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[tab title="Movie Review"]

Bug (1975)

Giant-sized cockroaches in the Brady Bunch house?!  Yes, please. What other secrets are those unclean Brady’s hiding?  With Bug, a film that locks its horrors upon fire-farting cockroaches, we find out!

"Bug is a sort-of precursor to what would follow in Gremlins and takes Jaws to task with several hundred of these indestructible insects crawling around"


 

William Castle’s Bug has arrived on blu thanks to the valiant efforts of Scream Factory.  Bug, the last film he was involved with before his death in 1977, is a true B-movie, complete with big creatures in a small town, and it flexes mightily in an effort to make us squirm and squeal in horror.  

And, in a modern day viewing, the truth is that the film, full of wonderful practical effects and great suspense, doesn’t suck.

Just promise me this: if a former student ever shows up after your college class with a shoebox under his arm and a puzzled expression on his face, just keep walking away.  No good can come of it. Truly. The lesson isn’t learned here and it sure as hell isn’t learned in Gremlins, which would come years later. {googleads}

I mean, for Professor James Parmiter (Brad Dillman), what is inside the box is truly a life changing organism.  Mutant bugs! Born with the ability to start fires by rubbing their paired appendages together, nothing but gross-out troubles follow as these bugs show their dominance over humans.  .

From cars exploding thanks to these bugs hitching rides into town to surprises hidden in telephones, Bug is a sort-of precursor to what would follow in Gremlins and takes Jaws to task with several hundred of these indestructible insects crawling around.  They burn cats, blow up cars, and burn people on their path to social dominance. Forget about washing your hands after touching them! You will be lucky to have any fingers left.Bug (1975)

Starring Joanna Miles, Patty McCormack (The Bad Seed), and Richard Gilliland, Bug begins in a rural California setting.  It opens in a church. The middle of nowhere, you could say. Dust everywhere. Yet, something is growing and grumbling from beneath the church’s floorboards.  Soon enough, the rupture is upon the churchgoers. Walls are shaking as some big rolls up the floorboards. It’s an earthquake!  But what it unleashes is beyond terrifying: mutant bugs with a thirst for burning all other living things!

Directed by Jaws 2’s Jeannot Szwarc and written by William Castle, this production takes Thomas Page’s novel The Hephaestus Plague and milks it for every cheesy chill it is worth.  The bugs will creep you out. Where they go in the house and in the car will have you a bit freaked out and, as a result, you’ll want the humans to smash each and every one of these mutant mofos into the ground.  

Send these mutants back to Hell, man! 

4/5 stars

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[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]

Bug (1975)

Blu-ray

Blu-ray Details:

Home Video Distributor: Shout Factory
Available on Blu-ray
- March 10, 2020
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles
: English
Audio:
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; single disc
Region Encoding: Locked to Region A

Legendary horror writer/producer/director William Castle (The Tingler, Strait-Jacket, Rosemary's Baby) presents a creeping, crawling film nightmare that will have you screaming and squirming with fright! A massive earth tremor opens a crevasse in the California desert, releasing a plague of bizarre, fiery, foot-long cockroaches. Starring Piranha's Bradford Dillman, The Dark Secret of Harvest Home’s Joanna Miles, and The Bad Seed’s Patty McCormack, Bug is back thanks to Scream Factory!

Video:

The brand new 1080p transfer is crisp and crackling with fine details.  Originally shot on 35mm film, this release from Scream Factory. supports a High-Definition encode and a 1.85:1 ratio.  With solid colors and an atmospheric charm, the cleaned-up image is detailed with nice burnt oranges and strong blacks hitting strong levels for something originally filmed in the early 70s.  The grain is natural and consistent. Colors are strong and their vibrancy even. The overall contrast is deep even if there are noticeable defects in the crush of shadows. 

Audio:

The DTS Master Audio Mono is a decent monaural soundtrack for the release.  Dialogue is clean, clear, and balanced with the music. And the sound of the insects eating, digging, scratching, and starting fires with their butts will drive you mad.

Supplements:

Commentary:

  • I always enjoy Troy Howarth’s commentaries and his work on Bug is no different.  Fun and full of great information concerning William Castle, this feature length commentary is a blast.

Special Features:

There is but one seriously AWESOME trailer.

  • Theatrical Trailer

Blu-ray Rating:

  Movie 4/5 stars
  Video  3/5 stars
  Audio 3/5 stars
  Extras 2/5 stars

Overall Blu-ray Experience

3/5 stars

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[tab title="Film Details"]

Bug (1975)

MPAA Rating: PG.
Runtime:
99 mins
Director
: Jeannot Szwarc
Writer:
William Castle
Cast:
Bradford Dillman, Joanna Miles, Richard Gilliland
Genre
: Horror | Sci-fi
Tagline:
The Picture You See With Your Eyes Closed.
Memorable Movie Quote:
Theatrical Distributor:
Paramount Pictures
Official Site:
Release Date:
June 6, 1975
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
March 10, 2020.
Synopsis: A massive earth tremor opens a crevasse in the California desert, releasing a plague of bizarre, fiery, foot-long cockroaches. With their numbers multiplying and the death toll mounting, obsessive entomologist James Parmiter (Bradford Dillman, Piranha, The Swarm) desperately seeks a way to eliminate the seemingly indestructible critters before they spread clear across the country ... and beyond!

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[tab title="Art"]

Bug (1975)

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