Funny Games



"Anna: Why don't you just kill us? Peter: You shouldn't forget the importance of entertainment."

Austrian filmmaker and social critic Michael Haneke made Funny Games in 1997, then remade an English-language version ten years later, shot for shot. Although trivially similar to a Gorn film, it's actually meant as a deconstruction of violent media as well as a giant You Bastard at the audience who would want to watch it.

Both films center on a yuppie family arriving at their lakeside vacation house. Pulling into their driveway, they see their neighbor has some new guests, two clean-cut young men wearing white gloves who look like they've just walked off the golf course. The men soon arrive on the family's doorstep making a number of requests and imposing on their hospitality. Eventually the family tires of them and ask them to leave, but they ignore the requests. After the husband slaps one of the men, they break his leg with his own golf club and take the family hostage. Though maintaining a nonchalant and even friendly facade, it soon becomes clear that the two men are psychopaths who intend to torment the family with a number of cruel games before murdering them. Can they survive?


 * Ambiguously Gay: An in-universe example that is used for lulz.
 * Aside Glance: Paul gives one of these to the camera just before Ann/Anna discovers where he's hidden the dog. It's the first time he breaks the fourth wall.
 * Audience Participation: When Paul makes his mortal bet with the family that they won't last until sunrise, he turns to the camera and suggests that the audience play along, then comments that you're probably siding with the family.
 * Bound and Gagged
 * Broken Aesop: Academics have been arguing since the film came out about whether Paul's You Bastard point is valid. There's no need for us to do likewise, mind.
 * Can You Hear Me Now?: The mother's cell phone is disabled by it getting dropped in the sink, frying the battery, very much Truth in Television.
 * Chekhov's Gun: Subverted by
 * Dangerously Genre Savvy: Paul knows that he's in a film and tracks his deeds based on common plot structure.
 * Diabolus Ex Machina: In this movie, the killers have all the advantages, while the victims don't have any chance to survive.
 * : Which side did you bet on?
 * Faux Affably Evil: Both Peter and Paul make a big show of being very polite and considerate, which is all a part of their sadistic game.
 * For the Evulz: The killers give conflicting reasons for their deeds, reducing it to simple, pointless evil.
 * Genre Deconstruction: Of the "torture porn" subgenre of horror films. Interestingly, the original film predates the most recent revival of the genre that was sparked by the Saw and Hostel films.
 * Gory Discretion Shot: When is killed, it happens in the next room, and we only see a blood-spattered television immediately afterward. In fact, the film is surprisingly light on on-screen violence and gore.
 * Here We Go Again: The rampage continues throughout the neighborhood.
 * Hope Spot: The killers suddenly leave, giving the husband and wife some glimmer of hope that they'll survive.
 * even smirks triumphantly at the audience in the end.
 * Leave the Camera Running: The original is full of scenes like this, most notably immediately after.
 * May I Borrow a Cup of Sugar?: The two men first come over to borrow some eggs.
 * Multiple Choice Past: Paul tells a few different stories about his and Peter's background and motivations, none of which are likely to be true.
 * No Fourth Wall: Paul is completely aware that he's in a film. He smirks at the camera several times and makes snide comments to the audience about what they expect will happen. He also makes several comments that the killers' timing and sequence of actions are based on traditional plot structure.
 * Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Tim Roth slides between his natural English accent (as in Pulp Fiction) and his much more nasal, higher-pitched American accent (as in Reservoir Dogs).
 * Remake: Almost shot-for-shot and by the same director.
 * Retcon: Within the film! A character rewinds the movie using a remote, inside the movie, and undoes a death.
 * Shoot the Shaggy Dog:
 * Take That, Audience!: A number of events in the film are arguably this, including This is confirmed by interviews with the director Haneke.
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Directed to you (us?) the viewer because by watching this movie, you allowed its universe to exist through your thoughts.
 * White Gloves: The killers wear them, making them look a little like golfers. The wife asks about them, and Paul claims he has eczema. They're really to hide their fingerprints.
 * You Bastard: The entire point of the films.
 * You Bastard: The entire point of the films.