COUNTESS DRACULA - reading up on Elizabeth Bathory

True crime?

The legend of Countess Dracula has inspired several movies, though I've only seen the Hammer version (soon to be available on blu-ray). Based on the story of Elisabeth Bathory, charged with being a serial killer who bathed in the blood of her female victims in order to retain her youthful looks. Ripe in allegory about the ruling class, it makes a superb story. But like Vlad Tepes, the ruler who inspired Dracula, was she actually a monster?

My earliest guides on the roots of vampire legends were 'The Natural History of the Vampire' (Anthony Masters, 1974) and McNally & Florescu's 1972 'In Search Of Dracula' (revised and updated in 1992). These didn't dissuade me that vampires could exist and that Count Dracula was indeed Vlad The Impaler (as depicted in Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula). Their popular research meant that any castles that Vlad Tepes once lived, or even (possibly) visited, are now nicknamed 'Castle Dracula' (despite Bram Stoker never having visited the country) and provided a huge boost for tourism in Romania. But holidaymakers are actually getting a disrespectful fantasy about that country's revered warrior-leader, since Vlad orchestrated the defence and uniting of their country.

Cover art uses the same painting as the title card of Countess Dracula

Raymond McNally later explored the story of Countess Dracula, finding just as many elements of Bram Stoker's character and mythology in her story. Vlad Tepes may have decapitated his enemies and impaled them on stakes, but that's the opposite of what a vampire does. There's more in Elisabeth Bathory's story to inspire the habits of the Count, and McNally finds proof in Stoker's private notes while researching Dracula, that he'd referred to Sabine Baring-Gould's 'The Book of Werewolves' which included an account of her legend as well. This is the crux of his 1983 book 'Dracula Was A Woman'.

The first half recounts the legends of 'Countess Dracula' and the highlights of the transcript of Elisabeth Bathory's trial. Allegations that the countess drank the blood of virgins to retain her youth are mirrored in Stoker's novel, as the Count becomes younger during the story. The stories of her also eating flesh could have been transposed (and diluted) to Renfield's habit of consuming live animals. He scrutinises every aspect of the history books to find parallels in Stoker's novel and other aspects of vampire lore, but was Countess Bathory actually like this?

It's still more even-handed that Valentine Penrose's 1962 'Bloody Countess', which I didn't realise was written so long ago from such an opinionated viewpoint (he refers to lesbians as "perverted"...)

I started into Tony Thorne's book 'Countess Dracula' (also published as 'Blood Countess') expecting the full horrendous tale of medieval ghastliness. But the crimes described are only what was alleged at the trial - that up to 650 girls were tortured, killed, drained of blood and partially eaten. Their bodies were hidden or strewn across the countryside, this being a time of war when it was possible to get away with murder. Her aristocratic position also meant that she was the law in her own estate. Who'd dare challenge her?

Thorne methodically looks at the surviving records, which aren't many. Because of the wars in that part of Europe, many records have been destroyed. The remaining clues point to a mass murderess, or, an innocent woman defrauded by neighbouring countries for her lands and wealth. With a superstitious population, it would be easy to accuse her of witchcraft and vampirism than to disprove it. With painful capital punishment awaiting anyone who didn't cooperate, there were plenty of witnesses around to point the finger of blame away from themselves.

Ingrid Pitt and Sandor Eles in Countess Dracula

Many famous horror films start with a title or voice announcing that it's "based on a true story". The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Picnic At Hanging Rock, Wolf Creek... Or their publicity machine says it for them - The Exorcist, The Amityville Horror... But once you get down to the original story, you've not been shown anything that actually happened. Millions read the poster. Thousands see the films. Not many bother with the truth. 

In the case of the countess, we don't know what happened, but the accusations and legends make a better story. At the very least, the accusations must be wildly exaggerated. To assume that the gossip and surviving court testimonies are all true is to accept only one side of the story, political subterfuge and ancient superstition.

