At one point, the killers turn to the camera and ask, “What are you looking at and why?” This nihilism and cavalier approach to violence is what makes “Funny Games” one of the most unbearable home invasion horrors ever made. Haneke’s tone is so controlled and matter-of-fact that it’s unsettling to the core, particularly when the perpetrators break the fourth wall, making the audience complicit in their senseless violent acts. The slow-burn descent into nightmare occurs as the boys ingratiate themselves into the family, only to kill off each member one by one after psychologically torturing them into submission. Just as a family of four settles into a lake house for a peaceful vacation, they encounter two teenage boys who have other - more sadistic - plans for them. With “Funny Games,” Michael Haneke takes the horror trope of the vacation-gone-horribly-wrong and violently subverts it. Max’s simultaneous charm and brutality plays off the psycho-sexual fears of stranger danger, and his relentless pursuit of the Bowdens across multiple locations forces us to realize that sometimes home invasions extend beyond the home. While Max’s stalking of Lewis’ character is frightening, a bedroom scene in which Max turns upon his partner is particularly disturbing. The role was originated by Robert Mitchum, who managed to be both menacing and suave, but De Niro adds an intense, physical ferocity to the character that leaves the Bowdens and the viewer feeling all the more helpless. De Niro plays Max Cady, a convicted rapist fresh out of jail and determined to get back at the defense attorney who failed to win him his freedom 14 years earlier. The 40 Best HBO Shows Ranked, from ‘Succession’ to ‘Room 104’ “Cape Fear” (1991)Īfter several decades of collaborating on character-driven dramas about the American experience in films like “Mean Streets” and “Raging Bull,” Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese went down a much darker path in “ Cape Fear.” The movie finds the unassuming Bowden family - played by Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange and Juliette Lewis - tracked down and terrorized by an ex-con thirsty for vengeance.
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