Ta-da! Interview With Karl Holt, Writer, Director And Star Of ‘Benny Loves You’

I never thought a horror comedy about a killer teddy bear would be one of my favorite movies of the year, but here we are. Benny Loves You is funny, gory, dark, and just brilliant. I was lucky enough to chat via Zoom with Karl Holt, the writer, director, and star of the film. We chatted about making the movie with his mum, why he loves horror, and one pretty shady effects guy.

 

**This interview contains a spoiler.**

PopHorror: Hi Karl! How are you?

Karl Holt: Hi Tiffany! I’m very good. How are you? 

PopHorror: I’m good. Thank you! I loved Benny Loves You. When I went into it, I knew nothing about it except that I’ve been hearing buzz about it from all of the festivals. I loved it so much that I have been recommending it to everyone. 

Karl Holt: Thank you! That’s really nice of you. Thank you so much.

PopHorror: The ending really tugged at my heartstrings and that takes a lot.

Karl Holt: I’m really glad it did because that shows you got into it. Not everybody feels that way. But I needed to have that sort of emotional impact at the end where Jack finally… Not spoiling anything at this point, but yeah. Benny sacrifices himself to save Jack. It’s the last time that Jack gets all these toys out and plays with them. I’m glad to hear that. That’s really cool.

PopHorror: I really love that. So, you not only wrote and directed the film, but you also starred in it. How did this project come about?

Karl Holt: So, over 10 years ago, we made a short film called Eddie Loves You and that was with a little Elmo doll. But the short itself was very one note. It was just a guy who throws out a toy, and the toy comes back to try and kill him. And it’s like a 20 minute chase scene around the same house that we actually made the film in. I’ve made a couple of shorts since, but we never had the reaction that we got from that first short. And I remember sitting in the cinema watching it and the crowd really getting into it, and I thought, “Oh, this is fun. I’d love to make a feature film, like a comedy horror where you can really see crowd engagement and people getting into the movie.” So I always wanted to take that idea and turn it into a feature, but it didn’t have the legs. It needed a complete rewrite. So in the feature, we called it Benny and not Eddie because I wanted to separate it from the short, and obviously, Benny is different from Elmo. I completely rewrote it so it’s more like a love triangle between Benny, Jack, and Dawn and that one thing that Benny is trying to protect, that friendship he has with Jack. It takes the writing in completely different directions.

PopHorror: Since you were pulling triple duty, how did you prepare for filming?

Karl Holt: We didn’t. This is a really, really small crew. It was shot within a week, Monday to Friday. There was basically three of us doing this. There was me, my best friend, John, and my mum. So my mum was on boom mic. She was waving branches in front of a light at 2am to try and create shadows on the wall. She was tapping a strobe machine to create the lightning in the room. It was really, really minimal.

Then I scheduled the biggest things for the weekend. So, if we had like, the scene when the police turned up, it wouldn’t have been enough just having me, John, and my mum. So a couple of more friends would come over at the weekend and help. It was kind of scheduled that way, that the only way I could afford to make this film was A) if I was in it, and B) if friends and family helped to make it. The majority of this film is made entirely with friends and family, and it was shot at my friend’s house, who was living there at the same time. So yeah, that was difficult, because he sat in the living room watching TV and we’re trying to film a scene. It’s like, “Can you keep it down in there?” It’s hard to do that when he’s letting you use the house, and you’re telling him to turn the TV down. You feel bad.

PopHorror: I love that your mom was doing all of that. That’s so awesome!

Karl Holt: She was great! She’s never really helped me with my short films before, because we live quite a distance away from each other now, but I said, “Will you come down and help?” and she said, “I’d love to come down and help, but are you sure I can help? I’ve never worked on a film set before.” And I said, “It’s fine. You’ve got hands. Being on a film set is more about holding this, moving that there, carrying this.” She really got into it, and she just did everything. She did all the catering as well, so when the actors came down, she was doing all the food for everybody. She didn’t have a spare moment.

PopHorror: That’s so cool! What is it that draws you to the horror genre?