APPROPRIATE ADULT (2011) - Dominic West as Fred West

APPROPRIATE ADULT

(2011, UK, TV)

A horrendous true story that keeps on getting worse... 

The horrifying crimes of Fred and Rosemary West threatened to eclipse those of all previous British serial killers, with ghastly excesses that fuelled tabloid headlines for years. The Moors Murders, a couple that abducted and murdered children, still haunt England from the distant mists of the mid-1960s. These crimes at 25, Cromwell Street, uncovered in the mid-1990s, started with assault and murder in the family home... 

The case set a new low benchmark for inhumanity reported in this country. Not in a war zone. Not on the other side of the world. But in an ordinary street, that could easily have been next door.

The idea of adapting the Wests' story as a TV drama, even fifteen years later, sounded impossible. The amount of sexual violence would be hard to work around on mainstream TV.

I wasn't even going to watch Appropriate Adult until it was announced that Dominic West, star of the acclaimed TV series The Wire, was to play Fred West. This indicated a more serious approach than a lurid reconstruction. For the actor, it was potentially a gamble to play one of the most hated men of recent years.

There's a huge disparity in taste between approaches to true crime on TV. I was surprised by an ITV documentary about the Moors Murders which suffered indifferent acting and poor taste crime recreations. Yet the Channel 4 drama Longford (2006) found an intriguing angle to dramatise part of the story, pitting Jim Broadbent (Brazil) as Lord Longford against Samantha Morton (A.I.) as Myra Hindley. But I wasn't expecting such an intelligent drama about Fred and Rosemary from the more mainstream ITV.

The script cleverly follows an appropriate adult, a civilian (Emily Watson) invited into the case when Fred is arrested to ensure he's being understood by the police, as he's suspected of being mentally vulnerable (there's irony for you). Each time they discover a crime has been committed, the more victims there turn out to be. Sitting in on police interviews with Fred West (Dominic West), she also accompanies him and the police in the hunt for where he might have hidden the bodies. Without his cooperation, there'll be no evidence.

As an investigation, this isn't a barrage of flashy technology cracking the case, like in CSI. It's not built around violent flashbacks, like a horror film. We're simply faced with the suspect, trying to discover what and why he did. Is he as stupid as he looks? Is he lying? It starts with a missing person, but the more the police dig, the more crimes they unearth. 

Emily Watson (soon to be seen in War Horse) is excellent as the 'appropriate adult' brought in without any preparation to hear West's interrogations and confessions. Unfortunately, Fred starts confiding in her, placing her in increasingly difficult quandaries.

Dominic West is frighteningly convincing, all the more chilling because we're hearing some of the words and motivations of the original murderer in an eerie impersonation of him. The distinction between murders that he does or doesn't find upsetting, the casual way he admits to further crimes. Particularly chilling is the way the victims 'speak to him' as he gets closer to where they were buried.

Rosemary West (Monica Dolan) is a frightening figure who's mostly in the background, with an unconcealed violent attitude towards everyone around her. In contrast, the calm and usually relaxed Fred insists she has nothing to do with all of it.

Shown as two feature-length parts, the first was very tight dramatically, showing the short claustrophobic period of his early interrogations. The second part was less satisfying, because it had to match real events, her sporadic involvement struggles to keep the viewpoint inside the investigation to the end.
The whole story can't be told as completely as a work of fiction would, because of the lack of evidence and the labyrinthine legal process. But I wish the programme had been a little clearer about how some of obstacles to the case had been overcome.

This serves as a restrained reminder of what this pair did, without showing the gory details. But also focuses on how hard it is to establish the truth, even with so much circumstantial evidence and the criminals in custody. 

It's not just a situation where an ordinary person is in the same room with someone describing horror, but one where she gets the confidence of and insight into the mind of a psychotic multiple murderer. This took me as close as I wanted to get, and in as much detail as I could take. There are also hints that there were further, even nastier crimes...

It's available on region 2 DVD in the UK (pictured at the top).

