Funny Games (1997) Revisited – Horror Movie Review

It’s time for a new episode of our video series Best Foreign Horror Movies, and with this one we’re looking back at a movie that is quite disturbing. The 1997 Austrian production Funny Games (get it HERE). To find out what we had to say about Funny Games, check out the video embedded above.

Written and directed by Michael Haneke, Funny Games has the following synopsis:

An idyllic lakeside vacation home is terrorized by Paul and Peter, a pair of deeply disturbed young men. When the fearful Anna is home alone, the two men drop by for a visit that quickly turns violent and terrifying. Husband Georg comes to her rescue, but Paul and Peter take the family hostage and subject them to nightmarish abuse and humiliation. From time to time, Paul talks to the film’s audience, making it complicit in the horror.

The film stars Arno Frisch, Frank Giering, Susanne Lothar, Ulrich Mühe, Stefan Clapczynski, Christoph Bantzer, Monika Zallinger, Doris Kunstmann, and Wolfgang Glück.

As if Funny Games weren’t troubling enough the first time around, Haneke returned to write and direct an American remake ten years later.

The Best Foreign Horror Movies series is

dedicated to highlighting horror films from outside North America that carry lots of punch, bite, scares and/or stabs! Hop on and enjoy the horror ride around the world.

The Funny Games episode of the show was Written and Narrated by Andrew Hatfield, Edited by Gonzalo Lopez, Produced by John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

Are you a fan of Funny Games? Let us know your thoughts on this movie by leaving a comment below.

The previous episodes of Best Foreign Horror Movies covered Dario Argento’s Deep Red, Lucio Fulci’s Zombie, Hideo Nakata’s Ringu, Dario Argento’s Sleepless, Tomas Alfredson’s Let the Right One In, Tommy Wirkola’s Dead Snow, Alexandre Aja’s High Tension, Timur Bekmambetov’s Night Watch, Guillermo del Toro’s The Devil’s Backbone, Russel Mulcahy’s Razorback, Takashi Shimizu’s Ju-on: The Grudge, Takashi Miike’s Audition, Andrzej Zulawski’s Possession, Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza’s [REC], and Dario Argento’s Phenomena. A couple of those episodes can be seen below. To see more, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe to the channel while you’re there!