Funny Games (Funny Version)

I'm very much looking forward to this. Don't ask why. It just seems smart.

Funny Games

When I first heard about this remake of 'Funny Games' I thought it would be a superficial psych-thriller riding on the coat-tails the Saw/Hostel ilk -- I called it torture porn brought to your living room. But, this clip changes my mind. Naomi Watts delivers (as she always does), and the direction by Michael Haneke (who wrote and directed the 1997 original) is crisp -- this guy knows how to handle actors. Haneke also knows story. The relationship between antagonist and protagonist is anything but mindless -- it's sadistic, yes, but not mindless; there's more intimacy in this clip than is found in many love scenes. Haneke's script looks like a winner. This may be a true psychological horror movie -- more in the vein of 'Silence of the Lambs'.

It looks like this will be a success on DVD. Now the only question is will it succeed at the box office. I think that depends mostly on the release date. This is one to watch.

Home Invasion Suspense Thriller

First a remake of 'Funny Games', now this entry in the budding Home Invasion Imprisonment Torture Suspense Thriller sub-genre. 'The Strangers', however, is 'inspired by true events', while 'Funny Games' is inspired by pure imagination. I wonder which is better. I hope this genre does a fast fade -- it's just torture-porn transplanted from the dungeon to your own living room. That being said, I'll get a copy of 'Funny Games', and both movies will probably find an audience -- but it will be about which opens first, as interest in this niche genre will fade fast.

One can't help but wonder what venue for torture-porn will be chosen after the home invasion thing has run its course. Let's see...there's cruise ships, golf courses, night clubs -- anyplace will do as long as you have a supply of victims...I suppose. Rock concerts, bowling alleys, burger joints, et al. They'll figure something out. Just don't pick movie theaters. If people get it into their minds that going to the movies has become a frightening thing because of something they saw in a movie, well, that won't be good for the movie industry.