Funny Games (1997, 2007)

Writer-director Michael Haneke’s 1997 Austrian home-invasion movie — and his 2007 English-language remake — break all the usual pacts with the audience. All the comforting things that usually happen in the movie are upended, especially in a very deliberate, brutally heavy-handed sequence in which justice is unserved.

It’s very effective, and we respect Haneke’s uncompromising, unrelenting audacity — but the movie is so good at carrying out its cruel intentions that it’s a very unpleasant watch. It’s one of those movies we respect, but can only watch through splayed fingers.