History Film / FunnyGames

* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[Literature/TheBible Peter and Paul]].

** It is also a commentary on abuse as entertainment in general and the deconstruction lies in that it shows this abuse without glorification, without any emotional or moral justifications and without giving the audience the comfort of the dehumanizing effects of {{gorn}} and NauseaFuel. The killers as {{Audience Surrogate}}s are continually disappointed when the family does the more common sense action rather than ratcheting up the tension, and the [[SoundOnlyDeath real violence is only heard]], not seen.
** Georgie's rage against the killers and escape from the house seemingly cements him as a potential KidHero, but the fact that he is an inexperienced child demonstrates that he is unable to meaningfully fight back against Paul and Peter.
** The whole point of subverting the FinalGirl was to trick the audience to fall for an old horror cliche: "the final surviving female kills the villains." [[spoiler:[[ChekhovsGun Placing that knife so early on in the movie]], only to have it be disregarded as completely unimportant by the end.]]

* {{Retcon}}: Within the film! [[spoiler:Paul rewinds the movie using a remote, inside the movie, and undoes a death.]]

* WrongGenreSavvy: Paul is under the impression that he is in a traditional {{thriller}}, but given that he BreaksTheFourthWall to address the audience and even [[spoiler:subverts the rules to win]], his presence makes the entire movie incredibly unconventional.

* DramaticIrony: Paul is under the impression that he is in a traditional {{thriller}}, but given that he BreaksTheFourthWall to address the audience and even [[spoiler:subverts the rules to win]], his presence makes the entire movie incredibly unconventional.

* TheOner: Shortly after the gun goes off, there is a long take in which very little happens, but the full horror of the scene can be soaked in.

** Peter is constantly berated by Paul, which leads to arguments between the two. The film seemingly sets up for [[spoiler:[[TheDogBitesBack Peter attacking Paul out of frustration]], but it never occurs.

* CardCarryingVillain: Paul confesses they "rob rich families in smart houses."

* RewindGag: [[spoiler:The villains use a remote control at one point to rewind the scene like a videotape when things didn't turn out the way they planned.]]

* ChekhovsGun: Subverted by [[spoiler:the knife in the sailboat. There's an insert shot of the knife getting left aboard, and in fact the wife lunges for it at the very end, but it's quickly taken away from her and has no effect on the plot or her fate.]]

* DoubleMeaningTitle: Pete and Paul amuse themselves by playing "funny games" with their victims. In addition, film plays a game with the audience through Paul, who asks the audience to predict the fate of the family.

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: While Peter isn't aware of the fourth wall like Paul is, he makes comments that make sense both InUniverse and out.

* HateSink: Peter and Paul have no redeeming qualities and are {{FlatCharacter}}s whose only desire is to kill people ForTheEvulz.

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Compare Creator/NaomiWatts from the remake with [[http://www.filmtipps.at/kritiken/Funny_Games/gallery/Funny_Games_1.jpg Susanne Lothar]] who played Anna in the original.

Austrian filmmaker and social critic Creator/MichaelHaneke made ''Funny Games'' in 1997, then [[ShotForShotRemake remade it shot-for-shot]] in the U.S. ten years later. Although trivially similar to a {{Gorn}} film, it's actually intended as a {{deconstruction}} of such films, as well as a giant YouBastard to anyone who'd want to watch them in the first place.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/funny_games_2.jpg]]

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

Austrian filmmaker and social critic Creator/MichaelHaneke made ''Funny Games'' in 1997, then remade an English-language version ten years later, [[ShotForShotRemake shot for shot]]. Although trivially similar to a {{Gorn}} film, it's actually meant as a deconstruction of such films as well as a giant YouBastard at the audience who would want to watch them in the first place.

* FreudianExcuse: Deconstructed when the father asks his two tormentors why they are hurting his family. The villains poke fun at him, coming up with various reasons like one of them being a child of divorce which made him become [[DepravedHomosexual a queer and a crook]] or him having five siblings with all of them being drug addicts while his father was TheAlcoholic. None of this was true as they immediately point out.

* TitleDrop: By Peter, early on... only in the singular form.

* YouBastard: The entire point of the films.

* ConvenientlyPlacedSharpThing: A knife that's been left in the family's boat is [[ChekhovsGun later used]] by a tied-up Anna to try and free herself. Subverted, in that Paul and Peter see her, take the knife away, and throw it overboard. [[spoiler: As well as Anna herself.]]

