Bug (1975) Film Locations

“The picture you see with your eyes closed.”

Great tag line, but I recommend you watch the movie with your eyes open, or you’ll have a hard time understanding the plot.

An earthquake releases a strain of mutant prehistoric fire-starting cockroaches, which launch a conflagration through Riverside and the Brady Bunch kitchen.

Based on Thomas Page’s novel, The Hephaestrus Plague, this 1975 film was William Castle’s last before he died. At first, you may dismiss this movie as another 1970s nature strikes back film. You know, the films were dogs, frogs, rabbits, rats, tarantulas, etc. turn on us humans and punish us for our callous treatment of the environment. During the 1970s, Noah’s Ark took vengeance on us puny humans in one form or another.

But, the movie takes a turn when Dr. Parimiter’s wife (Joanna Miles) dies because of these pesky pyro-cockroaches. Realizing these mutants are slowly dying due to pressure, Dr. Parimiter (Bradford Dillman) decides the wisest course of action is to breed them with the common cockroach. This will not end well. The result is a super hive mind that can fly and communicate in English. Not how I would honor the death of my wife, but everyone approaches grief in their own way. As a result, and stereotypical of all mad scientists, he pays with his life.

My wife had completed graduate work at UCR, so I recognized the campus. I made an assumption that the other locations where probably in Riverside and tracked them down.