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The Protagonists
General
The Schobers/Farbers
The Schobers/Farbers are a yuppie family who plan on having a relaxing vacation playing golf and whatnot. Unfortunately, they run into some trouble when Paul and Peter enter the picture.
- AM/FM Characterization: The family listens to opera music in their car which establishes them as the cultured, upper class as they drive to their lakeside vacation home.
- Decoy Protagonist: As the protagonists, they are the first characters to appear on screen and get the most screen time. However, after Paul and Peter successfully kill the family and win the bet, the movie starts focusing on Paul and Peter.
- Dub Name Change: Their surname is "Schober" in the Austrian original and "Farber" in the American remake.
- The Everyman: They are your generic Nuclear Family in both versions, dog included. Downplayed in that they are rich folk with their own vacation home.
- Stunned Silence: After Georgie is killed, the parents sit motionlessly in silence for over a minute.
George Sr.
George Sr.
Played By: Ulrich Mühe (original), Tim Roth (remake)
The patriarch of the family.
- Casting Gag: Ulrich Mühe also starred in Benny's Video as the father of the titular character.
- Distressed Dude: Paul and Peter choose him to be the victim for Ann to rescue in the game "The Loving Wife".
- Heroic BSoD: After Paul and Peter return to torture Ann and him once more, George loses hope and tells the invaders to just kill him.
- The Load: He gets a Game-Breaking Injury early on and has very limited mobility for the rest of the movie. Downplayed in that he still plays a role in his son's escape and helps call the police.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Tim Roth slides between his natural English accent (as in Pulp Fiction) and his much more nasal, higher-pitched American accent (as in Reservoir Dogs).
- Papa Wolf: George is very protective of his family and makes an effort to fight Paul and Peter after they attack his wife and son.
- The Worf Effect: He is the biggest member of the family and gets incapacitated first to establish that Paul and Peter aren't messing around.
Ann
Ann
Played By: Susanne Lothar (original), Naomi Watts (remake)
The matriarch of the family.
- Anguished Declaration of Love: She gives one to her husband before climbing out of the window to look for help.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted. In both versions, Ann gets visibly more worn-out-looking over the course of the film as a result of the abuse.
- Bound and Gagged: This happens to Ann after she is picked up by the villains on the street and also during the boat ride from which she never returns.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: She is the protagonist that puts up the most fight against Paul and Peter, but she gets an anti-climatic death of drowning offscreen after Paul decides that the "feature-film length" has been reached.
- Final Girl: Played with. Ann is the last protagonist standing, but she still dies in the end.
- Mama Bear: Even after Paul and Peter take her family hostage, she remains defiant of them and attacks them when they torture her son.
- Ms. Fanservice: In the remake she's played by Naomi Watts and he spends half of the movie in bra and panties. Then again considered she's tied up to be sadistically tortured this may lean to Fan Disservice.
- Prayer Is a Last Resort: Invoked. Paul forces Ann to pray; otherwise, Peter will subject George to a slow and painful death.
- Stress Vomit: She vomits after looking back at the room where her son's corpse is lying. This happens several minutes after The Oner where she struggles to get on her feet while he lies next to her.
Georgie Jr.
Georgie Jr.
Played By: Stefan Clapczynski (original), Devon Gearhart (remake)
George and Ann's son.
- Bring My Brown Pants: Poor Georgie couldn't hold it during the "Cat in the Bag" game and ended up peeing his pants.
- Children Forced to Kill: At one point, Georgie gets ahold of a shotgun and warns Paul that he will kill him if Paul comes any closer. when Georgie realizes that the gun has no ammo.
- Deconstructed Character Archetype: Georgie's rage against the killers and escape from the house seemingly establishes him as a potential Kid Hero, but the fact that he is an inexperienced child going up against two psychopathic adults means that he is unable to meaningfully fight back.
- Decoy Protagonist: The movie focuses primarily on Georgie in the first half since he becomes Paul's chosen victim but manages to escape. However, Paul quickly recaptures him, and Peter guns him down during "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe".
- Harmful to Minors: He witnesses Peter's abuse of his father and later becomes a victim of Paul's violence when the latter suffocates him. Peter kills him after Georgie attempts to escape again.
- Improbable Infant Survival: Averted as he is the first killed off. Ironically, Paul originally intended Georgie to have a much larger role as he gets angry when Peter accidentally kills him.
- Sacrificial Lion: The first important character to die, subverting the usual Plot Armor given to young characters in horror movies.
The Dog
Rolfi/Lucky
Played By: n/a (original), Gable and Kelly
(remake)
The family's pet dog.
- Adaptation Species Change: Downplayed. In the original, the family's dog is a German shepherd, but the remake changes said dog to a golden retriever. This is due to the Cultural Translation as German shepherds are popular in Austria while golden retrievers are popular in America.
