Bugonia is the latest opus from Yorgos Lathimos, who always ensures you’re going to have a bonkers time, one of my favourites before this being The Lobster, with Colin Farrell, although while I also loved last year’s Kinds of Kindness, and found Poor Things good but not great, I’m not keen on The Favourite.
What I will say first of all, is that for a film like this one, it’s best not to know too much before going into it, so feel free to skip this review and head straight to the score…
…Still here? Okay, cousins Teddy (Jesse Plemons – Zero Day) and Donnie (Aidan Delbis) are religious nutters who make you wonder just how inbred they are, given that they smoke joints with chemical castration contents, in order to kill their sexual urges so they “can think clearly”.
“Thinking clearly” leads to them kidnapping company CEO Michelle (Emma Stone – Eddington), claiming she’s an alien from another planet, and if they shave her head, and hold her for four days until the Lunar Eclipse passes, she won’t be able to contact her mothership…
Hmm… what exactly were they smoking?!
It also doesn’t help that they know cop Casey (Stavros Halkias), who offers to stop by at a random point in the future, since that wouldn’t be too welcome given the current predicament.
Elsewhere, Teddy’s a beekeeper, who thinks all the bees are dying, with the title “Bugonia“, referring to the ancient myth that bees can spontaneously generate from the carcass of an ox. There’s no oxes in this, though.
Still, ox-less situation aside, Bugonia is played brilliantly straight by Messers Plemons, Delbis and Stone, which is what made it work superbly and made me laugh a lot. It’s definitely one to watch again, although it’s a shame not enough people go to see the director’s films, since to date, this has so far only recouped $12m on a $45-55m estimated budget. However, it certainly got a great reaction from the relatively few audience members that were in there.
It’s also interesting that the director makes many different choices about the aspect ratios of his films. Last year’s Kinds of Kindness was a wide 2.39:1, but this is a very tight 1.50:1.
NOTE: There’s no mid- or post-credits scenes.
Bugonia is in cinemas now, and is available to buy on 4K Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 118 minutes
Release date: October 31st 2025
Studio: Focus Features
Aspect ratio: 1.50:1 (Super 35, VistaVision)
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 9/10
Director: Yorgos Lathimos
Producers: Ari Aster, Ed Guiney, Lars Knudsen, Jerry Kyoungboum Ko, Yorgos Lathimos, Miky Lee, Andrew Lowe, Emma Stone
Screenplay: Will Tracy
Original screenplay: Jang Joon-hwan (“Save the Green Planet!”)
Music: Jerskin Fendrix
Cast:
Teddy: Jesse Plemons
Donnie: Aidan Delbis
Michelle: Emma Stone
Ricky: J Carmen Galindez Barrera
Tony: Marc T Lewis
Corey: Vanessa Eng
Chris: Cedric Dumornay
Sandy Gatz: Alicia Silverstone
Casey: Stavros Halkias
Tina: Momma Cherri
Carlos: Rafael Lopez Bravo
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.