It opens on the sitcom-esque family driving to their vacation home on a beautiful summer day. The themes of the film are immediately set up by the simple juxtaposition between good and evil. When finally asked to leave, the night devolves into nightmaric chaos as the family is taken prisoner and subjected to the boys’ ruthless “games,” all of which involve forms of physical and mental torture. Claiming to be friends of the neighbors, the boys’ attempts at politeness are easily seen as thinly-veiled disdain. Although seemingly friendly and welcoming, they immediately casts an unsettling feeling on the family. Sporting pristine white gloves and fake smiles, the duo arrives at the door, introducing themselves and asking to borrow some eggs. After viewing the film, one may find themselves wondering just how much violence has saturated our movies and TV shows, becoming something that has seeped into the very roots of our culture.įunny Games follows the cold blooded antics of Peter (Frank Giering) and Paul (Arno Frisch), as they terrorize a family staying at their lakeside vacation home. Throughout, Penn combines carnival barking with political soapbox ranting - subversive, sublime and wildly amusing - and bolsters the weirdness factor of even the most ordinary trick.By Justin Bertolero Michael Haneke’s 1997 horror-thriller, Funny Games, focuses its lens on the spectatorship of violence and its role in our culture, all the while sadistically throwing it back into the viewer’s face with a tongue-in-cheek attitude. They even explain tricks: one with cards so anyone can do it at home and another with cups and balls that, rather than explicate, is an astonishing display of technique.

Duo’s signature is a constant state of misdirection, flubbing one or more aspects of a trick - even to the apparent point of death or mutilation - to make the finale that much more spectacular. For anyone who has ever been left wanting after seeing one of their tricks on David Letterman’s show, this is an overflowing bounty.

Are you ready for some card tricks? ABC fills the pesky non-Monday Night Football hour with the gregarious Penn Gilette and the silent Teller popping up at malls, schools, private homes and the beach with a dizzying array of sleight-of-hand tricks.

Home invasion movie 1997