Benny Loves You is the debut feature film by British director Karl Holt. The horror-comedy picks up with Jack who, desperate to improve his life after his parents' unexpected deaths, throws away his beloved childhood toy, Benny. However, his decision has disastrous consequences when Benny magically comes to life. Much like in childhood, Benny seeks to protect Jack, but now he does it at any cost, even if it means murder.

Not only did Holt direct, write and produce the film, but he also acted alongside his animated co-star. CBR had the opportunity to speak to Holt about Benny Loves You, including his inspiration, Benny's inner workings and the difference between American and British humor in a horror setting.

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CBR: First things first, where did you get the inspiration for Benny Loves You?

Holt: So the inspiration for the idea came from a short film we made well over ten years ago. It was a short film we made with a little Elmo toy. And I just liked the idea of something that would be a real antagonist but just be saying these wonderful things, and it could only say what was on its voice box. That we did as a short film, and it went down really well at some of the festivals, and, like I said, we made it with a little Elmo toy.

So, my idea was, "Oh, okay. I really need to rewrite this to rethink it because that was just about a toy that came back to kill its owner." As a feature, I came up with the idea that it would come back to protect its owner and then there would be almost a love triangle between him and his girlfriend and the toy. And then I'd resign the toy itself.

But it was really from the juxtaposition of something saying, "Cuddle me. I love you. Play with me," but at the same time just eviscerating all the competition with a knife [laughs]. There's something just inherently funny in that for me anyway. And I wanted to create something with a little heart because he's like a little dog. That's the way I view him. He's like a little dog that's very loyal to his owner. And I wanted to create an antagonist that the audience could love and could fall for. So, that was kind of the starting point of the film, and you start to build the script around that.

You mentioned you first did it with an Elmo doll in the short, but I think you did a wonderful job of making Benny cute but sinister. How did you settle on his new look?

Well, there were a couple of things. One was when he moved; I wanted him not to look like he was moving with his own limbs or his own motor functions, but that he was being picked up by a child and shook like he was being played with by a child. That was kind of important. So, that designed almost the way he looked. There's actually one here [retrieves Benny model]. We made sure the limbs were kind of just tagged on, so they could flop around and give him good movement. And that's why we gave him ears as well. So the look is inspired to get across the nature of his personality.

The other thing was -- because again, he's kind of written like a dog -- dogs have this static facial expression, and that's what I wanted from the toy as well. That he wouldn't have a changing face like Ted or Chucky, but it would kind of be just this dumb expression. And then, there's just this little baby tooth in the middle to again just get it across that he has a very child-like understanding of the world. And the last thing, he was actually written in the first draft to be a magician, so he's got this kind of magic vest with stars on it.

We wanted to keep the color of Elmo because, in a horror film, red stands out very well, contrasting with all the blue nighttime lights and stuff. And bigger eyes as well, just something that was like he'd just woken up and seen the world for the first time.

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It's funny you say that. When I first watched the film, I thought Benny was a puppet because of the way he bounced. However, I read that he's CGI. In that regard, did you use practical effects too?

It's great that you noticed that. We've had a lot of reviewers that have said, "Oh, it's so obviously CG." And I heard somebody reviewing the film the other day and said, "Oh, it's just so cheap. It looks like they green-screened out somebody holding him." And you're like, "It's either one or the other. It's either CG or a puppet." So, I think it's good that people aren't particularly sure where it comes from.

Before we made the film, I tried to do loads of tests where I modeled the character in CG and then tried to get the movement right so that he looked like he didn't have control over these limbs because they were flying around. I did a lot of animation tests beforehand, and there's really not a lot of puppetry in the film. There are maybe two shots, possibly three, where he's actually a puppet, and we had somebody with like a green glove on and removed that. But I say 99 percent of the time, it's just the completely empty back play, and then I've gone in later and put a CG version of him.

It was kind of important to me that we could cut between the CG one and the real one and not notice too much difference. Those again were little tests I did before we actually went out to shoot. I did some little test sequences of the real toy being there, cut away to something else, cut back, and then the digital version would move off. I showed that to a couple of people, and most of them said, "I can't see a difference." So, at that point, I was like, "Fine, then we go with it." But obviously, if he looked really plastic and fake, it would pull the audience out of the film, and I didn't want that at all.

Benny Loves You - ninja Benny

At least according to IMDb, this is your first credit as an actor, which I'm surprised because I thought you gave a very realistic performance. What inspired you to not only direct, write and produce but also star in the production?

Well, thank you very much. It was actually out of necessity. This is my first feature film, and I was 40 when I made the movie. I always wanted to be a director. I never had the finances to do it. But of course, now we are living in a world where you can. My computer at the bottom of the garden can produce photorealistic images. You can buy a fairly cheap camera that gives cinematic looks. So, yeah, I had a bit of a mid-life crisis. I hit forty, and I was like, "If I'm ever going to do it. I've got to do it now. No one's going to turn up at my door with a bag of money, saying, 'Here, Karl. Go make a feature film.'" So, that was really the only way it could be done.

It was shot with a crew of about three or four people. So, I knew I had to be in it myself. If I wasn't in front of the camera, I was behind the camera or moving lights in a field or something. Everybody was multitasking. Even my mom was one of the crew members. There was me, my mom and my best mate John. That was the main crew. And my mom even makes it in the film. My mom is sat in the passenger's seat of the car, screaming at on point [laughs]. And even John -- there's a little clip on the TV where Benny is watching a movie, and there's a serial killer with a mask on -- that's John as well. So, everybody multitasked. Everybody's in the film and behind the film.

