Benny Loves You (2020) Review: Unraveling the Hilariously Horrific Adventures of a Sinister Stuffed Animal

Benny Loves You (2020) was written, directed and produced by Karl Holt. Who also stars in the film. It tells the story of a man who recently lost his parents and decides it's finally time to grow up. But his beloved plushie isn't ready to let go and he's not letting anyone get in his way.

I have mixed feelings about this one. I really didn't know where to start in summarizing my thoughts on Benny Loves You.

The plot of the film isn't new, per say. Obviously we've seen the whole child-friendly toy come to life and going on a murder spree before.

But that doesn't mean it can't go it's own way and provide an original way of telling such a story. I feel like I was thrown off a bit by the humor and how it mixed with the more serious tones. It is British humor though so that does tend to throw me from time to time.

It's brutal, but still has some surprisingly touching moments. It has it's own style of humor that I can't quite compare to anything else. I did find myself chuckling here and there through out at just how ridiculous what was happening seemed and imagining what could possibly happen next.

I went back and forth about the special effects while watching this. My initial reaction was oooh... Still a touch better than SciFi channel movies and Willy's Wonderland though. I wasn't fooled at any point into thinking that any of the toys had come to life and were living things. The blood was also quite obviously fake.

I have to give props to Karl Holt because he not only wrote, directed and starred in this film, he also produced, edited and worked on the cinematography with John Bowe. I was hesitant about what I was going to get from him in the main role, but I ended up being kind of impressed. Perhaps it wasn't fantastic acting, but I found it to be decent and his portrayal of Jack didn't bring me out of the story.

As far as Benny's concerned you'll probably get mildly annoyed by his repeated dialog after a while.

To be honest I thought everyone was pretty decent with their acting skills. Some came across as a bit rigid or stiff here and there, but not bad.

I couldn't find a specific name attached to the soundtrack and scoring. Perhaps John Bowe had a hand in that. It was good and I liked how it stood out from the movie and melded with it for the tone of each scene. With the montages having the most prominent songs.

I can't say that I found any of the atmosphere to be particularly scary. Nothing stood out to me as far as settings and such goes. Again, that's not to say that any of it was bad. It just wasn't very noteworthy to me. It did fine for the mood of the scenes.

I really don't see myself adding Benny Loves You to my collection. It was entertaining, but perhaps not a favorite of mine. I still give credit to those involved for creating it. I can clearly see the creativity and love that was put into it. I don't know what the budget was for it, but I do know it's a low budget film. So that just adds to the respect I have for the cast and crew.

It's an odd little film that goes off the damn walls, intentionally over the top and throws a dark twist in there. It is absolutely ridiculous and it knows it. It's not afraid to make you go 'What the hell?!' and the next moment delve into some grotesque shit. I feel like this is a movie that people either love or hate. I don't count myself to be in the love category, obviously, but I don't hate it.

The message that I got from this was essentially about how you have to 'grow up' at some point, but that doesn't mean you have to stop being a kid in some respects. It's important to keep that child-like essence of yourself. Or else it might kill you... But maybe I'm looking too deeply into it.

I would recommend Benny Loves You to fans of killer toys, people who enjoy crazy and bloody/gory movies, people who like British horror and anyone who would like to see Elmo's distant cousin end some people.

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