History Film / FunnyGames

Although its surface-level premise is that of a [[ProtectThisHouse home invasion movie]] promising [[{{Gorn}} gore]] and [[TorturePorn suffering]] aplenty, ''Funny Games'' is actually intended as a [[GenreDeconstruction deconstruction of such films]] -- and a giant [[YouBastard middle finger]] to anyone who'd want to watch them in the first place. On a wider scale, the film also functions as a statement from Haneke on how violence is treated and portrayed by the media[[note]]Although it wasn't explicitly confirmed as inspiration, it is of note that the remake was released during a time when works often classified as TorturePorn were a highly prevalent craze within American horror[[/note]], and how [[ViolenceIsDisturbing horrific]] normally glamorized scenes and story conventions are when presented in a realistic form.

** A tagline for the remake was "You must admit, you brought this on yourself." While this functions as a message from Paul and Peter to the family they terrorize, it can also be interpreted as a sardonic message to the American audiences the remake was released to, as they had contributed in making TorturePorn films the horror craze of the time, and as such were "due" for a film that works deliberately to ''not'' give such an audience what they want.

* OnceMoreWithClarity: Anna, Georgie, and Georg meet Peter and Paul's earlier victims. Everything is ostensibly fine, but they keep commenting on how strange they seem. Then Anna ends up in the same position, and is equally friendly but stilted.

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

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

''Funny Games'' is a 1997 Austrian satirical psychological thriller film written and directed by Creator/MichaelHaneke. The film was given an [[ForeignRemake American]] ShotForShotRemake in 2007, also written and directed by Haneke and featuring an English-speaking cast (led by Creator/NaomiWatts and Creator/TimRoth) and a mostly American crew. Considering Haneke wanted to make a film in America but had to make the original in Austria for practical reasons, the remake is in a way closer to his true artistic vision for the film.

->'''Anna''': Why don't you just kill us?

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Compare [[http://www.filmtipps.at/kritiken/Funny_Games/gallery/Funny_Games_1.jpg Susanne Lothar]], who plays Anna in the original, with Creator/NaomiWatts in the remake.
* ActionSurvivor: Subverted. [[spoiler:The wife displays a spontaneous burst of badassery when she snatches a gun and shoots one of the villains to kingdom come, but this doesn't stop the other villain from ''literally'' rewinding time to undo it.]]

** 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. He adds a wink in the original, but just stares in the remake.

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

* BlownAcrossTheRoom: [[spoiler:This happens to Peter when he is shot by Anna with the rifle.]]

* CastingGag: Arno Frisch, who plays Paul in the Austrian version, previously starred as a young psychopath named Benny in ''Benny's Video'', an earlier Haneke film.

** Subverted in the case of [[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.]]

* 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. [[spoiler:Subverted, in that Paul and Peter see her, take the knife away, and throw it overboard. As well as Anna herself.]]

* DiabolusExMachina: In this movie, the killers have all the advantages, which is best demonstrated [[spoiler:with the remote control trick]].

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

** [[spoiler:Georgie's death]] not only averts [[spoiler:ImprobableInfantSurvival]], but it also means that AnyoneCanDie.

** Paul is a MediumAware psychopath, who only kills people because he knows he has to entertain an audience interested in watching a violent film.
** The film parodies the ExcusePlot of thrillers and similar genres by having the killers attack the family [[DisproportionateRetribution after George refuses to lend Paul and Peter some eggs]]. The killers similarly do not have a real motive for torturing the family other than the fact that [[ForTheEvulz it is fun]]. This is then deconstructed after the killers leave the family alone to extend the running time to feature-film length: the story slows down because ultimately Paul and Peter are the ones instigating the plot and without them, there is no story.
** Georgie's rage against the killers and escape from the house seemingly establishes him as a potential KidHero, but the fact that he is an inexperienced child going up against two psychopathic adults means that he is unable to meaningfully fight back.
** The [[spoiler:remote-control rewind after Ann guns down Peter]] deconstructs WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief. Every work of fiction is designed to entertain the audience by manipulating them into believing that said story is internally consistent even though the story's creators [[YouCantFightFate ultimately decide what happens in the story]]. By introducing a DiabolusExMachina into the plot, Paul reveals that his bet with the viewers was a rigged game and was deceiving them into believing that it was possible for the family to win.
** The whole point of subverting the FinalGirl was to trick the audience to fall for an old horror cliché: "the final surviving female kills the villains." [[spoiler:The movie sets up the [[ChekhovsGun knife in the boat]] so early on only to disregard it as [[RedHerring completely unimportant]] by the end.]]

