Nobody puts baillee in the corner

Boy howdy, do I love Funny Games. 

I first watched the remake (which is almost a shot-for-shot remake of the original and was also directed by Michael Haneke) when I was stuck home with Swine Flu during my senior year of high school. 

Because KP was the best, she went to our local Blockbuster and came home with an armful of horror movies; the manager, Sally, LOVED US, so she always gave us the rent one, get one deal 🙏

In the stack was Funny Games, and I was hooked from the start. KP and I used to quote, “Was Tom misbehaving while I was gone?” It’s a classic. 

Funny Games, at a base level, is just a good horror movie. Two guys torture families for no good reason, and that’s terrifying. Villains who kill without a purpose a la The Strangers and Michael Myers in Halloween ‘78 will always be scarier than ones with a vendetta. 

However, when you break down all of the meta commentary within Funny Games, it’s downright brilliant. Throughout the film, Paul breaks the fourth wall like Ferris Bueller, and both Paul and Peter’s dialogue refer to theatrical elements, horror tropes, or even allude to the violence in the film being for our entertainment, as we continue to watch it. 

I know some people think it’s pretentious, but it checks all of my boxes as a movie lover, so I can’t help but love it.