BODY PARTS (1991) - action/horror/gore genre mash-up

BODY PARTS
(1991, USA)

Twisted bloody tale from the writer of The Hitcher

This belongs in the sub-genre of 'action horror' (for want of a better name) - a mixture of classic scares and stunt-heavy action, usually involving car chases. 'Scary car' movies started with Duel, but I'd include Death Race 2000, Race With The Devil, The Car and the Phantasm movies. The genre peaked with The Hitcher (1986) and the Maniac Cop films. However, recent additions include Joy Ride and Jeepers Creepers. Anyone think of any other horror films full of scary auto action?

I first saw this 1991 gem Body Parts on TV. It was so enjoyable that I tracked down the laserdisc in order to see the whole 2.35 widescreen image. It was a surprise that such a well-made film, well-written, action-packed and bloody horror had passed me by on its cinema release.

After a challenging chat with a serial killer, a prison psychiatrist (Jeff Fahey) starts losing faith in himself and then loses an arm in an accident. Luckily for him there's a new experimental procedure in town that can give him a brand new arm. But as he's taken into the operating theatre (in a nightmarish scene as he slips into unconsciousness), h sees another patient surrounded by armed guards with shotguns. Seems the reluctant donor is a homicidal maniac whose being terminated and cut up for spares...

After a successful transplant, the new arm brings strange new dreams, nasty violent ones. Investigating the history of the arm's donor he discovers that other patients have received limbs and similar nightmares. When he hits one of his kids in anger, he suspects that he's been given the arm that did all the killing...


This is far-fetched fun that should have been a far bigger hit. Without the necessary starpower, it must have just snuck out. Jeff Fahey peaked the following year when he starred in The Lawnmower Man (billed higher than Pierce Brosnan). He was also memorable in the underrated Psycho III (1986) and stole many scenes in Planet Terror(2007). Fahey is also due to be in next year's Grindhouse spin-off Machete.

Perennial eccentric Brad Dourif is always excellent, but again not famous. His roles are usually awesome cameos like in Alien: Resurrection and Dune. But he also shone in more substantial roles such as The Exorcist III and as bad haircut Billy in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975). I always get his roles in Body Parts and Dario Argento's Trauma (1993) mixed up.

Lindsay Duncan, as a benevolent modern day Dr Frankenstein, normally does TV drama but has risen to the top of her field - notably in the Catherine Zeta-Jones role in the original TV version of Traffik (1989), which is recommended more highly than the film version of 2000, and more recently in a British TV movie as Margaret Thatcher.

Body Parts has a tight script by director Eric Red, but the story has quite a history, being based on the novel Choice Cuts by Pierre Boileau & Thomas Narcejac. These Frenchmen also wrote the novels that inspired Hitchcock's Vertigo and the original Les Diaboliques. They also worked on the script of the haunting Les Yeux Sans Visage (1959, Eyes Without A Face), one of the only French horror films before this recent glut of gallic torture-tainment. Their novel Choice Cuts is in turn a twist on an even older short story filmed twice as The Hands of Orlac (1924 and 1960) and famously as Mad Love (1935, from which there's also a great visual quote in Body Parts).

Eric Red honours the story's heritage while updating it and adding all the ingredients befitting a horror or an action movie of the time. He also wrote Kathryn Bigelow's Blue Steel (1989) and Near Dark (1987), two of her best films. He directed a few films, including this one. The only misstep is an absolutely ridiculous car chase where two people are handcuffed together while sitting in different cars!

At the time, Body Parts made the front cover of Fangoria. The prosthetic gore fx are creative, nasty but gratuitously necessary to the story. The gothic soundtrack reminds me of John Williams' The Fury crossed with Bernard Herrmann.


This was on DVD but is now a sought-after OOP disc. A reissue must be on the table soon, please?

There's a great career interview with Eric Red here.

Here's another review, but full of spoilers and many tasty/tasteless screengrabs.

A short YouTube trailer, cropped to 4:3...