* MeaningfulEcho: Paul's words "That was the test run" take on a different meaning [[spoiler:after the remote-control rewind]].

* {{The Spook}}s: The origins (and real names) of Peter and Paul remain unknown throughout the film, and they are complete strangers to all of their victims.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Zigzagged for the bad guys. [[spoiler:Early on, Peter drops the phone in the water to prevent the family from alerting the police and cripples the father with a golf club, both of which allow Paul and Peter to gain an almost unsurmountable advantage over the family. However, 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.]]

* UnbuiltTrope: The 2007 remake is often described as a GenreDeconstruction of the TorturePorn films that were popular in The2000s, even though it is a shot-for-shot remake of the 1997 Austrian original, which was meant to criticize the use of violence in film.

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

* VillainousBreakdown: Subverted when Peter and Paul pull their FreudianExcuse prank on the father.

** 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. In the original, he winks although in the remake, he just stares.

** A tagline for the remake was "You must admit, you brought this on yourself." While this functions as a message from Paul and Peter to the family they terrorize, it can also be interpreted as a sardonic message to the American audiences the remake was released to, as they had contributed in making TorturePorn films the horror craze of the time, and as such were "due" for a film that [[spoiler:works painstakingly to ''not'' give such an audience what they want]].

* JumpScare: The movie begins with the family playing a game that involves listening to classical music. When the title credits begin appearing, the movie starts to play obnoxiously loud metal music.

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: While Peter isn't aware of the FourthWall like Paul is, he makes comments that make sense both from an InUniverse perspective and a meta perspective.
-->'''Peter:''' If you think about it, [[ExcusePlot all of this just for a carton of eggs]].

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.

[[FauxAffablyEvil Though maintaining a nonchalant and even friendly facade]], it soon becomes clear that the two men are psychopaths who intend to spend the night torturing the family with a number of cruel games, holding a bet between themselves that no one in the family will be alive by 9:00 the next morning.

Although its surface-level premise is that of a [[ProtectThisHouse home invasion movie]] promising [[{{Gorn}} gore]] and [[TorturePorn suffering]] aplenty, ''Funny Games'' is actually intended as a [[GenreDeconstruction deconstruction of such films]] -- and a giant [[YouBastard middle finger]] to anyone who'd want to watch them in the first place. On a wider scale, the film also functions as a statement from Haneke on how violence is treated and portrayed by the media[[note]]although it wasn't explicitly confirmed as inspiration, it is of note that the remake was released during a time when TorturePorn was a highly prevalent craze within American horror[[/note]], and how [[ViolenceIsDisturbing horrific]] normally glamorized scenes and story conventions are when presented in stark form.

* ThoseTwoBadGuys: The central antagonists seem to function between themselves as a slightly more real, less comical version of this trope.

** 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. In the original, he winks, although in the remake he just stares.
** He also gives another one to the camera at the very end of the film.

''Funny Games'' is a 1997 Austrian satirical psychological thriller film written and directed by Creator/MichaelHaneke. The film was given an [[ForeignRemake American]] ShotForShotRemake in 2007; also written and directed by Haneke, the remake featured an English-speaking cast (led by Creator/NaomiWatts and Creator/TimRoth) and a mostly American crew. Considering Haneke wanted to make a film in America but had to make the original in Austria for practical reasons, the remake is in a way closer to his true artistic vision for the film.

