Funny Games

• 
  
  October 23, 2009

  SirPant

  This is a real poke in the eye and a two fingered salute to Hollywood. Good! Funny Games is not a particularly original story, that's kind of the point, it's been done many a time before but not quite like this. The beginning sequence?s music (the only part of the film with music...( read more)) suggests that there is a much darker side to this film. This is pure horror but this isn't a horror film in the sense that it's all blood and guts, you actually never see any of the violence, Peter and Paul are actually more frightening when you don't see them. It?s really questioning how far is too far, both as a film and also as a society. We all know there are some real sick people out there, there are some real sick films out there too to be honest, Haneke is suggesting that the media should take some responsibility for this. A bit contradictory? That?s where it gets clever, the interaction with the audience from one of the bad guys shouldn?t have worked but it does, brilliantly. For example, Paul says the line "We're not up to feature film length yet" at exactly the 95-minute mark of the movie. He also rewinds the film when the film starts to go down a familiar ?Hollywood? style road and continues the film with even more cruelty and brutality. Often awkward to watch but at the same time technically brilliant (Not many directors film 10 minute takes!) Funny Games is a breath of fresh air and a kick in the ass to modern cinema. My kind of film. Why he remade it into English, I have no idea but I won?t comment until I see it! I suggest those of you interested should watch this one, the original, first though!

  Share This Review
• 
  
  July 17, 2009

  stopitgoaway

  First things first, Michael Haneke HATES Quentin Tarantino's films. He hates the way violence and death are shown as being 'cool' - Cool gangsters executing their enemies whilst saying cool lines (And you will know, that my name is the Lord! etc,etc)with a cool song playing in th...( read more)e background. This is not how violence is in the real world, violence is a horrible fact of life, not a glamourous thing for youths to copy but I like Tarantino, and I think Haneke intended Funny Games to show it how it really is. I watched Funny Games without the slightest clue what the film was about, so I just had to sit back and take it as it comes. At first, I wasn't too impressed. I thought the scenes were too long and dragged out, yet at the same time, I felt a strange feeling of suspense. The incredibly long camera shots leave you that bored, that you think "Something bad is going to happen soon, I can tell...". The suspense also lasts right through the film 'til the very end. You don't want to watch it, but at the same time, you feel hypnotised by it.
  
  I will not detail any events of the film, to save spoiling the atmosphere, but I will note one thing that people tend to be confused about:- "Why did the family let them into the house in the first place?" The two characters of Peter and Paul are let to walk all over the family because of one flaw in the bourgios psyche - 'The more polite a person is, the better a person they are.' This absurd way of thinking is played on by Peter and Paul and they obviously score, plus 'getting into the house without breaking in' is also one of their 'games'.For those who haven't seen the film, I definitely wouldn't recommend this for a night in with the parents/girlfriend, but I definitely would for people who want to see the difference between death and Tarantino-glam. Prepare for a highly suspenseful yet sickeningly violent, non-Hollywood, edge-of-the-seat piece of art.

  Share This Review
• 
  
  August 24, 2008

  SarahG1988

  Director:Michael Haneke Released: 1997
  Stars:Susanne Lothar, Ulrich Muhe, Arno Frisch and Frank Giering
  Genre: Drama, Thriller
  Country: Austria
  
  
  
  
  ...( read more)pg" target="_blank">
  
  
  
  
  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.
  
  Funny Games is another one of those films everybody bare me has seen. Finally I found it in my supermarket this afternoon and just finished watching it. I have to admit that it toally blew me away. Funny Games is far more than a Horror, it's also a depiction of just how often Media violence is in our society and how much we take it for granted and almost let ourselved be entertained by this. Pure genuis!
  
  The film opens up with a helicopter shot of the family arriving at their holiday home on the motorway. While watching this we are shown just how close the family, setting us up for one hell of a ride. This voyeristic technique makes us wonder why we are sitting here watching this and almost feel slightly instrusive on the family. That's the genuis of Haneke. I must admit that I didn't go too much on Hidden but this is abosolutly amazing. I can see some similarities in the two films there.
  
  I know a lot of people will either love or hate this film I can see why but there are many different menaings to this film. For instance as I said beofre why, as a viewer you are sitting down to watch this and also questioning the viewing public as a whole. It also shows us parts which you might not fully be shown in an American film and almost plays upon that. Haneke uses emotions of the family almost as bait. The two men constantly play upon why the couple are crying and feeling this way and twisting it for their own amusement. There's no manipulation here as you might often find in a US film, you are given the opotunity to switch off, as one character says and question just how much violence you can take. Which I think is why this film is NOT pointless as some people have written here.
  
