This is my favorite horror film of all time because it masterfully walks the tightrope of social commentary and scream-inducing terror. Of course, the best films in any genre offer something prescient about our society, but Funny Games makes you feel the commentary before you think it. From the first meeting with the two brothers, Michael Haneke sets up the tension inherent in hospitality. Is asking your neighbor for four eggs too much to ask? And when you break them, asking for four more? Each inconvenience is followed by profuse apologies, building up and building up, until one of the brother’s swings a golf club at the neighbor’s knee. Further, its breaking of the fourth wall and rewind sequence suggest a kind of video game morality. It makes us wonder, “are we the host or the guest?” in this country house of horrors. – Sarah Foulkes
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