Although its surface-level premise is that of a [[ProtectThisHouse home invasion movie]] promising [[{{Gorn}} gore]] and [[TorturePorn suffering]] aplenty, ''Funny Games'' is actually intended as a [[GenreDeconstruction deconstruction of such films]] -- and a giant [[YouBastard middle finger]] to anyone who'd want to watch them in the first place. On a wider scale, the film also functions as Haneke's statement on how violence is treated and portrayed by the media[[note]]although it wasn't explicitly confirmed as inspiration, it is of note that the remake was released during a time when TorturePorn was a highly prevalent craze within American horror[[/note]], and how [[ViolenceIsDisturbing horrific]] normally glamorized scenes and story conventions are when presented in stark, barebones form.

Although its surface-level premise is that of a [[{{Gorn}} gory]] [[ProtectThisHouse home invasion movie]], ''Funny Games'' is actually intended as a [[GenreDeconstruction deconstruction of such films]] -- and a giant [[YouBastard middle finger]] to anyone who'd want to watch them in the first place. On a wider scale, the film also functions as Haneke's statement on how violence is treated and portrayed by the media[[note]]although it wasn't explicitly confirmed as inspiration, it is of note that the remake was released during a time when TorturePorn was a highly prevalent craze within American horror[[/note]], and how [[ViolenceIsDisturbing horrific]] normally glamorized scenes and story conventions are when presented in stark, barebones form.

Although its surface-level premise is that of a [[{{Gorn}} gory]] [[ProtectThisHouse home invasion movie]], ''Funny Games'' is actually intended as a [[GenreDeconstruction deconstruction of such films]] -- and a giant [[YouBastard middle finger]] to anyone who'd want to watch them in the first place. On a wider scale, the film also functions as Haneke's statement on how violence is treated and portrayed by the media[[note]]although it wasn't explicitly confirmed as inspiration, it is of note that the remake was released during a time when TorturePorn was the predominant craze of American horror[[/note]], and how [[ViolenceIsDisturbing horrific]] normally glamorized scenes and story conventions are when presented in stark, barebones form.

* UnbuiltTrope: The 2007 remake is often described as a GenreDeconstruction of TorturePorn films that were popular in The2000s even though it is a shot-for-shot remake of the 1997 Austrian original, which was meant to criticize the use of violence in film.

Although its surface-level premise is that of a [[{{Gorn}} gory]] [[ProtectThisHouse home invasion movie]], ''Funny Games'' is actually intended as a [[GenreDeconstruction deconstruction of such films]] -- and a giant [[YouBastard middle finger]] to anyone who'd want to watch them in the first place. On a wider scale, the film also functions as Haneke's statement on how violence is treated and portrayed by the media[[note]]although it wasn't explicitly confirmed as inspiration, it is of note that the remake's 2007 release occurred smack-dab in the middle of the TorturePorn craze of American horror[[/note]], and how [[ViolenceIsDisturbing horrific]] normally glamorized scenes and story conventions are when presented in stark, barebones form.

[[AffablyEvil Though maintaining a nonchalant and even friendly facade]], it soon becomes clear that the two men are psychopaths who intend to spend the night torturing the family with a number of cruel games, holding a bet between themselves that no one in the family will be alive by 9:00 the next morning.

Though maintaining a nonchalant and even friendly facade, it soon becomes clear that the two men are psychopaths who intend to spend the night torturing the family with a number of cruel games, holding a bet between themselves that no one in the family will be alive by 9:00 the next morning.

''Funny Games'' is a 1997 Austrian satirical psychological thriller film written and directed by Creator/MichaelHaneke. The film was given an [[ForeignRemake American]] ShotForShotRemake in 2007; also written and directed by Haneke, the remake featured an English-speaking cast (led by Creator/NaomiWatts and Creator/TimRoth) and a mostly American crew. Considering Haneke had to make the original in Austria for practical reasons, the remake is in a way closer to his true artistic vision for the film.

Austrian filmmaker and social critic Creator/MichaelHaneke made ''Funny Games'' in 1997, then [[ShotForShotRemake remade it shot-for-shot]] [[ForeignRemake in the U.S.]] ten years later. Although superficially resembling a {{Gorn}} thriller, it is 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.

