Rating: 
Summary: Can you take a joke?
Review: Haneke thinks he's made an anti-violence movie. No. He has made one of the most effective horror movies of all time. What he is trying to tell us is that violence feels bad, a sentiment that may seem obvious, but that is often contradicted by Hollywood. He has several tricks that he employs that draw the viewer into the film which are extremely effective. I have read reviews in which it was stated that the intent was to make the viewer feel complicit in the violence - as if the only correct way to respond to the movie is to walk out. I beg to differ. The audience is abused by the film maker as much as the victims in his film. It is truly clever and very unsettling and it makes for great horror. He also focuses on the repercussions of violence much more than on the violence itself. The most harrowing scene in the film is basically a long still shot across a room of a mother's intense grief. Oh yeah, Susanne Lothar has got to be one of the best sctresses that has ever lived. What Haneke is not taking into account is that some people really enjoy a movie that can make them feel bad. I really don't think that he knows what he made. This is real horror. Real horror makes you think; it gets inside you. I enjoyed being the brunt of Haneke's joke. I can take a joke. And I'll be damned if I will feel bad about liking this movie - even if the guy that made it wants me to.
Rating:
Summary: Not for all tastes
Review: When I first saw this movie, I was left not knowing what to think. It's violent and graphic. Yet I found myself drawn to it. I can see how a lot of people would be turned off by it. I think you'd have to have a very morbid sense of humor (like me) to enjoy it. It takes place in a forested lake area, where it seems people have their vacation homes. A family, the Schobers have just moved in for the summer, Anna, George and George jr. On their first day there, a young man shows up claiming to work for the family next door, asking to borrow some eggs. His behaviour first annoys the mother, Anna. Then, he's joined by his partner, Paul, who seems to be in charge. They take the family hostage and cruelly toy with them. It becomes quickly apparent that Anna is the strongest of the family. Whatever the young men tell about themselves is questionable, even their names, since its obvious they're just lying to have fun. So you're left not knowing anything about where they came from or what they're about. Eventually it's revealed the Schobers are not their first victims...and probably not their last. Again it's not for all tastes, probably just a few. I didn't like what they did to the dog, though I was happy they did it off screen. But, all the violence to the humans happens in front of the camera. The two young men are brutal, seemingly cold blooded. But, nonetheless I found them engaging, particularly Paul (Arno Frisch). I found myself taken by the captors, then moved by the family, and then back again. Susanne Lothar, who plays Anna, gives a startling and moving performance.
Rating: 
Summary: First Rate Acting. A Horror Film Like None Other !
Review: Finally, a horror film without a Hollywood ending. That's what makes "Funny Games" a horror film like none other. Bad guys Arno Frisch and Frank Giering give two of the most frightening performances in cinema history. Most of the 'violence' is not shown on camera. You'll appreciate the heightened action/reaction style of acting, which is on full display here. Director Michael Haneke, paces everything very carefully and doesn't flood the soundtrack with a 'creepy' music score. In fact, I don't believe there is any music at all, except for a blasting rock song played by madman Frisch on a CD player. Parents Susanne Lothar and Ulrich Muhe don't appear to be acting at all. They ARE Mommy & Daddy. A must-see!
Rating:
Summary: Brutal Satire
Review: "Funny Games" is one of the scariest, darkest, most disturbing films I've ever managed to sit through (and I've seen "Troll 2"). What makes it remarkable is that it's not just an exercise in cinematic sickness, but a satire, one that gleefully and often shatters the fourth wall to show you the bag of tricks at its disposal. Somehow, though, instead of breaking the spell, the surreal and satiric moments add an intensely disturbing level of horror to the goings-on. The plot is simple - after a slow but oddly tension-filled opening (punctuated none-too-subtly by the sudden appearance of oppressive metal music over the credits), two yuppie killers invade the home of a family and systematically terrorize them. They have a secret, however - they seem to know they're in a movie. This movie, to be precise. And they know you're watching. When one of them turns to the camera, smiles, and winks - well, if that doesn't make you feel unclean, you're the wrong audience for this thing. Or maybe the right audience. The director, Haneke, is making a point here about the exploitation of violence and terror as entertainment. However, look at his past - and future - works, and you have to wonder how much of his anger is directed at himself. Haneke is ashamed and angry at his own fascination with brutality, which creates a spiral of satire and pain that makes for one of the rawest experiences you'll have watching a movie. As other viewers have pointed out, there's almost no on-screen violence. And when there is, well, Haneke pulls the rug out from under it. And yet "Funny Games" is remembered as one of the most violent films in recent years, which only goes to show that psychological violence is infinitely more damaging than a few rounds of squibs and a gallon or two of fake blood.
