Directed by William Friedkin

Written by Tracy Letts

Starring: Ashley Judd, Michael Shannon, Lynn Collins, Harry Connick Jr.

102 min.

Before critics had a chance to squash Bug, Lion’s Gate seemed to make up our minds by refusing to hold a press screening.

Normally this would be an example of a studio, disappointed with its final cut, falling on its sword. Not so with Bug. The film had a miniscule promotional budget and was only screened in 10 markets.

If anyone needs a comeback, it’s director William Friedkin, who hasn’t hit artistic or commercial pay dirt since the early ’70s. Never one to praise The Exorcist’s cheap thrills, Bug is the only sign of intelligent life Friedkin’s shown since picking up his Oscar for The French Connection.

All Agnes White (professional victim Ashley Judd) has in her life is misery. When not waiting tables, she suffers alone in her shabby Oklahoma motel room living on pot and booze.

Even a routine visit to the grocery store proves traumatic for Agnes. One shot, an empty shopping cart parked next to a gumball machine and a baby crying on the soundtrack, informs us of her loss.

Lately she’s been tormented by an unbroken string of phone hang-ups. Her brutish ex, Jerry (Harry Connick, Jr.), is out of jail and eager to resume their cycle of abuse. If ever the time was right for a questionable drifter to appear on Agnes’ doorstep, it’s now.

At first, Peter Evans (Michael Shannon) is very polite; he calls her “ma’am.” He’s so shy, it’s Agnes who first breaks out the blue material. When told what part of Oregon Peter hails from, Agnes cracks, “We’re all from Beaver, ain’t we?”

Peter is a top-notch paranoiac, living in mortal fear of technology, chemicals and information. The war vet has a bug on his back that he’s certain was planted by military doctors in order to control him. Peter is equally convinced that someone is chasing him.

Needless to say, empty Agnes is quick to buy into Peter’s paranoia. What else does she have going for her? Peter also has an obsession with insects. First aphids, then bedbugs and it isn’t long before Agnes’ room is literally transformed into a roach motel.

Entomophobes take heart. Friedkin wisely refrains from pouring on the vermin; if memory serves, there’s not one menacing shot of a creepy-crawly in the entire piece.

Bug is based on a two-character play and was adapted by its author, Steppenwolf Theater regular Tracy Letts. Not since Roman Polanski’s Death and the Maiden has a one-set affair received such an intelligent cinematic presentation.

Friedkin keeps his camera a safe distance from the characters, allowing them plenty of space to mentally disintegrate within. With the exception of one scene involving a self-inflicted tooth extraction, Friedkin opts for psychological horror as opposed to pea soup in your face.

The director is not the only one in dire need of a hit. Ashley (the only talented) Judd made a spectacular debut in Victor Nunez’s Ruby in Paradise, and ever since it’s been one “woman in peril” after another. This is her boldest and most demanding role to date.

Too bad Oprah doesn’t have a Film of the Month Club. This should be required viewing for all the complacent hausfraus who hang on Ms. Winfrey’s every word. It’s an extreme cautionary fable warning viewers to break off their abusive relationship tout de suite.

1/2

Directed by Timur Bekmambetov

Written by Sergei Lukyanenko (from his novel), Timur Bekmambetov and Alexander Talal

Starring: Konstantin Khabensky, Vladimir Menshov, Valery Zolotukhin and Maria Poroshina

132 min.

“Night” gives way to an even more ominous “Day” in this bloody sequel to Russia’s biggest box office grosser of all time.

Being sick the week Night Watch opened, a pre-sequel DVD viewing was definitely in order. First impression: the Russkies are just as capable of producing incomprehensible, effects-driven vampire comic books as any teenage American boy.

Thank heavens an explanatory preamble was provided; it took the first five minutes of the sequel to make sense of the original. We’ll probably have to wait for the third installment’s pre-game summation to discover the finely tuned narrative underpinnings of part two.

Both films begin with flashbacks to medieval times and follow an identical structure. For centuries, the mystical forces that control light and dark maintained a wobbly ceasefire. Night Watch introduced us to Anton (Konstantin Khabensky), a vampire trying to save his son from the forces of darkness.

This time around, Anton is after that Holy Grail of calcium, “the Chalk of Fate.” Legend has it that the white stick will make all that it scribes come true. If only someone would have scrawled “narrative logic” across the blackboard.

Both Night Watch and Day Watch fail to establish any laws of order in their slapdash post-apocalyptic universe. When backed into a corner, just endow your characters with an ability to shape shift. This may have served Borat, but Russian bloodsuckers deserve a bit more attention.

Not unlike Pirates of the Caribbean, Night and Day display a tremendous degree of backward logic; come up with a few spectacular effects scenes and structure the rest of the film around them. Director Timur Bekmambetov and his screenwriters appear content fabricating their connect-the-dots fantasy as it zips along.

How we maneuver from point A to point B is wholly irrelevant, just get us there and offer up more scenes of cars and trucks blowing up. Twenty years later finds the U.S.S.R. still fascinated by the Smokey and the Bandit approach to action filmmaking.

This isn’t to say that several of the effects aren’t staggering. If Blade Runner convinced audiences that a car could vertically ascend a building, Day Watch ups the ante by showing a roadster careen across a curved chrome and glass edifice as though it were taking the final turn at the Indianapolis 500.

The film’s major distraction is its “Pop-Up Videos” approach to subtitling. The filmmakers place more emphasis on finding clever ways to bring the titles on and off screen than they do mapping out a coherent yarn. Why would any serious horror filmmaker want to purposely draw attention away from the shocks?

Seeing Night Watch beforehand will help. Knowing that nothing makes sense going in somehow made the sequel more enjoyable. Don’t make the same mistake you did with Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo. Before Day breaks, pay a visit to your local video store and rent the original.