THE CHASER (2008) South Korean thriller verging on horror

THE CHASER
(2008, South Korea, Chugyeogja)

Heard this was a hit serial-killer thriller and decided to have a look. Easy enough, because it's already been released in cinemas in the UK and now on DVD. The Chaser was a big hit in South Korea. While very good, it's not a classic like Oldboy, despite many comparisons and similarities. It's already good enough to soon get remade in Hollywood.

I can't give up too much of the story, as much of the enjoyment is how it unfolds. But our unlikely protagonist is a pimp who's having trouble keeping track of his women. Two have gone missing and he starts to suspect that a third might be in danger of being abducted by a rival. We soon know different, following her to the client, where she realises that she's not in a pimp war, but actually being prepared for slaughter...

There's enough South East Asian movies that pit serial killers against inefficient detectives to fill a whole sub-genre (including Zee-Oui, The Untold Story). This is particularly a key issue in South Korea where serial murders are a new phenomenon (Memories of Murder was about the first ever case). The plot highlights dozens of faults by the investigators and legal team, that cause it all to drag on. It's a far cry fom the high tech methods of CSI. In fact it's so slack that many moments are intentionally funny, in the darkest possible way.

After the film, I learnt that this was an actual recent case. While the story deviates from the truth on many points, it must have helped the box office.

I was thus reminded of Dirty Harry, itself inspired by the Zodiac killer, but also because it takes a renegade working outside the system to cut through the legal red tape, cynical policing and party politics in order to help the innocent.


Though in The Chaser, there's a damaging lull in the centre section of the film as everyone is so completely off track that the audience has to sit and wait until the 'ticking clock' can continue. While the director may have intended this to be suspenseful, I was losing interest because so many of the characters were hopelessly lost in the case.

That said, this could be an effort from first-time director Hong-jin Na to avoid movie cliches. The opening half hour is superb and gripping. The cast are excellent, the film is technically top-notch. But the story ignores many loose-ends and uses far too many coincidences. It's certainly unpredictable and full of surprises, possibly because this is what actually happened. But far too flimsy for a fictional story.


The Chaser is still an undeniably powerful, dark, surprising and watchable thriller. With a couple of moments that are unwatchable. Well, I certainly couldn't bear to look. But, I will look forward to the director's next film, The Murderer.

This is out in the UK on DVD from Metrodome, in a good-looking 2.35 anamorphic presentation.

KONTROLL (2003) - offbeat Hungarian subway thriller

KONTROLL
(2003, Hungary)

After first seeing the Russian ‘vampire’ blockbuster Night Watch, I was hungry for more modern movies from Eastern Europe. Kontroll was shot in Hungary and if it'd been directed by someone like Guy Ritchie, would have been a huge hit. But it wasn’t. Kontroll certainly lead to the director, Nimrod Antal, getting a gig in Hollywood directing the horror thriller Vacancy (2007), and his next film Armored is a crime caper set in the world of armored car deliveries and should be out later this year.

In the meantime, I’m going to give Vacancy a go, but I doubt it’ll be as much fun as Kontroll which has everything – horror, drama, romance, thrills and grubby underground humour. Set entirely in the Metro subway in Hungary’s capital city Budapest, where the ticket inspectors (collectively called Control) travel the train system in teams. One lot in particular is about to cross paths with a hoodied figure who is passing off random murder as passenger suicides…


While most of the inspectors are disliked by the public, much like traffic wardens, within Control, there’s a team who are even disliked by their colleagues. Bulcsu is the leader of the pack, but sleeping on the subway platforms, wandering the system at night, what is his problem?


Director Nimrod Antal’s debut feature is instantly accessible, creating a castful of entertaining and diverse characters… Bulcsu’s team of Kontrollers include an old world-weary skinhead, a narcoleptic bully, a grubby sex pest, and the newest youngest who’s keen to learn and impress.

Besides helping with the serial murders, they have to battle public fare dodgers, a travelling gang of prostitutes, and a young parkour wannabe who loves to outrun the officials. This is all besides their rivalry with other Control teams. Bulcsu has a reputation to defend, the dangerous talent for outrunning Metro trains between stops. And of course, there’s the woman who rides around all day dressed up as a bear.