* RealityEnsues: Zigzagged for the bad guys. [[spoiler:If not for the RewindGag, either both guys would have ended up dead or Paul could have otherwise easily found himself without a partner due to the fact that both guys let their guard down toward a vindictive victim who was within reach of a gun. On the other hand, ]]

** The wife is forced to decide if the villains kill her husband quickly by gunshot, or slowly by knife.

* TitleDrop: By Peter, early on... only in the singular form.
* SoundOnlyDeath: When [[spoiler:Georgie]] is killed, it happens in the next room while Paul makes food, and we only hear the sound of the rifle going off and see a blood-spattered television immediately afterward.

* StressVomit: The mother vomits after [[spoiler:looking back in on the room where her son's corpse is lying. This happens several minutes after the 11-minute oner where she struggles to get on her feet while it lies next to her.]].

* UniversalRemoteControl: The TV remote is used to literally rewind the film so that Paul [[DiabolusExMachina can stop the protagonists]] from foiling his scheme.

* WouldHitAGirl: One of the villains slaps the mother hard.

* FatAndSkinny: Peter and Paul respectively in the original. It is averted in the remake although Paul still calls Peter [[InformedFlaw "Tubby"]] as an insult.

* ForTheEvulz: The killers give [[MultipleChoicePast conflicting]] {{Freudian Excuse}}s for their deeds, reducing it to simple, pointless evil.

* GenreDeconstruction: The film subverts your expectations of home invasion horror and thanks to the attendant DeconstructorFleet, thus continues to deliberately frustrate fans of the genre.

** The whole point of subverting the FinalGirl was to trick the audience to fall for an old horror cliche: "the final surviving female kills the villains." [[ChekhovsGun Placing that knife so early on in the movie]], only to have it be disregarded as completely unimportant by the end.

* GoryDiscretionShot: [[spoiler:The murders of the entire family fall under this with Georgie Jr.'s and the dog's deaths falling under SoundOnlyDeath.]]
* HateSink: Peter and Paul.
* HereWeGoAgain: The bulk of the film is neither the first nor last time these killers will play their game. We see them with the neighbors early on, and then see them starting the whole thing over again with some other neighbors at the end.

** First we witness the family's friends arriving in a boat but bummer, an old man and his two female partners pose no threat to the villains.

** When the wife is tied up in the boat and they are about to push her into the lake, she spots the knife her son had left there earlier and for a few moments it looks like she might actually be able to get away. However, one of the killers notices it too and grabs it before she has a chance to take it.

* KarmaHoudini: The two killers receive no comeuppance. In the end, the dominant killer even smirks triumphantly at the camera as he prepares to kill again.

* TheOner: In the Austrian version, shortly after the gun goes off, there is an 11-minute shot in which very little happens, but the full horror of the scene can be soaked in.

* RealityEnsues: Zigzagged for the bad guys. If not for the RewindGag, [[spoiler: either both guys would've of ended up dead or Paul could've otherwise easily found himself without a partner due to the fact that both guys let their guard down toward a vindictive victim who was within reach of a gun.]]

* RewindGag: In both the original and remake, the villains use a remote control at one point to rewind the scene like a videotape when things didn't turn out the way they planned.

* SoundOnlyDeath: When [[spoiler:Georgie]] is killed, it happens in the next room as we see Paul making food, and we only hear the sound of the rifle going off and see a blood-spattered television immediately afterward.

* AMFMCharacterization: The family listens to opera music which establishes them as being of the middle-class. Peter and Paul listen to ''death'' metal.

* BigBadDuumvirate: Peter and Paul although Paul seems to be the one in charge.

* BlownAcrossTheRoom: [[spoiler:Peter]] when being shot by [[spoiler:Anna]] with the rifle.

* BoundAndGagged: The mother after she was picked up by the villains on the street, and also during [[spoiler:the boat ride at the end that she never returns from]].

* CellPhonesAreUseless: The mother's cell phone is disabled by it getting dropped in the sink, frying the battery, very much TruthInTelevision.

** Georgie is the first one to die.
** Also, the neighbor's daughter is seen lying dead in the bathroom of their house.
* DeceptivelySillyTitle: A film about two guys who decide to murder a family just because they can, in fourth-wall-breaking fashion, is not that funny.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:All three family members are killed before 9:00, the villains win their bet, and the film ends with Paul asking another neighbor for eggs, restarting their "game"]].

* FatAndSkinny: Peter and Paul in the original.

* HopeSpot: The entire movie is filled with situations where you feel hopeful for the victims like something would turn in their favor, and each time that door is slammed shut.

* BrokenAesop: Academics have been arguing since the film came out about whether Paul's YouBastard point is valid.

* DiabolusExMachina: In this movie, the killers have all the advantages, while the victims don't have any chance to survive. This is most prominently and cruelly shown in the remote control trick.