  The characterisation in Funny Games is brilliant and key to the viewers understanding of the film. Both of the two main leads; Anna and Georg Snr are a middle class couple and very likeable indeed. As a viewer you can instantly releate to them and their son Georg. The film's path is not what you would expect as you really do warm to the characters. Oddly the representation of the two men: Paul and Peter are ones of such charm and sophistication that you don't feel that they're the villian on some stages. I'm going to admit that I did find the character of Paul very attractive indeed and didn't for a second think anything less-but that's another story entirely! Incidently Peter is also a man full of charm but is presented as less intelligent and an odd character.-we see this when Peter continuously calls him "fatty" which he hates.
  
  Funny Games is also intelligently written and well paced. 1 hr and 40 mins flew by and left me utterly speechless afterwards, which of course is genuis on Haneke's part. Funny Games cleverly plays with the conventions of filmaking and asks the audience:
  
  We're not up to feature film length yet. You want a real ending with plausible plot development".
  
  Also has Paul looking at the camear and talking to the audience, which also gives the character as sense of arrogance to him and almost tells the audiene that he's in charge. What was the most clever thing about this film was the re-wind scene which did leave me slightly disturbed at what I had just watched.
  
  Funny Games is one of the most disturbing films that I have seen and so cleverly written and filmed it's unbelievable. It'll leave you feeling horrified at what you've just watched and leave you wondering the why you watch violence in the media. Funny Games is a clever film and one which I highly recomend.

  Share This Review
• 
  
  August 21, 2008

  Stinger839

  Better than its remake by a sliver. Slower (hard for that to be possible) than its tightened remake, and at times does feel a little more clunkily directed in this static shot style (as in the director didn't have 10 years to plan every single shot). All the acting is better to m...( read more)e. The actor playing the mom is more convincing and these kids are genuine fully developed psychos whereas the remake kids feel like little pricks without any psychological depth. I watched these in reverse order, the remake first. I regret that because it makes it difficult for me to like again the same shots I liked from the first version I saw (most notable is when the wife ventures into the road at night to hail a car for help). The differences are very minute between this and the remake in terms of dialogue and shot composition. The lack of gore is the same, but the shotgun shell to Paul's chest looks more natural as it was not CGIed. It's too similar to its remake to really warrant a thorough breakdown. I'll say that I'm artificially more inclined to take Haneke's message in this movie more seriously because it is in another spoken language
  (I have a strong anti-Hollywood bias). The main thing is the two bad rich kids; this version of them is just way more intimidating. I feel like they are an embodiment of mindless middle class cravings for violence, whereas the actors in the remake look like they'd be down and out after one lame punch because that's how flaccid they are as a representation of sadism.

  Share This Review
• 
  
  August 3, 2008

  kiriyamakazou

  Michael Haneke's disturbing suburban nightmare is one of the most uneasy and unapologetically depraved films you will ever see. Haneke first decides to make the film contain virtually no violence, that is to say the majority happens off screen. The film suggests that all violence...( read more), even fictional, may have a negative affect. In fact in many ways fictional violence can be more destructive than real life violence on the news, as film-makers and writers can selectively present emotional situations to build a connection. Funny Games also engages its audience by breaking the fourth wall, asking us questions personally. It works surprisingly well and happens so out of the blue creates even more uncomfortable situations. The climax is simply perfect, giving us the ending we all want and then tearing it away from us. Heart-pounding and fucking terrifying.

  Share This Review
• 
  
  November 17, 2009

  TheAfterHours

  I dont' think I've felt such hatred towards the antagonists of a film this much in a long time. I guess that means I have to give a lot of credit to the director and 2 young men who portrayed them. Excellent acting from them and the other actors as well. Very raw emotions. It...( read more)'s soothing in a way that this film didn't have a happy ending but no justice at all for the family seems unfair as hell. They cut to the knife falling into the crevice in the boat early on in the film, and it just turns out to serve no purpose. I also didn't enjoy the direct to camera talk. That threw the narrative off. Other than these things, if you're interested in a film that is cruel, harsh, no holes barred, and well made this is the film for you.

