- Joined
- Jan 2, 2007
- Messages
- 1,067
Once in awhile, I'm so desperate for horror that I will just blindly grab a disc from the shelves of my local store and rent it. Usually, I get some teen slasher crap as I am quite literal when I blindly grab a disc off the shelf of the horror racks. This time, I discovered something a bit more intriguing.
From what I can gather, this is apparently an exact remake of a movie of the same name and even features the same actors for the antagonists and same director, but with a new American cast filling in the rest. Not having seen the original German version, I can't rate it based on the original film and whether or not it was done better, but I am perfectly satisfied with the copy I got.
Funny Games. The title sounds like a comedy, of course. Funny is the fuel of comedy, and games are fun. In fact when I saw the title I wondered why it came from the horror section. The movie has a very simple premise at heart, a family moves into a gated community surrounded by a lake and weird things have been happening to the neighbours. A pair of sterile looking twins are attempting to pass off as golf players and people who just want to play a game, but in truth their game is much more sinister and bizarre as they invade the new families home and hold them hostage, forced to play their games if they wish to survive. The film is very taught, tense, and actually very scary. Despite the simple premise, the direction and overall style of the film, as well as the most bizarre climax I've seen in some time, make this film a strangely affecting and horrific title. I had to rewatch the film to truly understand what was going on, and while I'm still a bit confused, I think I get it. This movie f***s with your head, but it does it subtly before breaking out the sledgehammer and finishing it off with a much less subtle, but effective slam on the head. This film, without a doubt, breaks the fourth wall more than any film I have ever seen, and it's downright creepy. It's like you are getting sucked into the game and held hostage by those two creepy bastages yourself, and damn is it ingenious. You may not notice at first, but that only makes it more intriguing to watch the film again and learn about it.
It's really hard to say much else without spoiling it, but this is a special horror film. It's unique, it's well written, it's suspenseful, and it's downright creepy. In my never ending quest to find movies that actually scare me, this finds its place on the shortest shelf of my DVD collection. It's psychological trickery, taught suspense, and the fact that it doesn't rely on overt gore or sexuality means that there's a more realistic tone to the film, and it will suck you in and make you a witness to the sick games themselves as if you had a part in playing them or even a victim yourself forced to see the consequences. I whole heartedly recommend Funny Games. If my intel is correct, other than the English cast, there is no difference between the original German version from 1997, so either version is probably just as affecting and good though fans of the original might have a bias against a fully reworked version.
9.5/10
From what I can gather, this is apparently an exact remake of a movie of the same name and even features the same actors for the antagonists and same director, but with a new American cast filling in the rest. Not having seen the original German version, I can't rate it based on the original film and whether or not it was done better, but I am perfectly satisfied with the copy I got.
Funny Games. The title sounds like a comedy, of course. Funny is the fuel of comedy, and games are fun. In fact when I saw the title I wondered why it came from the horror section. The movie has a very simple premise at heart, a family moves into a gated community surrounded by a lake and weird things have been happening to the neighbours. A pair of sterile looking twins are attempting to pass off as golf players and people who just want to play a game, but in truth their game is much more sinister and bizarre as they invade the new families home and hold them hostage, forced to play their games if they wish to survive. The film is very taught, tense, and actually very scary. Despite the simple premise, the direction and overall style of the film, as well as the most bizarre climax I've seen in some time, make this film a strangely affecting and horrific title. I had to rewatch the film to truly understand what was going on, and while I'm still a bit confused, I think I get it. This movie f***s with your head, but it does it subtly before breaking out the sledgehammer and finishing it off with a much less subtle, but effective slam on the head. This film, without a doubt, breaks the fourth wall more than any film I have ever seen, and it's downright creepy. It's like you are getting sucked into the game and held hostage by those two creepy bastages yourself, and damn is it ingenious. You may not notice at first, but that only makes it more intriguing to watch the film again and learn about it.
It's really hard to say much else without spoiling it, but this is a special horror film. It's unique, it's well written, it's suspenseful, and it's downright creepy. In my never ending quest to find movies that actually scare me, this finds its place on the shortest shelf of my DVD collection. It's psychological trickery, taught suspense, and the fact that it doesn't rely on overt gore or sexuality means that there's a more realistic tone to the film, and it will suck you in and make you a witness to the sick games themselves as if you had a part in playing them or even a victim yourself forced to see the consequences. I whole heartedly recommend Funny Games. If my intel is correct, other than the English cast, there is no difference between the original German version from 1997, so either version is probably just as affecting and good though fans of the original might have a bias against a fully reworked version.
9.5/10
