A Frustratingly Good watch with this one...what are your thoughts!? Want to vote on what I should watch next? Click here! www.patreon.com/jamesvscinema Have a great day!

"I'm so upset because this film puts me in a powerless position" is astute af

You may have already read about this, but the director created this movie as a criticism of media that uses violence and sadism for entertainment value. His goal was to make all the violence and trauma as UN-entertaining and UN-satisfying as possible. To encourage viewers to turn off the movie before it's finished, and to punish viewers who choose to continue watching all the way to the end. If I recall, he said something like, "Those who walk out of the movie don't need it, and those who stay do need it."

This film is one of the most notorious films that ever premiered at CANNES. When the one villain gets shot the crowd erupted with joy but once the remote twist happened the crowd was left in utter silence. Haneke knew he had won with both extreme reactions and knew his film in fact worked.

This was a brave movie to react to. Fair play

I remember my girlfriend describing the "Where's the remote?" scene to me and it made it sound like a really funny movie (I had a good laugh at the idea of the scene), but then I actually saw the movie and it's horrific! 😂

the rewind scene is like a big "fuck you" to the audience lol such a frustrating and difficult watch, but also super unique and clever...not much rewatch value, to me at least, but def fun to see ppl react to it and hear their perspectives

I absolutely love Funny Games, it's my go to example when explaining film theory to my friends. It's such a great classroom example for pointing out lots of aspects of filmmaking, especially blocking and editing. The film is basically a pressure chamber for how frustrated/disturbed you can get at it. Michael Haneke felt that American thrillers we're too formulaic, stories about someone tied to a chair until they break free and kill the bad guy. Funny Games knows you know these tropes, the biggest flag is the knife on the boat; we immediately think "well that's gonna come back and be helpful later." Nope. From the moment we see that wink to the camera, we learn just how screwed we are. Funny Games is like if Bugs Bunny was a horror villain, these dudes basically have toon force with that remote control bit. Haneke wants people to leave the theater, but he knows they'll stay and see the torture. The 4th wall bits force you the audience member to be a part of the experience. After seeing it multiple times, I feel comfortable in saying you are more of a protagonist than the family. The only way to save them is to turn off the film, but you won't, because you wanna see them get tortured you freak (it's ok, I'm also a freak, I've seen this movie like 6 times). Ironically, the film didn't do well overseas, so 10 years later Haneke made an all American cast remake that's almost completely shot-for-shot and line-for-line. I was super hyped to see this in my sub feed because I really wanted to see your reactions to the 4th wall bits. I hope you check out more of Haneke's films on the channel because all of them are pretty great. I highly recommend The Piano Teacher for a future video (although it does have some sexual imagery in it so hopefully KZfaq doesn't get pissy about that). For a super well made in depth analysis of Funny Games, I highly recommend the channel Storyograph and his video "Funny Games Ending Explained" (not the most creative title, but it's an amazing video with fun animatics and a well written anayliss of it's screenplay).

This same director/writer remade this movie 10 years later with an English speaking cast. (Stars Naomi Watts & Tim Roth) Both are outstanding ❤

First: as a European, I want to confirm your intuition on a key point. Yes, in Europe people are much more trusting. The crime rate is low. The custom of hosting even complete strangers in one's own home is not unusual. The family depicted in this video must have first realized that they were fighting for their lives, not that it was some grim joke. That's why this film doesn't frustrate me like it does you. It shocks for other reasons but doesn't irritate me like it does you, with the helplessness of the main characters. Second: there is no doubt that the victims really were helpless in the face of the forces that hit them. The scene with the remote shows this clearly. This film is not about violence, but about the consumption of violence. Just like, for example, Natural Born Killers. The TV screen exists in our reality, not in the reality of the film. Violence leaks into our reality, not just into our subconscious. You've watched Videodrome recently - you know what it's about. And one more comment at the end. I am impressed by how good cinema has started to host this channel. Suspira, Videodrome, Primer, Enter The Void, Jacob's Ladder, Lobster, Chungking Express, Stalker.... Top shelf cinema. Since there's already been Tarkovsky, Cronenberg, Bergman, Wong Kar-Wai and now Haneke, it's really no good to slack off. More Haneke, Tarkovsky and Lanthimos, plus Herzog, Bunuel, Seidl, Antonioni, Kieslowski and others. For a season of horror, perhaps Zulawski's "Possession" fits best. Really, it's just getting started ;-)

