Benny’s Video (1992)

Option 1Option 2

Avg Rating: 3.7 / 5. Voted: 106

No one cared thus far. Do you?


AKA:
Directed by: Michael Haneke
Starring: Arno Frisch (Benny), Angela Winkler (Mother), Ulrich Mรผhe (Father), Ingrid Stassner (Girl), Stefan Polasek (Ricci)
Country: Austria
Language: German (English subtitles)
Runtime: 01:49:39
Genres: Family, Gruesome, Snuff, Teenager, Violence Against-Animals

Plot – Spoilers:
Grainy footage of a pig being shot with a captive bolt. This is Benny’s first significant work.

Benny is a teenager living in a wealthy Austrian home and has filled his room with videotapes and a few cameras. He appears to prefer video to reality. So his curtains are drawn shut and instead, a camera 24/7 live records the outside view from his window.

Something more significant is about to happen though. Benny often sees a girl standing outside the video rental he frequents and he brings her home one weekend while his parents are away. He shows her a captive bolt pistol he’d stolen and things spiral from there.

Thoughts on the ending (Massive Spoilers):
It seems unlikely that conscience had anything to do with his decision. Benny’s unpredictable behaviour with the girl and later his friend Ricci at the latter’s home and in class, suggests he is certifiably psychopathic. Through the course of the film you almost sense a growing contempt in him for his parents’ decisions and behavioural choices, and his trip to the police station is probably to spite them.

Random:
If you liked the actor playing Benny, there are a couple movies here, including another by the Austrian master Haneke.

guest
24 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
toasted soup
toasted soup
November 16, 2024 11:06 pm

found it boring. the ending was stupid

heartsizedbullet
heartsizedbullet
October 21, 2024 3:36 pm

The start was pretty interesting yet as i continued after the head-shaving scene, it got pretty boring and hard to finish :^( Other than that, the vibe of it all is very nice and i loved the way it’s all filmed :^)

PirateNation
PirateNation
October 13, 2024 12:22 pm

thanks for the uploads and the film’s rubrics are often hilarious..Thanks ind stranger

lilzzz_
lilzzz_
September 27, 2024 2:04 pm

boring at some point ngl

breakpoint
breakpoint
September 17, 2024 2:29 am

its okay I guessssssssssssssss now I have to go take a shower cuz I crapped my pants

Dewey budman
Dewey budman
September 8, 2024 9:26 pm

Jordan vandor slootโ€ฆ influenced, โ€ฆkid kills girl in drunken weird out โ€ฆ.dad sends kid away ,โ€ฆ.girls body taken care of by good old dad. Kid knows NOTHING.. The only deviation is the Jordy went to Peru and raped and killed another young girl three years later when good old dad died .. , maybe the sequelโ€ฆ Bennys next tape ?????

Old Mother Hubbard
Old Mother Hubbard
August 10, 2024 9:23 pm

This film is number 2 in what Michael Haneke calls the “glaciation trilogy.” The first film in the series is “The Seventh Continent” (1989), the second is this one “Benny’s Video” (1992) and the third is “71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance” (1994) (the first 2 are on EUM, hoping to see the 3rd on here some day). I happened to watch them in order although I don’t think it is necessary to do so. Being a Haneke fan I give all three films 5 stars but his movies may not be for everyone. “Benny’s Video” is the least disjointed out of the three and is probably the one that viewers would be able to grasp on to the concept of most easily. Arno Frisch is so convincing as a sociopath that it may be possible he actually is one in real life. Haneke takes shots of mundane, everyday objects or subjects and puts them under scrutiny for overly long periods of time like teapots of boiling water or someone putting on their socks. Haneke’s films always contain families at the dinner table eating which somehow always seems strange because of his filming technique. “71 Fragments” takes a lot of patience to watch but is worth viewing. There are some scenes in “71 Fragments” that go on super long for apparently no reason like grandpa’s phone call or the table tennis sequence which starts to make you laugh after a while. As usual, I went in to all 3… Read more ยป

Lily
Lily
May 7, 2024 4:02 pm

Arno Frisch was a sick young actor

Leo di Gotti
Leo di Gotti
December 6, 2022 7:35 pm

Performance is superb… yet considering that such personages really live among us and we are not able to recognize them – it is very burdensome to watch this. Maybe realism is a bit off.

definitely 4/5

Rage
Rage
February 14, 2022 2:58 am

very disturbing and left me confused- i am okay with that

Ysabeau
Ysabeau
February 21, 2021 3:11 pm

Upper class family

Alice
Alice
February 21, 2021 2:25 am

The movie is slow and longer than necessary, with repeating scenes. That boy is an organic portal, he can imitate feelings but has none, a complete empty vessel. The parents enable his irresponsible behaviors with the unconditional love covering his ass and rewarding him for his wrongs, when they should’ve just turned him in or disowned him, cos someone like that could kill anyone, unprovoked, in a heartbeat, without any remorse.

Benyam Getahun
Benyam Getahun
February 15, 2021 5:06 am

Perhaps, the reason why he snitched on his parents was the same reason why he killed the girl and why he never talked to the principle/school official. He doesn’t want to take any responsibility.
He finished off the girl because she kept screaming and freaking out and he didn’t want any trouble.
He hit his friend because he was mad that he told his teacher about his side of the story.
He recorded his parent’s “confession” before any contempt could grow and did it right after
they had a meeting before his trip.
He turned them in so he won’t get blamed and share no responsibility like a apathic psychopath.
He’s just completely desensitized because he doesn’t separate media from reality.

Ralph Bunag
Ralph Bunag
February 14, 2021 11:38 pm

I liked this movie. But that poor and innocent girl didn’t deserve to die the way she did. Very sad.

lola hein
lola hein
February 14, 2021 3:19 pm

austria movie…small country but strange and good movies and directors……the movie angst (fear) is a masterpiece
thx

lola

Cardano
Cardano
February 13, 2021 1:58 am

despite featuring being a film by Haneke and featuring both Ulrich Mรผhe and Arno Frisch, I did not enjoy this one as much as I do “Funny Games”. And funny games is one of my favourite films. This one in comparison didn’t really grip me. starts off slow and never really picks up pace, so only 3 stars from me.

Kad
Kad
February 12, 2021 9:20 pm

Masterpiece from the best director of our time! Thanks Effedup movies ๐Ÿ™‚

Lachance
Lachance
February 12, 2021 4:25 pm

Yo that was interesting, merci
Foreign movie never heard before ๐Ÿ™‚