A lot of violence was is on the screen in 'Funny Games'. He builds up hate in the viewer, by showing the two evil boys as well mannered, their speaking did a big part of the trick (their austrian accent suits this well, maybe hence the facist reference *). Not many times I saw a movie where the border between me and the film was getting frightening thin. Watching for example Reservoir Dogs you still remain in the cinema chair and the film is somewhere over there on the screen, the distance remains. But for me Michael Haneke succeeded in getting rid of that distance. But what makes it different for me is how he builds up the desire for violence towards the two boys and then starts playing with the viewer and that desire, decieving him of his genre pleasure. So it is as you say a genre film, but then he makes you aware of your expectations when you watch a violent movie, and i think he did a good job in doing so. So for me it's much more than seeing a Tarantino movie where the violence is something you payed for to watch. But I don't want to defend the movie to strongly, i did find it one of the more interesting films I saw that year, but what the heck, there where others. *) Don't wanna imply that austrian accent sounds facistical arthur