* EvilDetectingDog: The family's German Shepherd barks wholeheartedly at the villains. The clue remains unnoticed.

* GoryDiscretionShot: The death of [[spoiler:the husband]]. The [[spoiler:son]] gets a SoundOnlyDeath.

** The wife manages to grab the killers' gun and shoot one of them. It looks like the other killer loses his mind when he tries to undo the event with a remote control, but it actually works. The scene rewinds and this time the killers hang onto the gun.

* LeaveTheCameraRunning: The original is full of scenes like this, most notably immediately after [[spoiler: Paul and Peter kill Georgie]].

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Directed to you (us?) the viewer because by watching this movie, you allowed its universe to exist through your thoughts.
%%* {{Remake}}: Covered under ShotForShotRemake

* TakeThatAudience: A number of events in the film are arguably this, including [[spoiler:the rewind scene, in which the audience is given what it wants and then cruelly undone.]] This is [[WordOfGod confirmed]] by interviews with the director Haneke.

* GenreDeconstruction / DeconstructorFleet: The film subverts your expectations of home invasion horror and thus continues to frustrate fans of the genre.

* RealityEnsues: Zigzagged for the bad guys. If not for the RewindGag, [[spoiler: either both guys would've of ended up dead or Paul could've otherwise easily found himself without a partner due to the fact that both guys let their guard down toward a vindictive victim who was within gun reach.]]

* TheSociopath: The two boys who decide to torture families as a pastime.
* TitleDrop: By Peter, early on...only in the singular form.

* SarcasticTitle: The movie is definitely not funny.

* SarcasticTitle: The movie is anything but funny.

* ConspicuousGloves: Two clean-cut young men wear white gloves, making them look a little like golfers. The wife asks about them because they didn't take them off inside the house, and Paul claims he has eczema. They wear them to hide their fingerprints.

* EvilDetectingDog: The family's German Shepard barks wholeheartedly at the villains. The clue remains unnoticed.

** The son gets hold of a shotgun and shoots at Paul. Too bad the rifle wasn't loaded.

* StressVomit: The mother vomits after [[spoiler:her son is shot]].

* ManInWhite: The killers are dressed in white golf outfits.

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.

* DeceptivelySillyTitle: A film about two guys who decide to murder a family just because they can, in fourth wall breaking fashion, is not that funny.

* FanDisservice: Seeing Creator/NaomiWatts in bra and panties is usually a good view for male audience. But while she's tied up to be tortured ? Maybe not so much.

* HopeSpot: The entire movie is filled with situations where you feel hopeful for the victims, like something would turn in their favor, and each time that door is slammed shut.

* NothingIsScarier: The excruciatingly suspenseful scene where Georgie is being hunted down by Paul in the neighbors' house, where everything is dark and deathly silent and you know that Georgie might be caught at any moment..

* RewindGag: In both the original and remake, the villains use a remote control at one point to rewind the scene like a video tape when things didn't turn out the way they planned.

* RealityEnsues: Zizagged for the bad guys. If not for the RewindGag, [[spoiler: either both guys would've of ended up dead or Paul could've otherwise easily found himself without a partner due to the fact that both guys let their guard down toward a vindictive victim who was within gun reach.]]

* RealityEnsues: Subverted for the bad guys. However if not for the RewindGag, [[spoiler: either both guys would've of ended up dead or Paul could've otherwise easily found himself without a partner due to the fact that both guys let their guard down toward a vindictive victim who was within gun reach.]]

* ConspicuousGloves: Provides the trope image. Two clean-cut young men wear white gloves, making them look a little like golfers. The wife asks about them because they didn't take them off inside the house, and Paul claims he has eczema. They wear them to hide their fingerprints.

* ConspicuousGloves: Two clean-cut young men wear white gloves, making them look a little like golfers. The wife asks about them because they didn't take them off inside the house, and Paul claims he has eczema. They wear them to hide their fingerprints.

* ConvenientlyPlacedSharpThing: A knife that's been left in the family's boat is [[ChekhovsGun later used]] by a tied-up Anna to try and free herself. Subverted, in that Paul and Peter see her, take the knife away, and throw it overboard.

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Averted. In both versions, Anna gets visibly more worn out-looking over the course of the film as a result of the abuse.

* {{Bookends}}: The title of the film is shown in red text at the beginning and ending of the film, accompanied by the same metal song.

* MovingTheGoalposts: Paul enjoys doing this to the mother. First he only wants her to recite a prayer. Then he demands her to pronounce it in a more affectionate way. Next he wants her to kneel while saying the prayer. Lastly she is supposed to recite the prayer back to front.

* StunnedSilence: After [[spoiler:Georgie is killed]], the parents sit motionless and in silence for over a minute.