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Funny Games (1997)

Unrated  |   |  Crime, Drama, Horror  |  11 March 1998 (USA)
7.6
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Ratings: 7.6/10 from 40,360 users   Metascore: 69/100
Reviews: 298 user | 122 critic | 10 from Metacritic.com

Two psychotic young men take a mother, father, and son hostage in their vacation cabin and force them to play sadistic "games" with one another for their own amusement.

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Title: Funny Games (1997)

Funny Games (1997) on IMDb 7.6/10

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Cast

Complete credited cast:
...
...
Arno Frisch ...
Frank Giering ...
Stefan Clapczynski ...
Doris Kunstmann ...
Christoph Bantzer ...
Wolfgang Glück ...
Susanne Meneghel ...
Monika Zallinger ...
Eva
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Storyline

Two seemingly well-educated young men, who call each other Paul and Peter among other names, approach a family on vacation. They are, apparently, friends of the neighbors, and, at the beginning, their true intentions are not known. But soon, the family is imprisoned and tortured in its own house violently, which the viewers are forced mostly to imagine and to share a certain complicity with the criminals. It might be some kind of game with the lives of husband, wife, son, and dog, but why are they doing it? Written by Luis Canau <luis.canau@mail.EUnet.pt>

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Plot Keywords:

game | vacation | violence | kitchen | dog | See All (92) »

Taglines:

Ein Alptraum. See more »


Certificate:

Unrated | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
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Details

Country:

Language:

| |

Release Date:

11 March 1998 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Brincadeiras Perigosas  »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1
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Did You Know?

Trivia

When the film was screened at Cannes in 1997 it shocked the audience badly enough that many viewers, including some film critics, walked out of the screening. See more »

Goofs

When Anna and Georg are driving in their car, a reflection of a microphone between the front seats can be seen on the window. See more »

Quotes

[first lines]
[subtitled version]
Anna: Björling... Suliotis?
Georg: Almost. Björling is easy.
See more »

Connections

References Compulsion (1959) See more »

Soundtracks

Cara Salva
from Atalanta
Music by George Frideric Handel (as G.F. Händel)
Sung by Beniamino Gigli
Published by EMI DA 1918
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

Strangely captivating...

First things first, Michael Haneke HATES Quentin Tarantino's films. He hates the way violence and death are shown as being 'cool' - Cool gangsters executing their enemies whilst saying cool lines (And you will know, that my name is the Lord! etc,etc)with a cool song playing in the background. This is not how violence is in the real world, violence is a horrible fact of life, not a glamourous thing for youths to copy, and I think Haneke intended Funny Games to show it how it really is. I watched Funny Games without the slightest clue what the film was about, so I just had to sit back and take it as it comes. At first, I wasn't too impressed. I thought the scenes were too long and dragged out, yet at the same time, I felt a strange feeling of suspense. The incredibly long camera shots leave you that bored, that you think "Something bad is going to happen soon, I can tell...". The suspense also lasts right through the film 'til the very end. You don't want to watch it, but at the same time, you feel hypnotised by it.

I will not detail any events of the film, to save spoiling the atmosphere, but I will note one thing that people tend to be confused about:- "Why did the family let them into the house in the first place?" The two characters of Peter and Paul are let to walk all over the family because of one flaw in the bourgios psyche - 'The more polite a person is, the better a person they are.' This absurd way of thinking is played on by Peter and Paul and they obviously score, plus 'getting into the house without breaking in' is also one of their 'games'.For those who haven't seen the film, I definitely wouldn't recommend this for a night in with the parents/girlfriend, but I definitely would for people who want to see the difference between death and Tarantino-glam. Prepare for a highly suspenseful yet sickeningly violent, non-Hollywood, edge-of-the-seat piece of art. 8/10


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Just spent an hour on these boards... geekeh
Breaks the most important rule of storytelling... RaidenPLS
Whats up with the 'wheres the remote scene' rustynail925
This or the original? seanuld
Original version rating:7.6. Remake rating:6.4 chrisdiamantis
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