Funny Games + The House That Jack Built (REVIEWS & THOUGHTS)

MILD SPOILER WARNING

Funny Games 1997, directed by Michael Haneke, the movie is from Austria and was entirely in German. It's listed as a "satirical psychological thriller." I rated this movie 3/5 stars. While it was an excellent picture, I wasn't really in the mood for something so slow-burn the day I watched it. I assume the "satirical" part comes from the scenes in which one of the torturers breaks the fourth wall and talks directly to the viewer, usually mocking us for the way we think while watching horror movies that feature violence. The way it was filmed reminded me of Jonathan Glazer's 2023 film 'The Zone of Interest,' particularly the use of wide-angles. Like I said, the movie is very slow-burn in my opinion but it also evoked strong feelings of irritation in me. The torturers are dense and impolite, even before they do anything violent to the family, so they pissed me off from the start lmao. I think the steady sense of frustration I felt during the viewing came from the emotional rollercoaster I was experiencing, from the constant back-and-forth of victims escaping and torturers re-capturing them. I would recommend this film to people who don't mind slow-burn horror.

The House That Jack Built 2018, directed by Lars von Trier, while the movie takes place in the U.S. state of Washington, it was filmed primarily in Denmark and Sweden. It's listed as a "psychological horror art film." I rated this movie 5/5 stars. First off, the portrayal of OCD (ordnungszwang, as Verge says) in Jack was executed perfectly in my opinion. Jack's immense internal struggle with maintaining order and cleanliness both before and after committing atrocities is so vividly clear that the viewer ends up feeling distressed as well, whether they have OCD or not. His delusions of spots of blood left uncleaned beneath some object or piece of furniture in the victim's house cause him unrest, leading him to drive back in the middle of the night to check the spots of blood that were really not there at all. This movie isn't super unknown, especially due to the infamous family hunting scene, which has landed its way into countless "most disturbing movie scenes" collections. While it may seem like your average serial killer horror flick, von Trier never lets the viewer forget the artistic nature of his work. Surreal and dream-like scenes are sprinkled throughout the movie's runtime, some feel mildly artsy while some feel straight-up bizarre. My favorite moment in this film, however, is certainly when we go from "psychological horror art film" to "Dante Aleighieri's bible fanfic." Yes, the entire end portion of this picture is a brief retelling of the Divine Comedy, featuring Jack as Dante and Verge (a voice in Jack's head) as Virgil (it took me a while to realize Verge was Virgil for some reason haha). Jack even wears a red robe during this part, much like Dante does in the original story. There is a tremendous amount of detail and symbolism laid into this movie and if I were to even begin to go into that, I would be writing all day lol. I'm sure there are plenty of deep-dives online and on YouTube about this film, so I would watch those if any of what I've talked about interests you, reader. Most importantly though, please watch the film in its entirety if possible, you won't regret it (if you're a horror veteran).

-fleshcoloredwater, April 19th, 2026