A schoolboy, fascinated with videos depicting extreme violence, becomes obsessed after personally filming the death of a pig on a farm. Stealing the contraption used on the animal, he shows it to a girl he meets outside the video shop. After running his film of the pig for her, he loads the device and dares her to use it on him. When she makes the mistake of daring him in return, he kills her. When the boy's parents discover what has happened they are faced with the dilemma of whether to come clean with the authorities and so see their son's life ruined, or attempt to cover it up...

I've reviewed this film before as part of the Michael Haneke Trilogy box set. German director Haneke made a name for himself with the film Hidden, but I have to say that his earlier projects, which seem to explore the darkness within middle-class society, did little for me. In this one, Arno Frisch plays a younger version of pretty much the same character as he does in Funny Games (also directed by Michael Haneke).

Benny's Video is very slow in its pacing, as if that is likely to tell us more about the psyche of the young offender. The best part of this film is Benny's parent's discussion about what to do when they discover the girl's body. The rest is at best tedious and somewhat in bad taste.

I could see the sense in the box set (even though I didn't particularly enjoy the film); however, this separate release is unlikely to garner much mainstream or genre interest.

2

Ty Power