Bug

 Agnes (Ashley Judd) spends her days between the dive bar she works at and her motel room, trying to avoid her abusive ex Jerry (Harry Connick Jr.) who's trying to find her after getting out of jail.

 Things seem to look up slightly when a friend (Lynn Collins) introduces her to Peter (Michael Shannon), a painfully shy, overtly courteous guy. You can see those traits might seem attractive to her, especially after Jerry catches up with her.

 There's something off about Peter, though, and I'm not just saying that because he's played by Shannon. There's a certain intensity, a slightly concerning way of evading some questions, which promise trouble down the road. But they hit it off anyhow, and soon they're shacking up together.

 The script - by Tracy Letts, adapting his own stage play - sets out an obvious course only to derail it once the couple find some insects nesting in Agnes' bed and Peter shows an unsettling amount of knowledge regarding aphids. The less said about where things end up the better because this is a short, relatively straightforward story, but it accurately depicts certain societal ills which have only gotten a lot worse since 2006.

 It's a deeply strange film, and somewhat underwhelming in its simplicity - but you can't fault it for lacking courage; The film peaks at the end of its second act with a truly excruciating horror scene, and the whole of the third act is all campy intensity. Director William Friedkin has described the movie as a comedy, and that's easy to believe when it features a scene where someone declares -with utter conviction- to be part of an insect monarchy. I can't really say the tonal mix works, but the story does, just about, mainly for its very strong first two thirds and because both Judd and Shannon are excellent, and fearlessly, fiercely committed to their deeply unglamorous characters. Agnes's arc in particular is heartbreaking; Give the poor woman a break!

 For a very stage-bound chamber piece, it's as well directed as you'd expect from an old pro like the late Friedkin, who mines the single location for claustrophobia and ably keeps the tension high and the filmmaking unobtrusive. As alluded above, don't expect a 'proper' horror movie - it's, if anything, a slightly experimental, unremittingly bleak psychological drama - but there's a couple of grisly sops for us jaded gorehounds in the audience, and enough substance to its darkness to chew on for a while. Letts and Friedkin would collaborate again on 2011's much more successful Killer Joe, but Bug is well worth exploring on its own batshit merits.