I can totally appreciate your frustration that they don't do more, I think movies more often show us people having a fight or flight response in dangerous situations, but some people legitimately do "freeze", whether they want to or not. I'd like to imagine that in a situation like this I'd rise to the occasion and become a badass, but how do you really know until you're in a situation like that? That's the biggest sinking feeling of horror for me with this movie, that this is probably a more realistic depiction of how things would go down for many people if this happened to them, and they wouldnt realize it until they were in it.

The problem about "fighting for your life" is that once you passed that flight or fight moment it is hard to fight the fear once again. The man is crippled and the child is always in mind. I think you would be suprised how much fear can petrify people.

Michael Haneke is simply a master of the craft. Nothing else to really say other than that!

it is an experimental movie. Not really a story. To teach how to play with an audience's emotions

As much as Haneke intended this to be a commentary on violence in movies, it is also an (unintentional) commentary on German/Austrian passivity in the face of violence. We will let almost anything happen to us and our loved ones just to maintain civility and not be branded a remnant of WW2. It is absurd and painful.

"Go on, look at the camera you son of a gun"😂

The family are probably slow to try to defend themselves because they get the sense that if they try something and fail, they'll end up dead then and there.

This is the toughest movie I've ever seen. Haneke's cinema is quite cruel.

Whoa, I was not expecting to see this here.

PLEASE watch this director’s other movies - “Caché” and “The Piano Teacher”. Both of them are phenomenal

i'm a researcher and my primary interest is german language film (just submitted my phd!!), and the thing i really appreciate about the production of this film is that haneke originally intended it for an english-speaking audience (as others in the comments have said), but couldn't, which is why he remade it in 2007 shot-for-shot. i've seen the 2007 version get some flak (i personally think it's great, the only major difference is the performances and they're all top notch), but i think the thing to note about this film is that it's very very clear in its messaging, and like it or not, subtitles can impede the reception of a message. the impact of this film is the brutality of it, and even in the smallest way i think you can be slightly removed from the constructed reality of a film by having to read subtitles, even if you stop realising you're doing it. your eyes are always drawn to the bottom third of the screen, and sometimes if you read the subs faster than information is coming in terms of the action in the frame, you can have a few seconds ahead of time to register what a character is going to say or, for example, if they're going to get cut off before they finish their sentence. (in a similar but different way, dubbing can also kind of keep you one layer removed, you're never able to fully be IN the story of the film because there's a part of your brain constantly aware of the construction of it.) overall it's not a detriment to watch the german version with english subs if you don't speak german, but it's really interesting to me that haneke intended for the film to be in english because that's where his audience was, and ostensibly that's because he knew that an english-language film would probably get a wider audience than a german-language subtitled film (this is just the way of the world!), but i also feel that, if i as a german-language film fan was going to show funny games to a friend who didn't speak german and i really wanted them to Experience it, i'd go for the english version.

Your lineup for spooky season this year is off the charts!

What I really love about this movie is that it really doesn't matter which version you watch...they are line for line, shot for shot...so the experience is the same with either the German or US versions....it just comes down to personal preference really

This is an unmatched masterpiece and it has lost none of its shocking power. It puts you right there with that family and it gives you no relief and no answers. No fallbacks,no answers, no resolutions just the brutal, violent truth. Haneke makes the viewer complicit in the situation. That long, silent,shocking scene of the mother just sitting there after they kill the boy rips you apart and cruelly brings you into that soul destroying moment. That brilliant scene haunts me. So happy you reacted to this. Michael Haneke is an absolute genius and his astonishing catalogue of masterpieces under his belt is amazing. So many brilliant, difficult and devastating films but you should definitely react to Benny's Video(1989) or The Piano Teacher(2001) or Code Unknown(2000). All of those films are brilliant and thought provoking cinematic masterpieces. So happy yr getting into some great films and directors that are a bit more off the beaten path. J

The French Extreme era had some real gems.

