In the recent cinematic world of twisted psychological thrillers, none have come close to hooking my attention span or creating true unsettling moments or capture fear in such subtle ways that come in the most diabolical and evil circumstances while keeping me in constant surprise... until now. Michael Haneke's re-make of his 1997 German film "FUNNY GAMES" is quite the psycho thriller masterpiece and possibly better than his original one.

When you look at the poster for the film, the coldness of the image and beaten look upon NAOMI WATTS face is a fair depiction of the mood this movie will put you in. The story line is simply this: Two young men dressed in tennis attire take a family hostage in their lake home and decide to play games with them.  Doesn't seem too exciting or original, considering the entire film takes place inside a house and around it. This film is a character piece and relies on the strength of the acting and direction. But what Haneke does is something amazing and the performances that the actors give are sensational, especially MICHAEL PITT. The film draws you in with off screen scenes of action leaving you to create the horror of which you only hear and makes you sit with uneasyness with it's lengthy scenes of very little camera movements in anticipation of something happening. And at times, it seems like the director forgot to yell cut where the actors are pretty much doing nothing. But it's scenes like that which bring out emotion and get you thinking how you would react if put in that situation. The two young men, PITT and BRADY CORBETT, are the core root of evil and play it to the max. They enjoy what they are doing way too much which is both unsettling and awesome. And the way they play their games is sometimes hard to swallow, yet mesmerizing to watch. There's one scene in particular towards the end on the lake that seems to comes out of nowhere yet you might of been suspecting it, just not that way or the way it was done. My mouth dropped open and I sat there thinking, "Oh shit, that's crazy! That's f**king awesome!" But it took me a few minutes to past that scene cause I kept imagining what it would be like if that was me. When you see it, you'll know what I mean.

This is not your typical formulated Hollywood psycho thriller film. It takes some patience to sit through it and accept what's happening in front of you. This is the type of filmmaking I love, to let the actors lead you through the journey and not the camera movements or effects. FUNNY GAMES is a great film that disturbs you, gets you mad and makes you think how precious life and family is and how easily someone could take it all away from you.

This film is rated R for terror, violence and some language.

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