Bug

Bug is a 1975 American horror film directed by Jeannot Szwarc and written by William Castle and Thomas Page, from Page's novel The Hephaestus Plague (1973). Shot in Panavision, it was the last film Castle was involved in before his death in 1977. The film starred Bradford Dillman, Joanna Miles and Richard Gilliland. The film initially depicts a new insect species, which faces extinction. A widowed scientist crossbreeds the species with cockroaches, creating a sentient hybrid species of insects. Plot An earthquake releases a species of previously unknown insect which can create fires by rubbing their legs together. Eventually however, most of the bugs die because they cannot survive in the low air pressure on the Earth's surface. After the wife of a scientist dies when one of the insects crawls in her hair, Professor James Parmiter keeps one alive in a pressure chamber. He becomes obsessed with the insect and successfully breeds the new species with a modern cockroach, creating a breed of intelligent, flying super-cockroaches.