They made an American version of this movie with Naomi watts

The fact that the intruders aren't physically threatening is what frustrates the audience even more. The family just exist for the purpose of torture.

I love this movie but DAMN it fries my nerves and spikes my anxiety.

Great video as always! My first experience with this film can definitely be categorized as “confusion” lol, but over time I just kept thinking about it and I eventually grew to adore it, especially as I came to understand what the director is doing. If you’re curious to understand the meta stuff better, here’s a little analysis of mine: This movie is very much a deconstruction of stories in general as well as horror movies. There’s a really cool metaphor with the fact that the two dudes “bet” on who will survive, even though they’re in control of the outcome, parallel to the way movies will make a “bet” with the audience, but it is inherently unfair because the author is in control of everything. So yea, the director definitely knows that we are itching for the family to do literally anything. Even if they did, the film would manufacture a way for it to be thwarted. Since the villains have that remote control power, that suggests they are the authors because they control the entire conflict, and so the movie is intentionally boring when they’re not around. There’s also the point that we, the audience, are complicit in the torture of this family. The two dudes know that we came here to see a home invasion, so it only happens because of us. Finally, getting even more meta, the conversation they have on the boat at the end of the film basically sums up the entire movie; saying that even though movies are fake, we take them as if they were real on some level anyways. So, what does that say about our desire to see violence? I think it’s a fascinating deconstruction of why we watch stories and what we get out of them, although it is an intentionally frustrating watch lol. The director made a shot-for-shot American remake which I think is even better, and in general Michael Haneke is one of my favorite directors. Would strongly recommend The Piano Teacher and Caché by him, which are more of actual, straightforward stories than this.

I’ve had a broken knee. Had both legs broken. A plate and seven screws out in my left knee, then later taken out. My knee will never be the same. All that to say that if his knee is broken it’s not so much the pain but he literally couldn’t stand on it. The intruders were smart to take out his leg

This film is the perfect example of making the viewer a powerless voyeur Haneke is a master of nihilistic cinema.

Not the usual reaction fodder. This is a brutal watch. Have fun, James!

Dude! I watch this channel since 2020 pandemic times....you are as good as ever...refreshing af!

Finally!!!! I remember posting about this last year. Glad it made the list lol

Haneke, always an unpleasant watch ^^ Be the first to react to "The white Ribbon" (Das weisse Band). Truly a masterpiece of acting, directing and shooting.

Oh my God, I'm so happy. I've always wanted you to talk about one of the films from my favorite director. I would suggest The Piano Teacher, Amour, or Caché next. If you think that this was dark, holy shit, it's just getting started. Love the channel.

Cheers James! Shout out to Haneke for trying something different. Horror can be a notoriously predictable genre -- especially slasher/home invasion stories (and especially at the time when this came out). I'm definitely down with anyone out to subvert that.

That opening song is Naked City, a John Zorn ensemble with special guest singer Yamantaka Eye, the frontman of the legendry Japanese noise group the Boredoms. When I first saw this I was shocked to hear Naked City in a film,

you need to watch Aftersun (2022) you’ll love it

Yes, one of the points of this movie is to piss you off. It does a good job at it!

Love this movie, so happy you decided to watch it🙌🏽🙌🏽

Haneke is a terrifying man lol I feel like he could break me down in conversation alone

I can’t believe that you’re reacting to Haneke of all filmmakers! First Lynne Ramsay, and now this? You’re on a roll, James.

I saw this film at a grindhouse theater back in high school. The place was old, had squeaky ratty seats and low turnout - really added to the atmosphere lol. My friends and I went in totally blind. This was way before I was into horror and I think I repressed the memory because I had no idea I'd already seen this until watching your video and the metal title card went up

Glad you did watch the german version! About the friendliness: It's a vaccation area where only wealthy people can afford to have a house. Therefore they know all their neighbours, even though it's not the place were they usually live. So, in the US you would call those neighbours friends. Therefore, when someone is introduced by them, the suspicion is pretty low. The male lead, Ulrich Mühe, also plays in "The Live of Others", which won the oscar over "Pan's Labyrinth". It's a great movie, but since it's german and only subs, there wasn't a huge american audience watching it. However, irecommend watching it at some point, because it's one of the best german movies out there, especially when you only count newer movies.

wow. Was not expecting a reaction to this movie! That's great! Funny reaction, by the way. :)

Yeah the English language remake is scarier to me, but only because the cast is so incredible. It's impossible not to be terrified by Michael Pitt as a psychopath. Both versions are equally traumatizing and disturbing though. Might just be a matter of the subtleties of language that I can't pick up on from a foreign language film.

