Funny Games (1997)

Director: Michael Haneke

Starring: Germans

More Info: IMDB

Tagline: Ein Alptraum. (English translation: A Nightmare)

Plot: Two psychotic young men take a mother, father, and son hostage in their vacation cabin and force them to play sadistic "games" with one another for their own amusement.








My Rating: 9/10

Would I watch it again? As sure as Britney Spears will do something kooky

This movie should be titled, "HOLY FUCKING SHIT!", 'cause that's the most common phrase heard by anyone who watches it. And I thought the Japanese had the marked corned on brutality and torture. The Germans, apparently, never lost their touch - they just kept it in storage for a couple of generations.

I cannot avoid talking about this without spoilers so THERE WILL BE SPOILERS...YARRRRR

It's great watching this one for the second time knowing the outcome. As the film unfolds the unsuspecting family meets their killers by being introduced to them by their neighbors. We later find out that the neighbors were killed shortly thereafter and the new family ends up introducing the killers to their friends and next victims after they themselves are killed. NICE! The two boys are pitch perfect in their care free torturing, murdering ways. In fact all of the acting is great. The family in captivity do a fantastic job in delivering very believable performances. The two killers are in complete control and it's obvious that they're not new at this and know exactly what they're doing. The mind-fucks these guys dish out are extraordinary. They are able to exact whatever they like from their victims albeit reluctantly at first.

2ND WARNING OF MAJOR SPOILAGE...YARRRR

In one of the most daring and challenging scenes I have ever seen the boys have just blown the son's head off with a shotgun. There is blood all over the immediate area of the kids' former head. We are forced to watch this scene...


It easily lasts a full minute or two with no moving whatsoever until the mother finally gasps in horror that her son is dead. It's gripping, startling, emotionally piercing. It's one of the fucking ballsiest shots by a filmmaker EVER. EVER! You're forced to soak it in. In other films the kid is killed, we mourn for a few seconds and it's onto new business. Haneke holds the audience captive and makes us slowly digest what just occurred. Fucking brilliant.

What follows is a long drawn out quiet section where the mother and father are taking advantage of the suddenly empty and quiet house by deciding on what to do. His leg is broken so he stays. She leaves to find help. The boys are nowhere to be found but they find her. Just when you think you've seen all that can be shown Haneke gives us a few more shocks. Dad is stabbed multiple times and mom is bound with tape at her feet, hands and mouth. They take a nice little sail across the lake, push mom overboard and proceed to the cottage of the family's friends they were introduced to earlier in the film where the process of taking over this new family begins. OH FUCKING YEAH!!!

END OF SPOILERS...YARRRR

The use of hardcore thrash metal music hits all of the right notes, so to speak. It's a remarkably jarring technique which plays up the tone of the film to a tee. Other than that I don't recall any music at all and that's a good thing. A score would have removed some of the shock value and would have lessened the impact by the shots and performances. Sometimes the lack of music can work and this is definitely a case for it.

One technique I particularly enjoyed was the main killer's point of breaking the fourth wall. That's where a character in some way acknowledges the audience. Here he turns and looks (and sometimes speaks to) the camera. It's actually amusing as the director implicates us in the crimes because we are watching it happen. VERY effective. And what the character says is
sickeningly funny. The final shot of the film will forever be burned into my memory. It's gloriously fucked up.

I L-O-V-E movies with raw, fucked-up endings. I enjoy films that pick you up by the short hairs and smack you around a bit before they kick you to the curb without any money or idea of who you are and why you're there. If you're having trouble breaking up with your girlfriend, just invite her over for a movie night double feature with MAN BITES DOG (1992) and follow it up
with FUNNY GAMES. She'll probably leave quietly and never look back and all you did was show a couple of films. If she stays and asks for more then send her over to my place. THAT'S my kinda gal.