We couldn't have made it any other way. We didn't have the resources or finances. If we had another actor, we'd need another room in the house for somebody to stay. So, it was all silly, little logistical things like that. I probably would have had to pay for them to stay in a hotel, and then the budget would have just skyrocketed and mouths to feed as well. If you're acting in something yourself, you're keeping the catering bill low [laughs]. So, it really comes down to practicality as to why all those things came together the way they did.

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You wear many hats in this production as director, writer and actor. Was there a role you enjoyed the best?

I love editing, and I like writing. Making a film is difficult. I'm not saying there weren't fun times. There were times when the actors were there, and everyone's having a laugh, and we are all getting on. But I think when you're directing a film, and you're producing it as well, and you're acting in it, and you're also setting up lights in a field in the middle of the night, there's a point when it isn't much fun at all really. It's just really, really hard work, and you're knackered. You are absolutely knackered.

So, I'd say the actual filming of it was just hard work, but when I got back from the shoot -- and you have all the footage on your computer -- that's the bit where I go, "Woo! Here we go! Now, I can try to make something of this." So, I think that's the bit I enjoyed the most.

Benny Loves You - Jack and coworker

Benny's kills are absolutely bonkers in the best way. From squirting lemon into a person's eye to the vacuum sequence. Was there one kill moment you're extra proud of where you were like, "Yes, I need to include this!"

My favorite moment I think is where there's one person who's been injured and is dying and almost dead, and Benny just decides to take a time out and make a cup of tea. And he takes ages to do it. You know he puts the radio on. He waits for the kettle to boil, and then he puts a little biscuit on the plate. Then he carries it in very gently, and it's what he does with it after he's gone through all that. I've seen the film so many times, and I wrote it. So, I can't laugh at any of it. But I will say that one moment makes me laugh every time I see it [laughs]. And it's the only moment in the film that still makes me laugh. So, I'd probably have to say that it's the Benny with the tea moment that I like the best [laughs].

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I know this is just sort of coming to the American market now. Were you ever worried about how Americans would perceive the "British-style of horror-comedy," or are your thoughts horror-comedy is horror-comedy? You either get it, or you don't?

No, no, you're quite right when you say that there are differences. You know, jokes about tea and biscuits probably don't hit so well down in America as they do here. But I think what I tried to do with it -- at least what I attempted to do -- was to make something that came at you quite thick and fast. If there's a joke that doesn't land, there's probably one 10 or 15 seconds later. So, it wasn't my intention that everybody watching it is going to laugh at every single joke because even if you didn't have that cultural difference, I think that's impossible anyway. We've had reviews from the film people, saying, "It's amazingly funny," to people saying they didn't find it funny at all. And that just comes down to your personal sense of humor and what your tolerances are, and what you're willing to find funny.

I think whatever you make, you're never going to be nail all those things. So, with the writing, obviously, I am British, and you can't distill that out of you. You can't just say, "Well, I'm not going to put anything British in there." But, hopefully, there's enough in there that if you don't particularly respond to that stuff, there's a lot of other stuff that is quite universal. It's not my intention to write something only for a British audience. But it's just inevitable probably in the same way -- you know, I love American Dad and Family Guy, but sometimes I watch it, and there are jokes that [goes right over my head] because there talking about a character I've never heard of or maybe a political situation I'm not aware of. So, even those don't always land, but I still love the TV series.

Benny Loves You - killer Benny

Okay, fun question. Do you think Benny could win in a fight against Chucky from Child's Play?

You know, that's a really hard one because Chucky has clearly got the harder exterior. That's like RoboCop versus a cuddly toy. So, Chucky's definitely got the harder exterior, but I'd like to think that Benny is probably more mischievous. I think Benny, even though he's a bit of a dog, he'd probably be cleverer than Chucky. So, he might be able to outsmart Chucky and get him in ways Chucky hadn't thought of. Chucky would go for the jugular, he'd run at [Benny] with a knife, but Benny would set up elaborate traps to get him before he got there [laughs]. It would be an interesting battle.

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I don't want to spoil too much, but was there ever a time you ever thought about going a different way with the ending?

Whenever I write something, I try to come up with the ending first. I wanted the ending to have some kind of meaning and impact. Outside of it being a horror-comedy, I wanted it to have some heart. Ultimately, this film is about [Jack and Benny's] relationship. Again, without giving too much away, their relationship feels like it's all one way throughout the movie. Benny just does what he wants. He doesn't listen to Jack or have the capability to understand him. But then, as the film goes on, that kind of evolves. Benny acts very selfishly throughout the whole movie, so at the end of the film, I wanted to give him almost a moment of redemption and to show something other than this kind of one-track ride that he's had through the whole movie.

So, in my opinion, I think that's the only way that I could end the film. It feels right to me. Yeah, I don't think a happy ending would have worked. It's nice to do something like that. It's very silly. It's very slapstick. It's very comedy-horror. But throughout the film, you want the audience to fall in love with Benny. You want them to find him endearing. And you only really realize that by the end. So, I personally think the ending makes the film, and I wouldn't have it any other way. But, yeah, that was all inception.

Directed by Karl Holt and starring Karl Holt, Claire Cartwright and George Collie, Benny Loves You hits select theaters May 7 and VOD May 11. 

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