  Share This Review
• 
  
  November 16, 2009

  21rclemente

  Funny Games US wasn't god aweful and I'm sure this one coincides well

  Share This Review
• 
  
  November 7, 2009

  themoreuseethewiseruget

  Michael Haneke created a strong film full of brutality and madness.Outbreak of violence that makes u wonder "how far human bestiality may go?"A sadistic worth-once-seeing movie...Don't be a fool,u have to see Haneke's first outcome...the remake hollywood-version has been made jus...( read more)t for the money!!!

  Share This Review
• 
  
  October 17, 2009

  oreomoviejunkie

  You're on their side, aren't you? So, who will you bet with?
  
  Disturbing, cynical, and shocking, yet a very intelligent little experiment.
  The film's witty and cynical, and most of the violence used is off cameras, and invites openly to question the use of violence. The ...( read more)script's clever and dares to break the 4th wall, introducing us, the Viewers, inside the story and events ocurred. The performances are sublime, crude, specially Arno Frisch, who delivers a more sarcastic and cynical Paul.
  Having watched the remake first, which is worth watching and works on its own perfectly, I find this film a little more clever, mixing phrases in different languages and bearing a more harsh critique, due the time of its release. Who's side are you on this little funny game?

  Share This Review
• 
  
  October 13, 2009

  dipa89

  
  

  Share This Review

No recent reviews.

• 
  May 29, 2008

  Rossjm

  what the fuck?! Last time i checked this page was for the 1997 foreign version. Why has it changed. The poster is right though.
• 
  March 30, 2008

  Rossjm

  It's not german it's austrian.
• 
  July 26, 2007

  tydea

  does it really matter that much about what people think of a movie to you?
  
  |
  V
• 
  July 21, 2007

  TonytheTig3r

  *sighs*
  
  ok, the ppl below my comment right now.....Haneke didnt intend on making a horror or thriller. He intended on making a film that sends a clear message about violence, and the audience's view and involvement with violence on film.
• 
  June 23, 2007

  1HotGrandma

  I MUST HAVE WATCHED A DIFFERENT MOVIE THAN THE VIEWERS WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS GREAT MOVIE. IT IS DESCRIBED AS "BLOOD CURDLING"............"RELENTLESS IN IT'S ABILITY TO SHOCK". I FOUND IT REALLY TRIED TO BE A GOOD MOVIE AT TIMES, BUT THE ACTING WAS TERRIBLE, AND IT KEEPS YOU WATING FOR SOMETHING TRULY EXCITING TO HAPPEN, A FEW GOOD MOMENTS IN THIS MOVIE, BUT REALLY A WASTE OF TIME TO WATCH. NOT AT ALL A TRUE HORROR. MY HUSBAND A BORN AND RAISED GERMAN AFTER VIEWING THIS TOLD ME....GERMAN'S MAKE LOUSY MOVIES, THEY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT'S ABOUT, AND SADLY THAT IS TRUE WITH "FUNNY GAMES". VERY DISAPPOINTING MOVIE! AND I'M A HUGE HORROR MOVIE LOVER, BUT THIS IS NOT ONE OF THEM.
• 
  May 18, 2007

  rmmartinez1

  yea this is what horror movies should be_disturbing...IFELT GUILTY WATCHING THIS FILM...this is the evil that men do...BUT I HAD TO FINISH IT TO THE END TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS...this is true horror!!!!!

• Susanne Lothar
• Ulrich Mühe
• Arno Frisch
• Frank Giering
• Stefan Clapczynski
• Doris Kunstmann

Click a thumb to vote on that suggestion, or add your own suggestions.

• 
  Funny Games (95%)
• 
  Them (Ils) (83%)
• 
  Peeping Tom (50%)
• 
  Jungfrukällan (The Virgin Spring) (25%)

• What actress stars in "Funny Games"  Answer »
• Who Played the main character in the Film Funny Games  Answer »
• The movie "Funny Games" is mainly in what genre?  Answer »
• What actor/actress do these films have in common: Children of the corn 4 Funny games King Kong The painted veil  Answer »

No quizzes for Funny Games. Want to create one?

• Funny Games Trailer

• jmankas
• juanchi119
• jimbotender
• narcoleptic
• iamjacks
• SarahG1988
• Hamidh
• farislove

• 

  Director delivers second helping of sadism

  Posted by SexiVixxEN
  621 days ago

• 

  The Most Disturbing Films

  by Sloirishbud
  133 Movies
• 

  Directors Index: Haneke, Michael

  by magnolia12883
  6 Movies
• 

  Director: Michael Haneke

  by dipa89
  11 Movies

No skins yet. Interested in creating one?