Back in the 70's there were several insect gone wild type movies. There was "Giant Spider Invasion, Squirm, Killer Bees, Kingdom of the Spiders and all kinds of other insect films. "BUG!" was a movie I saw on T.V. when I was still in High School. Like others who've seen it, it freaked me out back then. I had a chance to read the book "The Hephaestus Plague" and then watch the movie again. The book was far better of course and included a lot more details. There are a bunch of discrepancies between the book and the movie. For one, Pros. Parmiter didn't have a wife in the book. I think she was included in the film so she could be killed off and help push Parmiter even further into madness against the bugs. In the film when Prof Parmiter is teaching a class, the classroom looks like a grammar or high school classroom and not a college class room which is where he teaches. In the book Metbaum is burned by the bug, just like in the film. The difference, in the book is Metbaum has to be admitted to the hospital due to the strange bacteria the bugs are carry. He becomes very ill, but survives. With the Tackers, they owned a orchard right next to where the hole opens. You don't see that in the movie. The orchard and the barn is burned to the ground due to the bugs. In the movie, it shows how the bugs travel inside the tailpipes of cars. Same thing in the book, but the book tells of how the bugs travel to other cities and states. They start fires all over the east coast. There is also news about it on T.V. Also in the book, they were able to kill the bugs using a certain sound wave. Most of them are contain, but that's when Parmiter breeds his own species of the bugs. First he breeds it with a Praying Mantis and then a roach. In the movie he breeds it with a roach and then breed it again with the pre-historic bug. Even though the bug does get wings in the book, the bugs are to heavy to fly. In the book, Parmiter does all his research at his home and not the Tacker's place. The film ending is whacked. The bugs are as big as birds (not true in the book) and they burn up Prof. Parmiter before he runs into the hole followed by all the giant flying bugs. Then the hole closes and that's the end. In the book, Parmiter doesn't get set on fire. The bugs do crawl on him and force him to jump into the hole, but it doesn't close up. Months later Parmiter emerges from the hole like a zombie and the bugs are all over him.
Parmiter does try to kill the bugs eventually, but after seeing them spell lots of things on the wall and tells him they must return to the hole due to the pressure, Parmiter would rather study them more. The bugs don't want that however. The book is just more vast in telling the story. Even the government gets involved for a little bit. Whoever wrote the script for the movie striped away a lot of the elements that made the book so great. The people who died in the movie didn't even die in the book. The movie is like a shell of what the book was. It's probably about 15% accurate and is missing many characters. The movie is also kind of slow and could have been more exciting if they had show the havoc that was happening in other cities.
If bugs creep you out, you may want to stay away from this movie. There are a few shocking moments in the film. The bug on the phone (as seen on the poster) is probably one of the most shocking scenes in the film. I really didn't care for the ending much. I would love to see someone do a remake of this movie, but also continue it further. I still enjoyed this movie. Mainly because it was completely different from other insect horror films. The acting wasn't anything special, but the bugs were.
I give this film 6/10.
Parmiter does try to kill the bugs eventually, but after seeing them spell lots of things on the wall and tells him they must return to the hole due to the pressure, Parmiter would rather study them more. The bugs don't want that however. The book is just more vast in telling the story. Even the government gets involved for a little bit. Whoever wrote the script for the movie striped away a lot of the elements that made the book so great. The people who died in the movie didn't even die in the book. The movie is like a shell of what the book was. It's probably about 15% accurate and is missing many characters. The movie is also kind of slow and could have been more exciting if they had show the havoc that was happening in other cities.
If bugs creep you out, you may want to stay away from this movie. There are a few shocking moments in the film. The bug on the phone (as seen on the poster) is probably one of the most shocking scenes in the film. I really didn't care for the ending much. I would love to see someone do a remake of this movie, but also continue it further. I still enjoyed this movie. Mainly because it was completely different from other insect horror films. The acting wasn't anything special, but the bugs were.
I give this film 6/10.