12 Movie Openings That Totally Trolled Audiences

Austrian filmmaker/ occasional purveyor of pretension Michael Haneke (yes, Cache is great, no, Benny's Video is not) set out to deeply unsettle audiences with his 1997 home invasion film Funny Games.

Of course, with the director being an auteur, making an intense home invasion horror was not sufficient. No, to truly dissect screen violence in an intellectually daring fashion never before attempted by a director, Haneke... allowed his villains to talk to the audience and pause and rewind the film at will.

That's it, that's the bit. Think Wayne's World meets Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

As self indulgent and self important as the rest of this austere exercise is, the opening effectively shocks the audience with a burst of metal music that interrupts an anodyne family outing mid-sentence. It's a jolting blast which leaves the audience reeling thanks to the sudden dissonant screaming, and was one inevitably reprised by the filmmakers of Cabin in the Woods over a decade later.

If only this punk rock attitude was actually echoed in the remainder of this flick's interminable runtime.