All the interlinking stories and characters make for a well-rounded film that’s alternately thrilling, chilling, funny, dark and even poetic. The kinetic cinematography regularly calms down to take in darkly beautiful tableaux in the weirdest corners of the underground, where most of the film was shot on location. The film, like Bulcsu’s character, never leaves the Metro system. The atmosphere of the unusual setting is complemented by the driving soundtrack by electro band Neo – a sort of cross between Massive Attack and The Chemical Brothers (see/hear the YouTube clips below).


As long as subtitles aren’t a problem for you, this is a very rewarding and repeatable film. Also, don’t let the introduction put you off, a five minute monologue by a Budapest Metro official pointing out rather patronisingly that the Hungarian transport system portrayed in the film is fictional and isn’t actually staffed by drunks and sex pests. Don’t expect a linear story, but more of an enthralling meandering experience that draws you into a world of eternal artificial night, perfect for viewing in the middle of the night.


Kontroll is out on DVD in the US and UK and all round Europe. I got the CD soundtrack by Neo from Amazon.de.

The official Hungarian movie website is still online here, much of it is translated into English.

I wrote about other subway films here.


Here's a promo video clip from Neo that just uses clips from the movie.

Here's another track from Neo. Both these tracks are from the movie soundtrack.

EXTE - HAIR EXTENSIONS (2007) - new Chiaki Kuriyama horror

EXTE - HAIR EXTENSIONS
(2007, Japan, Exsute)

It’s good to see Chiaki Kuriyama back in a Japanese horror film. But with Sion Sono directing, it’s not going to be a straightforward affair.

Sion Sono (Noriko’s Dinner Table, Strange Circus) also wrote and directed the infamous Suicide Circle (2002), with an unbelievable opening sequence where 54 schoolgirls join hands on the edge of a subway platform and then jump under a train. Despite the central plot of a detective investigating the serial suicides, the director ties in a bizarre subplot involving a new girl band. The opening is a great hook, the dramatic scenes are gripping and downbeat, but Sono is obliquely exploring other themes – the sort that only film critics seem to understand. The bizarre song and dance from the extremely nasty villain took me by surprise, and the movie flew over my head as I listened to a really bad song, apparently a tribute to The Rocky Horror Show. Nope, didn’t get that connection either – had to read about it later. But I don’t mind missing the point, just as long as it’s entertaining. Exte is his new film to get released on DVD, half which I love, half I didn’t.


I knew something wasn’t quite right during the opening scene, when customs officers open a dockside container only to find it full of human hair. When a corpse is discovered inside, one of the officers makes a comedy face before running away. Surely this was going to be a serious horror film?

Chiaki Kuriyama plays Yuko, a trainee stylist at a small hair salon. Her studies are interupted by her step-sister who dumps her daughter with her while she’s off partying with drunken businessmen. As if babysitting wasn’t problem enough, a weird guy turns up at the salon giving away hair extensions, cursed ones…


I love Sion Sono’s handling of the horror scenes and his directing of actors, but I don’t understand what else he’s trying to achieve. Exte is a fine horror film with strong performances from a good cast, but the story is almost non-existent, driven only by the whims of a completely insane villain. Not realistic insane, but comedy mad, like a 1960s Batman villain. Penguin likes umbrellas and birds, Riddler likes riddles, catwoman likes cats… in the same two-dimensional way, Yamazaki likes hair. That’s it. No complex backstory, no scheme, no plan. He just likes hair. This point is oft-repeated, especially when he sings a useless atonal ditty, the lyrics of which are just ‘my hair’. If Sono is trying to send up the horror genre, he needs to be funnier.