Karl Holt: I’ve always, always loved horror. I remember… I think I saw Halloween when I was like 9- or 10-years-old, and I really got into horror. My cousin would bring over films that his mom and dad had rented. All afternoon, we’d kind of just sneakily go into the living room and sit there and watch these films. I knew I wasn’t allowed to watch them being, you know, incredibly young. But I loved them, and I was just drawn to them.

I used to write horror stories in my English class all the time. But I think by the age of 14, I knew I wanted to be a film director, but it just turned out that that wasn’t practical. When I left college, you couldn’t afford to make a movie. Everything was shot on film. You needed studios. An edit suite would probably cost you 100,000 pounds alone, so… I got a job like normal people. And then just as I hit 40, I had a midlife crisis and said, “Now, if I’m ever gonna do it, I have to do it now. The technology is there. Everything is there. Seize the opportunity; it’ll pass you by if you don’t do it.” I quit my freelance job and said, “Right. I’m gonna focus and make this.” But it just took me so much longer than I ever, ever predicted.

PopHorror: That’s okay. You’re obviously doing something right because I’ve heard nothing but great things about this movie, and its playing at these awesome film festivals. Who cares that it took you that long? You’re there now, right? That’s so awesome.

Karl Holt: Yeah, yeah. I’ve heard bad things about the film, so don’t worry. It’s all out there. I’m glad you liked it. 

PopHorror: I loved it! I can’t wait for it to come out, because I want to talk about this with more people. It’s so funny, and the gore is good. I love gore, so I’m glad that it’s got that great balance of comedy and gore. I love the direction you took.

Karl Holt: Thanks. Yeah, the goal was meant to be more. Our makeup effects artist had a bit of a breakdown. He was one of the only people that was outside of the main crew, and we asked him to do all the effects for the film. And then he ran off halfway through filming with all the money. 

PopHorror: Oh, no!

Karl Holt: So, the effects are not anything like what we wanted them to be. We had to make do. I got a guy at the last minute to try and take over, and he did what he could with a very limited budget, but yeah. The original script is actually much gorier than the film turned out being.

PopHorror: What a terrible person to do that. 

Karl Holt: I know, right?

PopHorror: If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be?

Karl Holt: Oh wow. I haven’t been asked that before. The honest answer is anybody who would be willing to collaborate with me. I’d love to have worked with John Saxon. Amazing.  Such a great actor and a really nice guy, and he’s been in so many iconic movies. He was one person that I thought I would love to have been able to work with him. But, yeah, most of my influences are from all the horror films I watched as a teenager.

PopHorror: That’s a great choice. And Karl, what’s up next for you? Are you currently working on anything?

Karl Holt: Well, there’s a shop around the corner that sells pasties. I might be going there for a couple of months behind the counter. I think we’ll have to see what happens with this film. Yeah, I would love to make something else, and I’d like to make something properly horror next time around, just because I like that as well. I think making a comedy horror first felt like the right thing to do. But now I’d like to make something really creepy in terms of something that doesn’t take five years of my life, a film where you’ve got a CG teddy running around the heart of the movie. It’s a hard task to do, so I think something simpler and something creepy. I’d love to do that, if we’re ever given the opportunity.

PopHorror: And gory! 

Karl Holt: And gory! Yes!

PopHorror: I just have one last question for you. What is your favorite scary movie?

Karl Holt: My favorite scary movie is probably The Thing. 

PopHorror: That’s a good answer.

Karl Holt:  That’s my favorite one. I think it’s John Carpenter at his absolute best. I know that most people would say Halloween, and Halloween is sort of seminal for many other reasons. You know, the whole Steadicam and the idea of the horror coming into your suburban home was kind of a first. Films before that were like, “Don’t go into here,” “Don’t go there.” There was always a warning or a threshold. Halloween was the time where it all came to you. But for me, The Thing is where his craftsmanship is at its best. Love the soundtrack, slow burn, build up to that ending. Still to this day, everybody talks about it. If I was jealous of one horror film, it would be that one.

Thank you so much, Karl, for speaking with us. Be sure to catch Benny Loves You on streaming, VOD, and Blu-ray now!