FUNNY GAMES (Heneke, 1997)

I guess I'm taking a bit of liberty by placing this in the horror genre, and Michael Heneke would probably grimace at being included, but what the hell, UHM and DC are both covering news of the remake, so I'm throwing it in here and writing about it. It raises questions that no other movie I've watched this month has, and really, it's a meta-horror film, examining the genre and toying with our expectations and notions about horror. The things that occur are horrible and I wouldn't with them on my worst enemy, and it meets Joe Bob Briggs' first rule of the drive-in (anyone can die at any time), so that's good enough for me.

Sort of MAN BITES DOG by way of LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, FUNNY GAMES is a story about a middle class family who gets tortured by two psychotic equally-as-middle-class prep school kids. There isn't much of a plot but a lot of people talking politely about horrific things. There is a ten minute unbroken shot in which nothing happens except we see a couple go through the stages of grieving and then break into hysterics. There is sudden, shocking violence that knocks you backwards by the sheer audacity of it all. This is all just another way of saying it's a Michael Heneke film.

As always, Heneke is dealing with the affluent in his film, but unlike most of his other work, there is no representation of the lower class for the upper one to exploit. Rather, all of the characters are portrayed as polite and courteous to each other, except for when they're shooting and stabbing and putting pillow cases over the heads of the children.

The Heneke backlash is in full effect, but the only directors worth watching are those that can polarize audiences. People call FUNNY GAMES genius or they call it complete and utter bullshit. That simply means it's interesting and worthy of discussing. I'm somewhere in between these two extremes. The commentary-within-the-film felt gimmicky and cringe-worthy, with characters talking directly to the camera (ie, the audience, ie, YOU), but I can respect its intent. By having the killer speak with the audience, he's implementing the viewer in the atrocities that are occuring on the screen. On an interview on the DVD, Heneke claims that the viewer does this every time he watches "this type of film" except for (wait for it) something like FUNNY GAMES, which he identifies as "self-reflexive".

So. FUNNY GAMES is a reaction to, say, I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE, where you're meant to cheer violence against the killers. But because FUNNY GAMES is sooo post-modern, it's exempted and somehow above the genre.

I like Heneke, I really do. I saw CACHE in the theatre this past winter and thought it was truly the best fucking movie I saw all year long. But he needs to fess up to what he's making: high brow exploitation flicks. When he cuts off a chicken's head in CACHE, how different is that from CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST? Heneke makes the argument that these animals die each and every single day, and people only bother to be offended by it when they're forced to see it. I can dig that. But he would also classify CACHE as something totally different than the average exploitation picture.

Fuck it, Heneke goes further than the average genre flick and he knows it. To a grindhouse fan, FUNNY GAMES becomes a satire on that sub-genre, but most people haven't seen MISS .45 and thus, can't really put FUNNY GAMES into that context. In my opinion, Heneke isn't even commenting on the horror genre, but rather the typical Hollywood action film. In that vein, I applaud Heneke for having the courage to KILL THE KID, which is somewhere that Hollywood usually won't go, unless there is a slow-killing disease involved or the child has somehow touched the life of others and they'll never forget him. Of course, I'm above all that and can appreciate it as a social comment, but then, I'm just a lot more educated than you, aren't I?

Fuck all that nonsense. FUNNY GAMES is a horror film, through and thought, plain and simple. It's as intense and terrifying as LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, which is all that I ask from my shock flicks. Heneke is perhaps elevating himself a bit above the genre and taking an ironic look at it, but what the fuck, horror could probably use that, especially when we all spend so much time tracking down obscure torture-and-rape-fests filmed in Uganda in 1979 by the little-known Bronx director Joey Ferrera that features an on-screen ejaculation in the eye of the female victim who ends up castrating one hundred men with a straight razor that they initially used to rape her. FUNNY GAMES makes the violence count, and it makes the violence hurt. It also reflects back at the viewer exactly what you're watching, and forces you to confront how you feel about it. I'm perfectly OK with cheering the death of a guy who has just murdered a little kid, but Heneke wants us to realize that we did actually just cheer for the death of a character. Where you stand politically on the death penalty probably colors this, but still, the intent is honorable.

More than that, though, FUNNY GAMES forces one to think about what we're looking for in the horror genre. What does one gain from watching two girls get raped and murdered in the woods? I've spent a long time asking myself that. Is it mere entertainment? Can we distances ourselves intellectually from it and place it into some sort of larger cultural context or make them socially relevant (which, of course, is the entire purpose of this blog)? For now, I need a palate cleanser, so I'm going to go put on STELLA. I've had enough horror for one day.

(ADDENDUM: how about Hollywood casting? I know they've got Naomi Watts locked in, but I think Paul Rudd would make a great Paul, and Philip Seymour Hoffman would be great as Peter. Throw another bankable face in the husband role (Brad Pitt, Ben Affleck, Leo, what difference does it make?) and get a kid whose parents are willing to let him get slapped around on-screen, and I'd shell out $20 for it in the theatre. I really can't believe that both FUNNY GAMES and LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT are both being remade in the same year. This is going to be the watershed moment for the horror redux craze, I think. Will the world shell out $100 mill to see Jessica Beil made to piss her low-rise jeans? Stay tuned.)