Writer/Director: Michael Haneke
Year: 2007
Cinematographer: Darius Khondji
I haven't seen a lot of horror films, admittedly, because I usually laugh and am too annoyed by poor filmmaking to sit through them. I never find them truly horrific, just juvenile excuses to spill blood and guts, to shock through predictable methods and have some sexy young female actor strip down to almost nothing... and then they let her be the hero and save the day.
I also haven't seen the original version of this film (Made by Haneke in 1997, in German), but this is the most profound horror film I've seen. Haneke both uses some predictable horror film tropes, and also brings his own particular style and creativity... and that's what he uses as a base. He then dismantles and disobeys most of the rules of the horror genre, and in the mean-time criticizes his own audience for even watching the film... for being an audience that came to see a horror film. For that is the motivation of the torturers... to satisfy the audience's desire to see horrible acts of violence and abuse, while providing "plausible plot development."
Breaks the 4th wall of the theater several times, as one of the young men has little asides with the audience.
Many elements of the film remind me of Polanski's "Knife in the Water".
Excellently made, truly terrifying, and ultimately a rewarding intellectual film-going experience.
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