Dark. bitter. chilling. a film about dark side of an age. not surprising. only admirable precise. the characters are well known. the atmosphere - created in inspired manner. the loner guy - reflection of the viewer in many cases. because each of us is defined by questions. and expectations. short - a solide film. not a lesson. not a pledge. only a precise, honest portrait. about fascination and secrets, need to be accepted and the answer who is not exactly a reasonable one.

Look, nihilistic films aren't all bad. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the great films of the 70s. The difference is it actually had something to say - or at least felt like it did. This short was engaging, and decently acted, but the utter pointlessness and meanness of it was uncalled for. Basically, because he's attracted to guys and makes a bad decision to hang out with the white-trash school hottie, a young kid is tortured and (presumably) executed - for no apparent reason. Wow, talk about a fun time at the movies!I agree with those who felt this was an anti-drug PSA. The ironic thing is that I wouldn't berate anyone who, after watching, felt the need to toke up, down some pills, or go on a bender. I felt the same way after watching "Requiem For a Dream", and not because it was depressing, only because people actually liked it.

I watched this tonight as my inauguration to Amazon Instant Video. Never heard of it or the series before, so I went into it having no idea what it was about. I thought it was fantastic and the negative reviews from members of the "gay community" don't surprise me (yes, I am gay.) As another reviewer said, "if you demand that LGBT films provide some kind of cheerful morality tale or insist that every movie with LGBT characters must have some universal gay community message, you'll be disappointed with what you get with this film." All the more reason to watch in my opinion. I don't think the gay community will ever get how self-destructive and detrimental it is to itself.

I saw Bugcrush this evening as a part of the Palm Springs Short Film Festival. It was the final movie in the series of gay shorts, with the other movies (for the most part) being funny & interesting. This was the last movie - and was dark, disturbing, grotesque, and bizarre. Perhaps if I was prepared for a creepy, scary movie I would have enjoyed it - but I gasped in all the same parts that the rest of the sold-out gay crowd did. When the Q&A's came at the end, more than half the crowd got up and left, saying things like "Let's get out of here, so I don't have to hear anything about Bugcrush." Of the eight movies shown, Bugcrush was the most memorable - but not in a good way. If that was the point of the movie - it succeeded.