James, I quite literally *just* finished watching your Videodrome reaction FIVE MINUTES AGO and thought, "Wow. He would really appreciate Funny Games." As soon as you mentioned the word "manipulative" in that reaction, I knew this movie would have to make an appearance on your channel.

Hell yeah, didn't expect to see this on my feed

Writing this before I watch... never seen anyone dare a reaction to this. Glad to see you deliver - as usual :) Great choice! This movie is an interesting reflection on the viewer's role as a casual consumer of violence. The music (John Zorn in particular) is also phenomenal. And - at least to German ears - the main villain's accent dials the creepiness-factor up a notch or ten. Now... let's get into this - I'm excited to hear your thoughts.

I do prefer the remake, but only for the cast. Michael Pitt, Naomi Watts, and Tim Roth are all fantastic.

Michael Haneke, based on the rest of his discography, is a filmmaker that rips your heart apart, and you thank him for it.

The first time I ever saw funny games it was when some friends put it on one night and I had no idea what it was about, never heard of it. Absolutely one of the best movies to go in blind I've seen

hell yeah thats my second favorite movie ever!!! glad you liked it!!!

Crazy I just saw this yesterday for the first time lol

"some families don't really have that dawg in them. probably because their dog's dead." 😭

Love your glasses!

I've only seen the US version of this. It was something else.

One fo the best films you've watched on this channel. You really shoukd watch Caché (Hidden) by Haneke, its incredible.

this is a film that demonstrates its control over the viewer

Well, I did not expect that tumble out of the car...

I thought this film was a drunk fever dream. Must have seen this after a night of drinking.

i watched the other version of the movie blind, looking for random early 90's ‐ mid 2000's movies on netflix i think, few years ago. It was an experience

This movie and National Lampoon’s Animal House share a moment, a character turning to the audience and smiling. John Belushi makes it one of the most funny moments in the movie, and then the same moment in this by Arno Frisch is one of the most unsettling and chilling moments in horror.

“Yea Look at the camera you son of a gun “ 😭😭😭😭

Used to nic movies from blockbuster when I was a kid, that's how I fell upon this psycho masterpiece

The boys do have that power, though. They're very polite until they aren't and then it's already too late. The uneasiness is something you can't quite put the finger on and the next second they're taking out the 'protector of the family' by breaking his leg. And that's it, they hold all power from that second onwards. And what makes this movie so horrifying is that this could happen to everybody. You're being civil until the very last second despite the uneasy feeling and then a golf club happens.

The only Italian heard in the film is "Ciao bella" before they throw her from the boat 😂

Since i still have to see it, i'm not going to watch for now but you have excellent choices!

Ulrich Mühe was a great actor who died too early (2007)... he was married to Susanne Lothar who plays his wife in Funny Games, she studied Drama in my city Hamburg and she died 2012. He played also the main character in The Lives of Others, the movie won an Oscar for foreign language! Greetings from Hamburg, Germany❤

This is the first time I ever looked at a movie and was legitimately pissed off at a scene. They're so good at making you hate them so much

I have been dying for you, specifically you, to react to this movie. You should definitely watch the remake. They're such powerful movies. I love that we the audience are subjected to their funny games too. We are being forced to participate, which is what makes the remote scene so frustrating because we are powerless, just like the family.

Thank you for reacting to the original one

One of the few where I prefer the American/remake version. If I recall even the director considers that his definitive version of the story, considering the audience its meant to be criticizing, which is why he did it. Michael Pitt, Tim Roth, the whole cast really is great. Of course this version is still good as well. Theyre both literally shot for shot identical

I would recommend the film Eden Lake

There is an American remake by the same writer/director that came out in 2007, literally exactly the same shots and screenplay, except it's in english.