Rating:
Summary: MAD TV
Review: And now for something completely different...
Director Michael Haneke brings a disturbing, innovative and totally insane movie that will leave the viewer on the flipside. This is one of the most suspenseful, edgy and frightening pictures of the last years, an astounding piece of psychological terror. Two guys enter a family`s house and ask the mother to lend them some eggs. This innofensive attitude will lead to an unpredictable and also sick sequence of events, creating a tense and claustrophobic atmosphere.
This is a violent and highly heavy movie, yet what scares the most is what we don`t actually see but only imagine. Haneke knows how to develop disturbing and gruesome scenes without going into cheap and uninteresting gore. He truly creates a new kind of horror in here.
As the plot unfolds, the tension rises until it gets a point where it`s almost unwatchable due to the way some moments are filmed. Still, the viewer (or me, at least) stays until the end and actually has to deal with all these horrible scenes in order to discover the final showdown. It`s a worthwile activity, but not an easy or pleasurable one. Haneke shows the violence-obssessed society in which we live in nowadays, delivering a cinematic experience that works amazingly well as a satire and serious food for thought. It wisely shows the creepiness of the peeping toms out there with huge voyeuristic tendencies that can`t stop increasing today. "Funny Games" presents the ridiculousness of that situation, challenging the passive and cynical spectator and delivering an interactive and memmorable picture. This cult movie is certainly not an easy watch, as it`s way different from the current blockbusters around. It`s not entertaining and at times it`s almost painful to continue, but it`s also a rewarding, challenging and powerful film, hitting the viewer and leaving a deep scar. Obviously, its rewatch value is limited (unless you are really into very strange, doubtful stuff and can stomach to be amused with this usually), but it`s worth catching once.
All in all, it`s a game worth playing, yet you should be careful...
Rating:
Summary: Explination needed....
Review: This DVD/Video deserves a proper explanation for those who don't really seem to understand the meaning of the film. The film totally breaks all of the common Hollywood thriller genres. There is no gore, no real act of violence. When there is violence the camera is turned away or pointing at another characters reaction. A scene is showed when the Woman shoots one of the "bad guys" and shows the blood and shooting. But this goes against the point of the film so the other "bad guy" finds the remote control and rewinds it so he can pick up the gun before she shoots him. Your expecting somebody the whole way through the film to get back at the bad guys and either shoot them or have them arrested but it doesn't happen as this is not following the Hollywood genre. The torture of the family is entirely shocking as there is no motive to the attack, the family asks "why?" but the villains reply is simply "why not?". There is no tension music at all in the film just a simple dub over the families classical music whilst they are driving to their holiday home, the gut wrenching screams are too much to bare and you know straight away your getting yourself into something you are not going to like. Probably what most people will find shocking is the torture of the little boy who most people will think the villains will take a sympathetic view on. But he is first to die, shot in a game by the villains. The two villains aren't just mindless thugs though, they are extremely clever and you know the chilling fact that they have done it before and will do it again and again and again....... I warn you though that some people will not be able to take this kind of film, it is certainly not for the younger minded who will see this as a Funny Game and replicate it on our own streets. It's a fantastic film and you can watch it over and over but some will take it the wrong way as.....inspiration.
Rating: 
Summary: C'mon people
Review: Ok, first off who cares about "socially redeeming values", and the such....All of the people who rate this low because of it's brutal nature shouldn't even be allowed to review here. The concept of the movie is sick and brutal, but that does not make a movie bad.
That being said, I'll get to my point. Yes the idea for this movie is quite good, and at times the flick rolls along nicely. The problem? It drags on. It is not very well put together, and the stupid "remote control" scene is completely unneccesary. In fact, I found myself watching some of the movie on 2X mode, and reading the subtitles just to get it moving. And yeah, the 5-10 minute "real time" scene is unnecesary. The movie is worth renting if you are fans of twisted movies, but i certainly WOULD NOT recommend plunking down cash to own this. IT has it's moments yes, but it couold have been done so much better. Instead, you find yourself yawning thru much of the thing.
Rating: 
Summary: The most horrible movie I've seen!
