Jim Parmiter (Bradford Dillman) is a professor at a local college. He lives with his wife, Carrie (Joanna Mills) in a small California desert town. Jim drops his wife off at church and goes on his way to work. During the sermon there is a violent earthquake. The chapel is severely damaged, but everyone comes out alive. Henry Tacker (Frederic Downs) and his son Kenny (Jim Poyner) drive back to their farm. It appears that the earthquake center was somewhere near the farm. A giant fissure opened up. As they drive up to the farm the truck dies. Before they can get it started again, it bursts into flames. Both Henry and his son are burnt to death.
Later that night Gerald Metbaum (Richard Gilliland) goes outside to check things out. In the yard is a large fissure in the ground. He hears some strange hissing sounds. Large insects, similar to giant cockroaches are scattered all around. By rubbing their legs together, they create the hissing sound. The rubbing creates friction that starts fires. A cat is burnt to death by one of the insects. Gerald finds himself surrounded by the roaches. Suddenly several small fires are set by the insects. It seems that the giant cockroach-like creatures, from deep in the Earth, were thrown up from the fissure. Soon there are fires all over town.
Gerald brings the dead cat to the local college and asks Jim about the fire-starting bugs. He then shows the professor the dead cat. He then takes him to the ground that had opened up from the earthquake. Nearby they find one of the bugs. Jim takes it to have it analyzed. From the analysis they determine that the bugs start fires by rubbing their legs together. They then consume the ashes for sustenance. The bugs are blind and come from deep underground. They are creating havoc, but they are dying due to the air pressure on the surface of the Earth. Jim becomes obsessed with the bugs and decides to try to mate them with a regular cockroach. All’s well until the creatures appear to become sentient and can communicate with its creator.
“Bug” was released in 1975 and was directed by Jeannot Szwarc. It is an American science fiction horror film. The film was written and produced by William Castle. It was the last film he produced. The movie was based on the 1973 novel “The Hephaestus Plague” by Thomas Page.
The cockroaches used in the film for the mutant bugs were giant Madagascar hissing roaches. The set used for the Parmiter kitchen is the same set used for the television series “The Brady Bunch”.
The movie has a sort of split personality. First there is the horror aspect where the bugs attack people and start fires. The second half is the science fiction mad scientist portion of the film. The second half is slightly reminiscent of how the bugs acted in “Phase IV” 1974.
If you’re not into bugs, this movie can be very disgusting. There are a couple slow spots but the fires and explosions by the arson bugs add some needed action. It seemed a lot scarier when I was a kid. The other really creepy part of the film is the strange sound the bugs make. Other than the squiggly bugs themselves and the sound they make, the creep factor gets a little swallowed up in the last part of the film. At that point Professor Parmiter’s descent into madness takes center stage.