- Dub Name Change: In the Austrian original, the dog's name is Rolfi while the American remake dubs the dog Lucky.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: The family's dog is the first character to be wary of Paul and Peter and thus barks wholeheartedly at the villains. Unfortunately, his warnings go unnoticed.
- Sacrificial Lamb: Paul kills the dog first to set up the "Hot and Cold" game for Ann.
The Antagonists
General
Paul and Peter
Paul and Peter are two psychopaths who invade homes and force their hostages to play some "funny games" for their amusement.
- Allegorical Character: Paul and Peter are so nondescript that they are less characters and more abstract personifications of conflict: they only exist to antagonize the heroes so that a story can happen. Their fake names add to this as they are references to violent pop-culture characters like Tom and Jerry and Beavis and Butt-Head.
- Audience Surrogate: Like the audience, they find enjoyment in violence.
- Ax-Crazy: They're both sadistic killers who find enjoy in torturing and killing human beings simply For the Evulz.
- Bantering Baddie Buddies: Zig-Zagged. Both men make light, casual banter about betting while deciding how to torture their victims. However, Paul also delivers some vicious insults about Peter's intelligence and weight, making it less banter and more mean-spirited bullying.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Peter and Paul although Paul is the one in charge.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Peter and Paul start off cordial and polite when they finally meet with the Farbers, but they eventually become more and more demanding until George slaps Paul, which leads to Peter Knee-capping him.
- Card-Carrying Villain: Paul and Peter all but admit they are evil. Unlike someone like, say, Jigsaw who claims to have good intentions for torturing people, Paul and Peter don't bother pretending that their funny games are anything more than an outlet for their sadism.
- Conspicuous Gloves: Two clean-cut young men wear white gloves, making them look a little like golfers. One of their next prospective victims asks about them because they didn't take them off inside the house; Paul then claims he has eczema. Of course, they really wear them to hide their own fingerprints.
- Diabolus ex Nihilo: The duo gives various conflicting accounts of whom they are and where they came from, but they're obviously all lies. They have no backstory and no reason to exist except to serve as villains for the movie the audience is so sadistically viewing.
- Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: The two killers are young and handsome boys in their twenties who don't even look menacing at first.
- Fat and Skinny: Peter and Paul respectively in the original, though Peter is more along the lines of
Hollywood Pudgy. It is averted in the remake although Paul still calls Peter "Tubby" as an insult. - Faux Affably Evil: Both Peter and Paul make a big show of being very polite and considerate, which is all a part of their sadistic game.
- For the Evulz: Both killers admit they are torturing the family for fun.
- Freudian Excuse: Parodied. 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 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 The Alcoholic. None of this was true as Paul immediately point out.Paul: You happy now? Or do you want another version?
- Golf Clubbing: The golf club is the weapon of choice for Paul and Peter, justified in that the two men really like playing golf as Peter admits. In their first appearance, the duo are seen forcing the Farbers' neighbors to play a sadistic game resembling golf.
- Hate Sink: Peter and Paul have no redeeming qualities and are Flat Characters whose only desire is to kill people For the Evulz.
- Icy Blue Eyes: They both have these in the remake which only enhance their murderous nature.
- Improvised Weapon: Both killers don't carry their own weapons and just use what they find from their victims' homes. Even useful weapons like guns are discarded once they move on to their next set of patsies.
- Karma Houdini: The two killers receive no comeuppance. In the end, Paul even smirks triumphantly at the camera as he prepares to kill again.
- Light Is Not Good: The villains are dressed all in white.
- Multiple-Choice Past: Paul tells a few different stories about his and Peter's background and motivations, none of which are true.
- Nosy Neighbor: The two men pretend to be this to get into their marks' homes before disclosing their true intentions as killers.
- No Name Given: Played with. Paul and Peter give themselves Unusual Pop Culture Names, making it obvious that they are using aliases. Paul and Peter aren't their actual names either.
- The Sociopath: The two boys decide to torture families as a pastime.
- The Spook: The origins (and real names) of Peter and Paul remain unknown throughout the film, and they are complete strangers to all of their victims.
- Subterfuge Judo: Paul and Peter first begin their games by exploiting their victims' etiquette and trying their victims' patience. Peter knocks Ann's phone into the water and continually asks Ann for more eggs after "accidentally" dropping them multiple times while Paul borrows the family's golf clubs to test out their quality. Ann at first complies with their requests in hopes that they will immediately leave afterwards, but she eventually realizes that they have some ulterior motive and quickly drops the politeness as she firmly tells them to leave.
- These Gloves Are Made for Killin': Peter and Paul wear white gloves as they torture and kill at least two families.
- They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: Paul and Peter look like perfectly normal and innocent young men. No one could imagine what kind of vicious, twisted killers they are.