Review: I recently viewed this movie, and I have to say that it has few or no redeeming qualities. I chose this video because it was in German, and because it was rated with 3 1/2 stars, but this was very misleading. The violence in the movie was senseless, perpetrated by a couple of sick, demented men who had a taste for playing with people's minds and emotions, and who had no value for life. The couple of times that it seemed that the movie could take a turn for the better, it left the viewer disappointed. The movie dragged at times when there was no action, no music, and no dialog. Definitely not worth seeing!
Rating:
Summary: Almost unwatchable, but there is a point
Review: "Funny Games" takes the violent thriller genre and turns not so much on its head as inside out, exposing its internal workings and forcing us to consider what it's really about. The story premise is simple enough. A rich and likeable family of three head to their lake house for a summer break. Everything seems normal until into the house come two intruders: the flabby and childlike Peter, and his suavely arrogant friend, Paul. The young men stage-manage a small domestic misunderstanding then escalate it into shocking violence. We soon realise they have a sadistic agenda and we, the audience, are to be taken along for a repulsive but mesmerizing ride. The most generous explanation for this harrowing (at times almost unwatchable) film is that it's attempting to explore the very nature of film violence. Writer/director Haneke has his villains address us directly, trying to nod-and-wink us into complicity, and his screenplay thwarts every one of our expectations about foreshadowing, thriller plot structure, character arcs, and deus-ex-machina endings. In doing so, he impressively demonstrates how contrived, unrealistic and ultimately non-frightening almost all supposedly "violent" films actually are. "Funny Games" exposes the formula by refusing to follow it. So what? Well, beneath the artifice there is a serious point Haneke is making. He forces us to ask some interestingly uncomfortable questions. Are the formulaic, unrealistic, cartoonish thrillers we usually label "violent" really only an attempt to TAME violence by forcing it into story patterns where the innocent are saved and the villains are destroyed? Do we watch these films because they teach us that violence has a happy ending, that the baddies of the world always get what they deserve? Why else do we cheer uncontrollably and feel such visceral relief at the only moment of truly graphic violence in this film (the one Haneke immediately, maddeningly retracts)? Because it's the way we want the world to be, and the way Hollywood would have it. "Funny Games" is interesting because it makes us consider these things. It's far from entertaining, though, and I presume that's part of the point: why should violence be the funny game Hollywood makes of it? Watch this back-to-back with something like "Panic Room" or "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle" (or anything else from Hollywood's 'Yuppies In Peril' cycle of the early 1990s) and you'll see what Haneke's getting at.
Rating:
Summary: The Great Sociopath Experiment
Review: Believe it or not there is only ONE graphic scene of violence in Michael Haneke's Funny Games but this scene is also the only flaw that this piece of experimental cinema has. That scene is also followed by another flawed scene involving a remote control. Now these two scenes when put together is HANEKE telling the viewer what the film is really about, but it is the opinion of most critics and this reviewer that he did not need to do that and that is why the film looses a star. So apart from this little "strange" element to the whole film it stands out as a film that does not depict screen violence but does depict the off-screen psychological impact of violence that a film can have on the viewer. HANEKE is a director who likes to play with your mind and here he does it like it has never been before. This film is truly original from start to finish and leaves you mortified and offended. HANEKE has made an offensive film, but it is not exploitative, graphically violent or has nudity or any other taboo element that would automatically make a film offensive. The topic of this film is Sociopaths who perform very intrusive antisocial behaviour on a family that is spending their holiday by a house near a lake. Two sociopaths entire their lives and proceed to violate their privacy and standards of community morals. This starts off by being very subtle at first in a scene depicting a man knocking on the door looking for eggs. The slow build up is extreme and you end up hating the "bad guys" for their stupidity and down-right selfish and ignorant behaviour. The film then becomes more extreme and the pair's anti-social behaviour develops into taking advantage of the family, abuse and even murder. Towards the end of the film the "bad guys" are virtually the most horrific screen duo even witnessed for their narcissism and unrelenting cruelty towards human beings. They almost appear as Nazis and you just hate them - hate them to pieces and want to see them dead. Yet HANEKE does all this to you with mostly dialogue and psychological manipulation and the fact that he is able to do this is testimony to why the man has gone on to do better things. You will not like this film, but you will enjoy the direction and how this piece of cinema has been presented to you. You will come away after it feeling that you have "experienced" something new and although you did not like it you will give this film every piece of credit that it deserves for doing it to you. Even the most peaceful and calm of viewers will find themselves seething in rage. Even Mother Teresa would like to wrap her hands around the villain's necks. It certainly does play with you, no doubt about that. So go enjoy HANEKE's little experimental piece of aggression. It certainly does work.
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