Benny's Video

1992

1h 45m

Mystery & Thriller

List

64%

Tomatometer

14 Reviews

75%

Audience Score

2,500+ Ratings

Obsessed with violent movies and video technology, 14-year-old Benny (Arno Frisch) takes advantage of his parents' absence to have a girl (Ingrid Stassner) come over and watch a tape of a pig slaughter he has viewed repeatedly. Afterward, he kills her with the slaughtering gun used in the video -- and records the murder. His parents decide to cover up his crime. While his mother (Angela Winkler) takes a seemingly indifferent Benny to Egypt, his father (Ulrich Mühe) gets rid of the evidence.

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Nick Schager

Lessons of Darkness

[Makes] arguments that Haneke delivers with frosty menace but, alas, an also typically pedantic, haranguing tenor.

Rated: C

Apr 18, 2007

Full Review

Geoff Andrew

Time Out

An unsettling if not entirely successful social-cum-psychological drama.

Jun 24, 2006

Full Review

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

In some ways, the portrait of his parents is even more chilling.

May 6, 2006

Full Review

Marshall Shaffer

Vague Visages

By continuing to collapse the demarcations — or eradicating them altogether — the anesthetizing effect of the violent image on screen will spill over into the response to real-life injustices.

Dec 6, 2023

Full Review

Yasser Medina

Cinefilia

Haneke implements some cinéma vérité codes to examine the impact of violence in an image-alienated postmodern society, but its effects are lost amid flickering recordings and aesthetic pretensions. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 5/10

May 8, 2023

Full Review

James Kendrick

Q Network Film Desk

plays with a cool, clinical sense of detachment that makes its interpersonal and physical horrors resonate in ways that graphic violence and visual bombast simply couldn’t match

Rated: 3.5/4

Mar 27, 2023

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Diana S

Had never heard of this film before. I was around the same age as Benny when it was released. I can see how it would have been divisive then as well as now, but it seems rather relevant to the place in history we currently inhabit. It did not go in the direction I expected and was not at all predictable. I appreciated the director's stubborn resistance to glamorizing gore (which is thematically important) and that Benny is mostly a catalyst for revealing the ugliness of those we expect to have higher standards for themselves and for what they put into the world but coldly do not.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/04/24

Full Review

Dave S

Those who aren't already fans of Austrian auteur Michael Haneke won't likely be swayed by Benny's Video, an early effort from the divisive director. Arno Frisch plays Benny, a troubled teen obsessed by mass media, who manifests his violent fantasies by killing a girl he meets outside a video store. Benny's cold and calculating manner is mirrored by Haneke's style throughout the film as he relies on a muted color palette, minimal dialogue, and lengthy static shots to create a chilling and foreboding atmosphere. While it can be more than a little uncomfortable to watch at times, it provides valid insight into how media may desensitize and influence those who consume it.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

11/12/23

Full Review

Zeynep B

Haneke accomplishes to shake his audience by putting a mirror to them. The movie starts with an ideal family portait of a middle class family, with a father being the symbol of authority, rule and superego. The father, putting rules for the daughter about not to have parties without notice, or else without him being involved to "order sandwiches", or giving lessons to his son about how to improve his character by some ways other than cutting his hair... However, the limit of this ethical stand of this ideal middle class family comes to an end very quickly when it comes to the selfish interests. When the father realises that his son in fact killed some girl, he appears to be concerned about the possible accusations coming from a "parental neglect" aspect, rather than considering the fact a crime, also one of the biggest sins, has been commited. He then, becomes even more cruel than his son, and minces the body of this little girl in order to save their family future. The hyprocrisy of the ethical stands, the false morality of the society, and how ready we can get to reshape our reality and our stand when it comes to our selfish interests... That being said, nothing too striking, therefore 6,8/10

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/12/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This is a depiction of pure evil. Benny really has no reasons for what he's doing. He is just the way he is. Really liked how the reality and the depiction of the reality are all mixed up and how powerful Benny is in creating that depiction. He even made his parents part of it. They stopped living in the reality and started living in the depiction of it as benny envisioned it. The act of killing itself is not important here. Benny has his own reality to create. He's like god. And he succeed. My second favorite Haneke movie after Funny Games.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/19/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A cool examination of the causes and consequences of one sudden and brutal act of violence by a young adolescent. As with all Haneke's work there are no glib answers or indeed resolutions. Alienation and the detachment of seeing all life at one remove via video implicates us all and makes for several layers of uncomfortable viewing. It's a slow film, but characteristically engrossing and intelligent, and an early signal of a very great talent.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Part of a triology I have read and this is the one in the middle of "Der siebente Kontinent" and "71 Fragmente". I have seen both of the others. Rather shocking stuff and the first one is very grim and good. This film is not the strongest piece by Haneke. Not in the terms of message or disturbingness, neither in total. Benny is 14 years old and slacks around watching movies and clips. He is especially fascinated by a murdered pig. He rents films daily and gets so caught up with films that real life seem unrelatable for him. He invites someone over, kills the person and get's it on tape. He is not sure why, but why not? Nothing seem real anyhow. When his parents finds out about this, they try to save the son of the family by covering up for him. Time will tell if this is a smart move or not. Not very disturbing and also pretty flat. It's no shocker that a Haneke film never stay intense for longer periods - here there are few big scenes. Solid acting and an OK plot. What would you do in such a setting? A moral question that fits many a film from the weird man. Tha poorest of the three films, but I have seen worse by the guy. Not a disadster, not a big hit. 6 out of 10 video stores.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

Full Review

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Michael Haneke

Director

Arno Frisch

Benny

Angela Winkler

Mutter

Ulrich Mühe

Vater

Ingrid Stassner

Mädchen

Veit Heiduschka

Producer

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Synopsis

Obsessed with violent movies and video technology, 14-year-old Benny (Arno Frisch) takes advantage of his parents' absence to have a girl (Ingrid Stassner) come over and watch a tape of a pig slaughter he has viewed repeatedly. Afterward, he kills her with the slaughtering gun used in the video -- and records the murder. His parents decide to cover up his crime. While his mother (Angela Winkler) takes a seemingly indifferent Benny to Egypt, his father (Ulrich Mühe) gets rid of the evidence.

Director: Michael Haneke
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (DVD): Jun 11, 2007
Runtime: 1h 45m

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