Review #36: Funny Games (2007)



This review was originally written in October 2017.

Horror Movie October day 6: Funny Games

Wow. So, there's a lot to unpack here.

First off, this movie is one of the most genuinely terrifying and unsettling movies I've ever seen, and certainly the most so I've seen in the last year. I don't know if it's just because home invasion seems to be a recurring fear of mine, or also the way this movie is set up, with the way the tension builds, then subsides, and then builds again; this movie was horrifying, but I couldn't stop watching.

It's got some weird bits though. First, there's a big section right in the middle where the pace really, really slows down; I'm sure it's meant to contrast the constant tension from the entire film before and after that, but this was the only portion of the movie where I seriously considered stopping it and finished the rest of the movie later. Second, there's some really bizarre fourth-wall-breaks in this movie that I just don't understand, and really don't seem to serve any purpose (except for one that actually makes the ending a bit worse, in my opinion). And third, much of the villains' plan revolves around convenient failures on the protagonists' parts- like, how did they know that the husband didn't have a cell phone? (It turns out he did, but it was in the car or something.) For that matter, why didn't their house have a landline? (It would have been so easy to show them cutting it or something, but as-is they're relying entirely on one waterlogged cell phone to call the cops.) And (spoilers here) there's a point where the antagonists kill one of the protagonists, and then just leave. Why? What could that possibly have accomplished except to give the protagonists a chance to ruin their entire plan (which absolutely would have happened if not for multiple coincidences)?

All in all this was an amazingly shot movie, and within the first ten minutes you can see the difference between a great director and the directors who have made all of the other movies I've watched this month. If it weren't for one scene near the beginning involving harm to animals I would consider this an unqualified recommendation to anyone looking for a suspenseful movie experience. (And according to IMDB it's a shot-for-shot remake of an Austrian movie. Maybe I should watch that one too.)

Final Rating: 10/10 Broken Eggs

Who Should Have Played the Main Antagonist: Mark-Paul Gosselaar

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