Haneke loves making you feel insanely uncomfortable for seemingly no reason, and then when you find out why you're feeling like that it's always a gut punch

This is a rare film where the remake is just as good as the original.

I know it's not the true meaning but people often do nothing when faced with violence/fear.

When’s the next time you’re doing a poll for tv shows?

After watching this, you havw to watch The House that Jack Built by Lars Von Trier. Masterpiece of a movie but goddamn is it rough like this movie

Another fantastic German psychological horror movie is Goodnight Mommy. NOT the American remake. It's worth a watch if you ever get the chance.

This fucking movie is amazing...

"All that for some eggs, man." 😂 if this was your first Haneke, I hope you watch a couple more. Cache and The Piano Teacher are both great.

I have been really enjoying your videos. I would love to see more German cinema. White ribbon for instance…also I think you would enjoy Fassbinders movies…Fear Eats soul being a great example….

The director later made a US remake (shot by shot) starring Tim Roth and Naomi Watts. But the original is much better. The underlying feeling of unease is much stronger in the Austrian setting.

Challenging choice, good on you. This is one of my favorite films that I will probably never watch again. Check out his film Caché. Fascinating.

The fact that this is clearly a rich family these guys are messing with reminds me of an Andor quote: (quote below in case anyone hasn't seen the show) "They're so proud of themselves, so fat and satisfied. They can't imagine that anyone like me would ever get inside their house, walk their floors, spit in their food." While that quote is about power imbalances and the resulting assumptions about the lower class, I think it can also apply to this family's comfortable and privileged life that doesn't require them to be too aware of things, thus allowing these two sadists into their home.

This really disturbed me when I first saw it. I saw the American remake with Naomi Watts. I guess it's some kind of commentary on how middle class has become so weak and unable to fight to protect themselves that chaos, pretending to also be like them, can easily come in and destroy middle class stability and comfort.

This movie got under my skin like few movies can

It is a frog boiling in water type situation...

Watched this for the first time about a week ago and just felt empty for the rest of the day

Would love if you did some more Haneke. Literally all of his movies are incredible. Cache would be the best one to react to I think, it’s maybe my favourite film of all time

Sure you know by now but the same filmmaker did an American version that is literraly shot-for-shot, line-for-line the same. When you ask people which version is better, you might catch on that it almost always depends on which version they saw first. I think that's because a major part of the experience is surprise and shock, which is of course majorly lessened when watching it a second time.

Micheal Haneke's The White Ribbon is an absolute masterpiece. Won the Palme D'or you need to see it. It's about pre world wars Germany and I think you'd love it

Try Aftersun, please! Surprisingly beautiful movie.

Little bit depressing fact about this movie: from the main cast only Arno Frisch (who plays Paul) is still alive; Ulrich Muehe (who is also phenomenal in The Lives of Others, highly recommend) died in 2007, his real-life wife Susanne Lothar five years later and Frank Giering (who also starred in my favorite german movie Gigantic) in 2010.

Best opening scene of ALL TIME!

Has James reacted to The Station Agent??? What an amazing film....

“Anyone who walks out of the cinema doesn’t need this movie, and anyone who stays, does.” - Michael Haneke, director Because the director hates films that use torture as entertainment he said he wanted to make a movie that makes you face pointless violence and gain no insight or value from it. It’s un-cathartic, unenjoyable, frustrating, acts pretentious to purposefully rule you up, and doesn’t even give you shots of the violence. But the biggest move is how the movie breaks the fourth wall to be like “Hey, the killers win BTW. There are no stakes here. You don’t even get to see the actual torture. So why keep watching?” By the end, if you haven’t stopped watching it pulls the rewind trick to be like “Look, we’re even just doing random shit to piss you off now. Seriously, stop watching”. Of course, you are watching to give us a reaction, so the context is different. But when the director made it, he was making a movie for people watching it alone, to ask themselves “Why did I stick it through to the end?” Pretentious? Yes. But I'll give him credit for trying something different, though I get every reaction to this film.