a 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo pack. The 4K Blu-ray disc is Region-Free. However, the Blu-ray disc is Region-A "locked".

Please note that some of the screencaptures included with this article are taken from the 4K Blu-ray and downscaled to 1080p. Therefore, they do not accurately reflect the quality of the 4K content on the 4K Blu-ray disc, including the actual color values of this content.

Screencaptures #1-25 are from the Blu-ray.
Screencaptures #30-38 are from the 4K Blu-ray.

Last year, we reviewed this Blu-ray release of Bug from Australian label Imprint Films. It was sourced from an older but quite nice master. This combo pack is sourced from a new 4K master struck from the original camera negative. In native 4K, the film can be viewed with Dolby Vision and HDR grades. I chose to view it with HDR.

I liked what I saw on my system a lot. However, I have to immediately mention that the difference in quality between the older 1080p presentation and the new native 4K presentation is not dramatic. I was prepared for such a scenario because the previous master was quite nice. However, I expected to see some improvements in darker areas, which is where select darker nuances I thought could have been more convincing. In native 4K, these darker areas look slightly better, but my impression is that the superior encoding is responsible for virtually all noticeable improvements, and they are not big. Why? The HDR grade makes these areas look even darker, so the margin of the improvements becomes smaller. This is not the case with well-lit footage. All visuals there tend to look sharper and better detailed. What about color reproduction? I liked what I saw a lot. All primaries and supporting nuances look very healthy and are properly balanced. While revising the film, I did not spot any anomalies, so I did not perform any comparisons with the previous 1080p presentation. There are no traces of problematic digital corrections. Image stability is excellent.

What about the new 1080p presentation? How does it compare to the previous 1080p presentation? I sampled various areas from the 1080p presentation on the Blu-ray, some very dark, some with plenty of lighting. In the darker areas, consistent improvements are difficult to recognize. Some emerge, but you must look for them. If you have a very large screen, bigger improvements can be seen only during well-lit footage, where many visuals boast some marginally sharper detail.

Bug 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

Once again, I viewed the entire film with the 5.1 track. The 5.1 track on the previous release was excellent, and this 5.1 track perform just as nicely. I previously speculated that it might have been finalized under William Friedkin's supervision, or someone he trusted, and I have not changed my mind because on both releases the quality of the audio remains the same.

Bug 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

4K BLU-RAY DISC

• Commentary - in this archival audio commentary, William Friedkin discusses in great detail what inspired him to do Bug, the visual style of the film (and specifically the symbolism of various objects and close-ups), the awkward evolution of the relationship between Agnes and Peter, the psychological element in the horror that defines the film, etc.

BLU-RAY DISC

• Commentary - in this archival audio commentary, William Friedkin discusses in great detail what inspired him to do Bug, the visual style of the film (and specifically the symbolism of various objects and close-ups), the awkward evolution of the relationship between Agnes and Peter, the psychological element in the horror that defines the film, etc.

• A Discussion with William Friedkin - in this archival program, William Friedkin discusses a wide range of topics, from the production of Bug to the evolution of cinema and directing techniques to his love for unique characters and the best moments of his career. A fantastic program. In English, not subtitled. (29 min).

• Bug: An Introduction - in this archival program, William Friedkin explains what attracted him to Tracy Letts' play and how his film offers a different interpretation of it. Also included are clips from interviews with Ashley Judd, Michael Shannon, Harry Connick, Jr., Lynn Collins, and producer Gary Huckabay, as well as raw footage from the shooting process. In English, not subtitled. (12 min).

• Trailer - presented here is a vintage U.S. trailer for Bug. In English, not subtitled. (2 min).

• Cover - reversible cover with alternate poster art.

Bug 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

In Bug, paranoia may be the name of the game, but its end destination is not as crystal clear as it is in Tracy Letts' best-selling play. This is why Bug is impossible not to describe as an original William Friedkin project. It is genuinely unsettling, but at the same time thought-provoking in ways that modern horror films struggle to be. It reminded me of Marina de Van's In My Skin, which came out a few years before it. Kino Lorber's combo pack introduces a good new 4K makeover sourced from the original camera negative, so if you have been patiently waiting to upgrade an ancient DVD release, place your order with confidence. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.