Among the many reasons for hosting this site, one is how truly amazed I am at the things people do as results of the ‘influences of others’.

On Thanksgiving Day I began watching a video titled, ‘Bug’. I was a guest invited to share the holiday and the movie was the pastime entertainment.

With a title like ‘Bug’, you would have never guessed the movie was about how the desire to be loved could lead someone to not only believe the insane and schizophrenic delusions of another, but to also adopt the delusion in such depth as to be able to add to it and ultimately commit suicide.

Our host placed the DVD in the player and casually tossed the DVD case on the coffee table. I happen to like Ashley Judd, so I picked up the DVD case to read more about the movie.

The cover shows a picture of Ashley in a nightgown with concerned look on her face.

Printed across the top of the DVD case is; “From the Director of The Exorcist”, with sidelines reading; “Very possibility William Freidkin’s Best Movie. A stunning performance by Ashley Judd!” “One of the most disturbing horror movies imaginable.” “Searingly Intense!”

The back cover of the DVD case reads; “It will crawl under your skin!” And for the synopsis: “A lonely waitress with a tragic past, Agnes rooms in a run-down motel, living in fear of her abusive ex-husband. But when she begins a romance with Peter, an eccentric drifter, she starts to feel hopeful again – until the first bugs arrive…”

The movie is extremely slow moving, almost to the point of boring. As a matter of fact, after about 45 minutes, my host asked if we’d mind if another movie was substituted. Of course, nobody objected. The movie was traded out and placed back into its DVD case. Again, I picked up the case to see if I missed something, because like all of us watching the movie, we were expecting an invasion of ‘Bugs’, you know… insects crawling all over the place, attacking people, which never happens!

After the feast and upon leaving, I asked to borrow the DVD so that I could watch its conclusion.

I am not here to promote the video, which is again so slow moving that it’s hard to watch, but its ending is shocking. I couldn’t believe that Agnes (Ashley Judd), actually adopted Peter’s delusion, stripped bare and allowed Peter poured gasoline over each of them and then lit the match.

Could something like that happen in real life? I would not be surprised if it did, because so many of the choices we make in life are based upon the influences (sometimes delusion) of others.