- Villain in a White Suit: A variation. In both versions, Peter and Paul wear preppy all-white sportswear, with polo shirts and shorts.
- Villainous Friendship: Despite almost always bickering they seem at the end to have a a strong sense of friendship as Peter hits Mr Schober/Farber with a golf club after he slaps Paul and the latter is genuine devastated when Ann shots Peter dead. Which is only temporary though.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Paul insults Peter every chance he gets but is clearly devastated when Peter is blown away, which, sadly, doesn't last very long.
- Would Hit a Girl: Both Peter and Paul are willing to manhandle the mother if necessary.
- Would Hurt a Child: By the time both men invade the Farbers' home, they already murdered the neighbor's kid.
Paul
Paul (a.k.a Jerry or Butt-Head)
Played By: Arno Frisch (original), Michael Pitt (remake)
As the primary antagonist and the leader of the duo, Paul subjects the protagonists to some funny games while asking the audiences for their input.
- Adaptational Dye-Job: He is brown-eyed brunet in the original but a blue-eyed blond in the remake.
- Allegorical Character: Paul bases his actions on common film structure and manipulates the movie to entertain the audience. He is essentially a director.
- AM/FM Characterization: Paul's favorite song is the avant-garde metal track "Bonehead" by Naked City. The song is representative of Paul himself as it emphasizes both his violent nature and the movie's experimental nature as Paul has full control over the movie and can hence subvert normal film conventions.
- Author Powers: Implied at first before Paul blatantly shows it off with the remote control. Not only does Paul control the pacing and timing of the movie, he also manipulates the soundtrack and camera.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: He kills the family's dog by striking him with a golf club.
- Big Bad: Paul is the dominant antagonist with Peter willingly carrying out his instructions.
- Brainy Brunet: He is the brown-haired leader of the two antagonists. Subverted in the remake where Paul is a blond.
- Casting Gag: 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.
- Clairvoyance: Implied. It's less magic and more of a fourth-wall break. Since Paul controls the camera, he sees what the audience sees and knows what the audience knows. This is how he recognizes that Georgie's gun is unloaded as he and Peter previously used said gun to kill the neighbor's daughter, hence his familiarity with it, and Georgie never loaded the gun with bullets.
- Deadpan Snarker: Paul is the more sarcastic one of the duo, often displaying some very dark humor.
- Deconstructed Character Archetype: Paul is seemingly a Fair-Play Villain as he decides to give the Farbers a chance to win against Peter and him. However, Paul then demonstrates his Medium Awareness by speaking with the audience, acknowledging that his "fair play" is actually for the audience's sake as killing the Farbers immediately will result in a short movie. Essentially, Paul has to deliberately handicap himself with Contractual Genre Blindness just so the story can continue like a normal Psychological Thriller would. This is proven to be the case when Paul later pulls out his Story-Breaker Power to win as the film is nearly over at that point and Paul consequently feels no need to maintain the pretense of fairness.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: While Paul often denigrates and bullies Peter, he becomes distraught after Ann shoots Peter dead. It doesn't last long though as he's able to rewind the movie and prevent his dead.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Subverted. He scolds Peter for having shot Georgie but that's just because it was too early and now Ann and George are too distraught to "play with".
- Forgot About His Powers: Justified. Given how upset Paul was over Peter killing Georgie too early, Paul easily could have rewound the movie to bring back Georgie. However, this would have been counterproductive to Paul's plan to entertain the audience since the rewind will inconveniently warn the audience that the movie has zero stakes.
- For the Evulz: In a deconstruction movie, this is surprisingly reconstructed. Being evil for the sake of evil is usually an unrelatable, abstract motive, but Paul reveals that his evil is for the audience's amusement, making his motive hit closer to home.
- Fourth-Wall Observer: Played with. Initially, it seems that Peter is a fellow fourth-wall breaker as well due to his meta comments, but Peter's later conversation with Paul about reality and fiction confirms that Peter is unaware of his own fictionality, meaning that Paul is the only character to recognize the fourth wall.
- Genre Savvy: Paul knows that he's in a film and tracks his deeds based on a common plot structure.
- Golf Clubbing: He kills the dog with the Farbers' golf club.
- Invincible Villain: Unlike Peter, Paul never takes any damage and claims victory by the time the credits start rolling.
- Lean and Mean: In the original movie, Paul is quite skinny and is the dominant one of the murderous duo.
- Meaningful Rename: All three of Paul's aliases fit here.
- "Paul" is an Ironic Name as it is the name of a Christian saint, and Paul is obviously not a good person. Aptly enough, Paul later forces Ann to pray to God as part of a cruel game.
