Funny Games (1997)
Funny Game is an Austrian psychological horror movie that came out in 1997 in the languages of french and german.
How I Watched: Max (formerly HBO Max)
For the short of it: A pair of dudes terrorize a family.
The long of it? My god...
Happy Terrible Tuesday to you folks out there. The past couple of Terrible Tuesday posts were pretty rough but I promise this entry is not AS bad. Still bad but....not.
So this movie is about a family of 3 who just arrived to their holiday home in Austria which is a lovely vacation house by a lake. Lake house? idk I ain't bougie enough to know what the fuck it is really called anyway. Before the 3 get a smidgen of a chance to enjoy their stay, in walks one dude signaling the beginning of the motherfucking end.
He introduces himself as Peter who knocks on the door and proceeded to get greeted by the wife named Anna while her husband and son named George and Georgie respectively are by the dock doing boat things so they are none the wiser. Peter asks the lonesome Anna for 4 eggs. She happily obliges and sends him on his way.
Only problem is, he doesn't.
This fuck ass drops the eggs before he can even reach the door and has the audacity to ask for 4 MORE eggs. The demeanor of this dude doesn't pass Anna's vibe check but she begrudgingly just sends him packing yet again with 4 eggs. Net loss of 8 eggs. Sad day for eggs. BUT WAIT there's more. He finally manages to get his ass outside the door but well shoot, the pooch made him drop the eggs AGAIN!!!
Anna had enough of this shit but yeah in walks in a 2nd dude named Paul who seems to take the reigns for the events of the rest of this movie.
As I have interpreted, Anna was being trolled but now is no laughing matter. Now that the husband and son are back in the house, shit gets real when Paul and Peter made it clear that they are are their hostages now. I hope you can keep up here.
Like, literally the rest of this movie is just these 2 fuck asses trolling and loling on them and every once in a while get crunk with them which leaves them all battered and bruised. And tied up. We mustn't forget that. They were all tied up at some point or another. The events for the rest of this movie is just them being murderous antisocial goofballs while they just keep wanting to fuck with their heads.
Are you okay with spoilers? Well continue on if you don't care or you are well aware of this movie this I know this is generally highly regarded for the most part.
I'm honestly on the fence when it comes to this movie. I like it but at the same time I don't. I'm aware that sometimes outward general consensus may influence my opinion like Martyrs for example (will probably update that post if I haven't already) but this time, I am really struggling to see the praise of this movie.
First off, I thought it was rather interesting that they had a character break the 4th wall a small handful of times. It did offset the seriousness of this movie but at the same time, idk it just didn't hit the spot for me for the most part. Not like it was overly goofy or anything but ehhhh.
The ending. OMG that ending. You're past the spoiler alert so I guess I will just cut to the chase here and say that all 3 of the family members died by the end credits. This is a psychological horror movie for a reason so for that it is definitely a great psychological horror movie but overall...man it just sucks to see a movie where the bad guys win and get away with it. And for the ending to show that not only did they show the cycle is repeating itself but it this family was far from their first once everything really comes together.
Like, what exactly did they gain from this? They didn't do it to rob, ransom or any of that sort. Funny Games is what. The title totally suits the movie. I know a lot of people say this is one of their favorite movies and a part of me sees that but there was just sooooo many boring lags in this movie. You totally know what I mean if you saw it. I had a hard time keeping my undivided attention that twice I had to rewind scenes. All in all, it was just an OK movie. I may have to reassess this movie in a couple months that maybe I will see what everyone else sees but at the moment it IS above mediocre but I'm absolutely certain there would be no place for this movie is my Top Favorite Horror Movies of All Time. Sorry not sorry.
There is also an American remake 10 years later that everyone is saying is literally a shot for shot replica but for some reason everyone is saying the OG is better? Must be a default setting everyone feels obliged to say but I'll take their word for it this time.
That being said, what is my verdict?
interesting execution but didn't light my fire
If you are interested in watching Funny Games then please CLICK HERE to see which streaming platforms you can watch it on via the free streaming guide app JUSTWATCH!
