Review of Funny Games (1997) by Angela H — 19 Nov 2008

Needless to say that I really like messed up film. I mean I seriously enjoy f***ed up films and this is the film that wet my whistle. Not only being a film that is sadistic and strange in nature, this film also defied and stretched the laws of film making.

Set in a cottage in the middle of the woods on a lake, the film starts out in extreme juxtaposition. The film seems to thrive off of juxtaposition. It begins with a serene beginning of a typical family going on a family vacation set to violent blood curdling music.

The juxtaposition doesn't stop there. The motiveless murders provide a far scarier scenario that any horror flick that has the main character set for revenge or even just finds joy in killing helpless victims.

The idea that someone would kill without motive or reason is far more terrifying. The other interesting part of the movie was that the killers seemed to recognize that they were in a movie. On several occasions, Arno Frisch's character addresses the camera and therefore the audience on several instances describing the nature of the movie and plot and character development.

The two killers at the end even have a discussion about the real and the unreal, further proving the idea that they seem to know they're in a movie. Shocking at times, the movies seems to downplay the killing and moreover highlight the fact that the killing is not what's the scary.

What's scary is the idea that someone could do this. I can't begin to tell you how much I enjoyed this movie. Totally screwed up on so many levels that I never took my eyes off it. Mesmerizing moments of silence and mind opening parts of Brecht-like theatre.

Fantastic.