I hadn't seen Funny Games, but that does sound like I would find it frustrating... while it
can be kind of the point, I would rather not be able to look at home invasion flicks as a category and be able to say "oh, I don't really feel like watching torture porn, because that is all they ammount to," you know?
evilthecat said:
In fact, until funny games "home invasion" movies almost always ended with a last ditch escape because gosh darn it, we all want to believe so badly that the power of nice middle class white families with nice, comfy looking houses will prevail
Well, yeah, sometimes that
is a nice vibe. And sometimes it's cool to watch the plump soft ignorant suburbanites get slaughtered, too- I think with the home invasion flicks, we would
like to think that we know our home turf best, and it can be unsettling when attackers are, whether plot driven or otherwise, better capable. Again, the fun part of discussing horror is whether one is too bothered or indeed 'horrified' by the premise!
evilthecat said:
It's very difficult to make this kind of "home invasion" horror movie without commenting in some way on the tropes of the genre, and the genre is saturated with this kind of bizarre family-values rhetoric, usually with nice white middle class dad stepping up to the role of protector and proving himself in the eyes of his family. There's room for a few more middle fingers to that story, I think.
Sure, if you're into that sort of thing- I mean, most of Lucky McGee's cannon preys on the fears young men have of sex and underestimated women,for example, like
The Woman or
The Body, and so there is definitely a market there. In addition, I think it might be more base than that- it has to do with home being sacred, unassailable, and safe, a lesson most learn while young. And when we get right down to it, home is not necessarily safe at all, and that is what is being played with, I reckon.
evilthecat said:
At this stage, I think it's fair to say everyone is pretty aware of the issues (American-centric) horror has with sex. I think we kind of have to assume that if someone's still doing it it's kind of intentional.
Yep, I reckon so. If one wants to explore some different takes on sex and it's role in horror, like Gone Girl or The Loved Ones, or Final Girl (if it gets done), there are many films that are exploring mayhem in directions less tread (less tread by an 8-foot-tall indestructible psycho, at least).