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?

** The whole point of subverting the FinalGirl was to trick the audience to fall for an old horror cliché: "the final surviving female kills the villains." [[spoiler:[[ChekhovsGun The movie sets up the knife in the boat so early on]] only to disregard it as [[RedHerring completely unimportant]] by the end.]]

* GoryDiscretionShot: Zigzagged. [[spoiler:The murders of the entire family fall under this with Georgie Jr.'s and the dog's deaths falling under SoundOnlyDeath. However, this is averted with Peter's death, which is the only death shown on screen.]]

** 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.

* 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 such as Peter becoming [[DepravedHomosexual a queer and a criminal]] after his mother divorced his father or him having a poor upbringing due to coming from a family of drug addicts with his father as TheAlcoholic. None of this was true as they immediately point out.

** Paul is a MediumAware psychopath, who breaks the fourth wall to interact with the audience. While he never condemns the audience for watching the movie, the fact that he seeks to entertain the audience implies that the audience's interest in violence and suspense is responsible for he and Peter's interest in torturing people.
** The film parodies the ExcusePlot of thrillers and similar genres by having the killers attack the family [[DisproportionateRetribution after George refuses to lend Paul and Peter some eggs]]. The killers similarly do not have a real motive for torturing the family other than the fact that [[ForTheEvulz it is fun]]. This is then deconstructed after the killers leave the family alone: the story slows down because ultimately Paul and Peter are the ones instigating the plot and without them, there is no story.

* 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. Unlike most examples of this trope, this actually makes him more competent as a villain.
* YouBastard: Paul does this in interesting manner in that he doesn't actually condemn the audience for watching the film. Rather, he is genuinely trying to entertain the viewers and even shares inside jokes with them, so his approval of the audience is meant to be a BackhandedCompliment.

* ChekhovsGunman: The Farbers' friends, who ride a sailboat to visit them, [[spoiler:become Paul and Peter's next set of victims]].

* CulturalTranslation: Played with. Haneke initially intended ''Funny Games'' to be an American film but was forced to make the original film in Austria. Despite this change, the Austrian version still featured many references to American pop culture. Eventually, the movie was remade as an American film, thus rendering the {{Shout-Out}}s to American culture much more appropriate.

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

* GoryDiscretionShot: Zigzagged. [[spoiler:The murders of the entire family fall under this with Georgie Jr.'s and the dog's deaths falling under SoundOnlyDeath. However, this is averted with Pete's death, which is the only death shown on screen.]]

** The [[spoiler:remote-control rewind after Ann guns down Peter]] deconstructs WillingSuspensionOfDisblief. Every work of fiction is designed to entertain the audience by manipulating them into believing that said story is internally consistent even though the story's creators [[YouCantFightFate ultimately decide what happens in the story]]. By introducing a DiablousExMachina into the plot, Paul reveals that his bet with the viewers was a rigged game and was deceiving them into believing that it was possible for the family to win.

* CulturalTranslation: Played with. Haneke initially intended ''Funny Games'' to be an American film but was forced to make the original film in Austria. Despite this change, the Austrian version still featured many references to American pop culture. Eventually, the movie was remade as an American film, thus rendering the {{ShoutOut}}s to American culture much more appropriate.

* GenreDeconstruction: The film subverts the viewer's expectations for a {{Thriller}} and thanks to the attendant DeconstructorFleet, thus continues to deliberately frustrate fans of the genre.
** GenreSavvy killers who know they're in a film and [[BreakingTheFourthWall break the fourth wall]] to [[YouBastard accuse the audience of wanting innocents to suffer for their amusement]].
** 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 [[FreudianExcuse 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 establishes him as a potential KidHero, but the fact that he is an inexperienced child going up against two experienced killers means 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 cliché: "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.]]

* IronicName: Paul and Peter are named after [[Literature/TheBible two Christian saints]]. They are anything but saintly.