While actor Ren Osugi (Uzumaki, Nightmare Detective, Audition, Train Man and many more) is always reliable for creepy villainy, but here he’s asked to dress in wigs and silly sunhats. As Yamazaki, his day job is to sell the hair he cuts from corpses while on night shift in the mortuary. As a vaguely camp hair extensions salesman, or waltzing round his grubby apartment talking to a corpse, he seems to be playing for laughs. But not only isn’t it funny, these scenes are completely at odds with the rest of the film. There are gruesomely detailed deaths by hair, as it tries to rip itself free of its owner, or as it snakes around into ears, up noses and around eyeballs…


Despite the spectacularly painful hair murders, the only real horror is when the little girl’s mother tries to reclaim her abused daughter, banging on the door, trying to lie her way into the house. The characters in this storyline are well-rounded and expertly acted. It totally works as a grim drama. But as soon as we return to Yamazaki, the film becomes a comedy again.

There's so much that I like about Exte. The shame is that Sion Sono could make great horror films, if only he took them seriously. If you get his humour, the film may still work for you...

Exte is now on DVD in the US and UK.

SHIVER (2003) - Seven meets The Ring in Hong Kong

SHIVER
(2003, Hong Kong, Sam Hon)

A unsteady balance between Hong Kong thriller and horror

There's currently little in my Hong Kong section, here in the Black Hole, because I like my horror free of slapstick and kung-fu, (Mr Vampire is of course an exception). Serious HK horror is relatively thin on the ground, though I’m still digging around. Even if I include the Pang brothers, who don’t exclusively get funded by Hong Kong, but rather as multi-territory co-productions - for example, The Eye is listed as Hong Kong/Singapore and was mostly shot in Thailand.

Now that China, Hong Kong’s major new market, has again banned horror films, things are looking serious for horror there. Recently, I tried out Andrew Lau's Haunted School which was pretty poor. I now take a look at Shiver, which looks like it was made in the early nineties, with basic filmaking techniques, flat lighting and live sound.

Chen Ming (Francis Ng) and Sum-Yi’s marriage is in trouble. Things are so bad, even their divorce is in trouble! Stuck in traffic, they get caught in a shoot out and Sum-Yi (Athena Chu) gets hit in the head. She survives, but finds that she can see ghosts… and predict serial murders. It’s handy that she's married to a cop.

As her visions get scarier, and her behaviour gets more hazardous, hubbie is closing in the serial killer. Though it’s hard to identify with Chen when Sum-Yi’s doctor, Ko Chun (Nick Cheung) is a far more compassionate character.

Like Chen’s driving, the movie veers wildly around between good and bad. The script mixes up the genres and throws in some good twists, aiming to please serial killer and horror fans, with police shootouts and car chases thrown in. I was also shocked to see full-frontal male nudity, on a corpse with its legs sawn off by chainsaw. There’s something you don’t see every day.


But many scenes have serious drawbacks, which I'll credit to the low budget rather than inexperience – director Siu-Hung Chung’s track record is certainly long enough. There’s a good enough cast, but they’re made to look bad by slack, unflinching editing during the harshest emotional scenes. There’s also a multiple car crash which is haltingly edited. Add to that some rather dated make-up effects. If you want actors to look stressed, don’t paint them green. If you want corpses to look like they're out of Seven, don’t use plastic.

The action gets really confusing towards the end, when inexplicable motivations really pile up. In short, our hero the cop is a really lousy detective, a lousy shot, and a lousy medic. Plus, we get to hear way too much of his annoying mobile ringtone.

Finally, one of the minor characters is called Kitty Chow. Is that a brand name of catfood in the US?

In some scenes, I started getting into Shiver - the drama worked, the tension worked, but then something really cheap or stupid happened. Shiver is almost good, it just needed a bit more care in the execution.

Added to the dated production values, is this old-style HK DVD from Universe Video, before they improved their releases. There are poorly-translated subtitles in mangled English, a non-anamorphic widescreen picture, and it's from a soft print that jumps at all the edits.


I'll keep looking for Hong Kong horrors that match the quality achieved by the Pang brothers. I also have high hopes for the live-action BLOOD THE LAST VAMPIRE, being made there at the moment.