- "Jerry" is a Shout-Out to Tom and Jerry. Like the titular mouse in most of the animation shorts, Paul comes out on top in the very end. Additionally, Paul is a Reality Warper who can Break the Fourth Wall, making him more akin to a cartoon character that follows Toon Physics.
- "Butt-Head" is a reference to Beavis and Butt-Head. Like Butt-Head, Paul is a delinquent metalhead and is the smarter, crueler leader of the duo. Furthermore, he mistreats Peter, which parallels Butt-Head's relationship with Beavis. The physical similarity is more prominent in the Austrian original where Paul is a brunet rather than a blond.
- Medium Awareness: Paul knows he is in a movie, which allows him to change the soundtrack, control the camera, know the movie's current length, and rewind the movie's events with a remote control.
- Outside-Context Problem: Paul winds up as this for the protagonists. Dealing with a murderous psychopath is bad enough for the Farbers, but Paul is no normal killer as his fourth-wall abilities are too esoteric for the more realistic protagonists to overcome.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Refers to Georgie as a "little Indian" and frequently attacks Peter's weight.
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: After the rewind, he remembers Ann's actions and prevents her from taking the gun on take two.
- Story-Breaker Power: Paul is a Reality Warper going up against normal people. Three guesses who wins and the first two don't count.
- Talking Is a Free Action: Whenever he breaks the fourth-wall to speak to the audience, no other character notices and the movie only resumes when he finishes his conversation. This is justified due to his reality-warping abilities.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: This is In-Universe reaction to Georgie Jr's death as he set Peter up to kill George, only for Peter to get trigger-happy and murder Jr. instead. After all, George is rather helpless due to his broken leg, so there is little to no tension in threatening him whereas Georgie Jr. is still uninjured at this point and is capable of providing a thrilling Chase Scene for the viewers. To add insult to injury, Paul had the camera focused on himself, so he was unable to catch the gory moment of Georgie's death.
- Third Act Stupidity: Paul accidentally leaves the gun within Ann's grasp, allowing her to kill Peter. It becomes downplayed since Paul has the ability to undo Ann's actions and win regardless.
- Time Master: He is capable of manipulating time. The rewind with the remote is the most obvious, but Paul also speeds up the Plot Time of the movie whenever it's convenient as he knows that playing out the story in Real Time for twelve plus hours will be incredibly boring. Ironically, this also means Paul requires some help from Peter's watch when figuring out the In-Universe time since he only knows the movie's running time.Paul: We're not up to feature-film length yet.
- Villainous Breakdown: He becomes distraught and agitated when Ann shoots Peter dead. But he's able to rewind the movie so he can prevent it.
- Would Hit a Girl: He kills Ann after he has no use for her.
Peter
Peter (a.k.a Tom or Beavis)
Played By: Frank Giering (original), Brady Corbet (remake)
The secondary villain of the movie and Paul's accomplice.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: The remake makes him skinnier and more fit.
- Big Eater: He loves to eat a lot much to Paul's annoyance.
- The Dragon: He's Paul's subordinate and while not very bright as him he's by no means less dangerous and psychopath.
- Dumb Blond: Downplayed. Peter isn't dumb, but he is definitely subordinate to Paul, who occasionally berates Peter's intelligence.
- Fat Bastard: In the original movie he's quite pudgy. Played with in the remake. Peter is a villain, but he is hardly fat even if Paul keeps mocking Peter's weight.
- Golf Clubbing: Uses a golf club to break George's kneecap.
- Informed Deformity: Peter is constantly referred to as "Fatty" or "Tubby" in both versions. However, Peter is only pudgy in the original, and the remake makes him even thinner.
- Invincible Villain: Played with. Peter dies in the original timeline but Paul revives him by turning back time.
- Meaningful Rename: All three of Peter's aliases fit here.
- "Peter" is an Ironic Name as it is the name of a Christian saint, and Peter is obviously not a good person. He also provides a Christian prayer for Ann to recite for the game "The Loving Wife".
- "Tom" is a Shout-Out to Tom and Jerry. Like the titular cat, Peter is an Iron Butt-Monkey who should be dead from all the injuries he takes but somehow manages to survive.
- "Beavis" is a reference to Beavis and Butt-Head. Peter is a blond delinquent who acts as a flunky to his smarter, crueler friend Paul, which parallels the relationship between Beavis and Butt-Head.
- Meta Guy: He doesn't break the fourth wall at any point, but some of his comments can get meta.Ann: Why don't you just kill us?Peter: You shouldn't forget the importance of entertainment.
- Villainous Glutton: He seems to be almost always in the mood of eating something. Paul, annoyed, calls him out for this.
- Would Hit a Girl: He murders the neighbor Mrs. Thompson off-screen before meeting up with Paul at the Farbers' home.
- Would Hurt a Child: He kills the family's sole kid Georgie.
