Funny Games (1997)
Funny Games is one of the most polarizing films on this list and for good reason. Michael Haneke’s masterful film subverts audience expectations by breaking the fourth wall continuously as an Austrian family is tormented by two white collar gentlemen. The turning point for the film occurs towards the end, when the mother manages to shoot one of the men with a shotgun, only for lead villain Paul to grab a TV remote, rewind the scene and stop her from grabbing the shotgun. It was a sucker punch of a twist (which many people loathe), and enforced the question Haneke was asking American audiences specifically: why do we want to see violence?