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FUNNY GAMES (2008) an anti-horror movie

FUNNY GAMES
(2008, USA)

Movie audiences get a battering

I've tried Funny Games before. I tried Funny Games again. This time, I'm still recovering.

As the onscreen title (Funny Games U.S.) pointedly reminds us, it's a remake. Of the 1997 Austrian film Funny Games. And it’s by the same director. After the success of Hidden (Cache), Michael Haneke has seized the opportunity to bring the experience of Funny Games to the originally intended audience, the American public.


Two overly polite young psychos use the flimsiest of excuses to wreak a prolonged and savage attack on a nice middle-class family, who are on vacation in a remote beauty spot by a boating lake. We’re initially presented with a couple and their young son. They have an expensive car, their own boat, two sets of golf clubs, and a rather dull taste in opera CDs. The two cheeky psychotics on the other hand enjoy speed metal music. They are more likely to represent a typical movie audience - anti-establishment anti-heroes looking for new thrills. What they’re interested in is violence, and almost unthinkingly, vicious psychological torture.


But this convincingly portrayed story is a stealthy set-up. A trap for fans of screen violence and mayhem. It’s from the genre of violent films that are about violence, a traditionally tricky genre that can easily backfire. Witness the double-edged reaction to Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange or Oliver Stone’s Naural Born Killers. Funny Games U.S. avoids the usual pitfalls and succeeds at making the audience react realistically to violent situations, without exploiting them. Turning death and torture around from being entertainment, back to being repellent.

When violence happens it’s painful and prolonged, accompanied by screams of agony and the tortured reactions of loved ones. The effect is intensified by the reality of the situation – there’s no background music, and the camera often holds a fixed gaze on the situation as we see it play out without cutaways, as it would for real. If pain and death are going to be used to sell tickets, let’s be reminded of what it’s actually like.

I don't disagree that we should get reality checks like this. Last House on the Left had a similar sobering effect on me, making me question exactly what it is I get out of horror films. It’s timely that we should get some perspective on the current craze for ‘torture porn’.


A few years ago, I didn't ‘get’ the first Funny Games. I tried watching it, but didn’t get emotionally involved with the characters. With this new version, in a cinema, with a cast I like, I got it. This time it was an experience. I was in a constant state of dread about what was going to happen next. The violence hurt. The screaming was unbearable.

This isn’t to say that every technique the director used was successful. I didn’t understand the film’s most blatant communications with the audience, but I’m intrigued enough to see more of Haneke’s films and what he’s about.

The two wild jokers in the story taunt the audience that they are giving us what we want. We’re teased with some facetious details about why they’re like this, but it’s irrelevant. The audience are more interested in the action than the motive. The bloody infantile games they play are why we’re watching.

The hoodlums echo the amoral duos from Rope and Compulsion, both based on real-life murder cases. They’re played by former teen heart-throbs Michael Pitt (Dawson's Creek, The Dreamers) and Brady Corbet (Mysterious Skin, Thirteen) who aren’t totally successful in portraying the ‘wily and dim’ double act of the original. But Naomi Watts (Mulholland Drive, The Ring and Tim Roth (ironically from Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction) are intensely good in gruelling roles.


I’ve not seen many interviews with the director, or figured out his precise views. But he’s obviously very keen that this story reaches a wide audience that thrives on movie violence for entertainment. Rather than pick on the omnipresent serial killer genre or slasher films, he’s used the ‘home invasion’ scenario. This has previously been used to supposedly analyse violence in society, while crassly exploiting it – like in Straw Dogs and Death Wish - though these films are now obscure targets.

Without referencing a specific genre, Funny Games ably rallies against the exploitation of pain, with a typical nightmare premise filmed in a very different way, questioning how we watch atrocities that have been presented as entertainment.

Funny Games U.S. is constructed to lure all of us naughty horror fans in and try and teach us a valuable lesson. Though a mainstream audience may not get the point.

It's on release in the USA mid-March and in the UK from April 4th.
The official UK website is here...

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