Rihanna shocks fans with graphic 'kidnapping' video

A scene from Rihanna's new music video.

R&B superstar Rihanna has made her directorial debut by taking charge of the music video for her new single, B**ch Better Have My Money.

The singer premiered the seven-minute promo on Vevo.com at midnight and in the hours before the launch, she teased fans on Instagram by sharing stills of herself from the shoot, which was co-directed by French filmmakers MegaForce.

She captioned one snap, "Ya girl got director skillz (sic)!!! The concept for this piece came to me 8 months ago!!! So you can imagine how anxious I am right now!!!"

The video features Rihanna and a pair of assailants kidnapping the wife of a crooked accountant, played by Casino Royale star Mads Mikkelsen, and stuffing the tall blonde woman into a vintage trunk, which they load into their getaway car.

Actor Eric Roberts also makes an appearance as a sheriff's cop who fails to realise something is wrong when he comes across the girls drinking and lounging in the sun, with their kidnapping victim 'asleep' next to them.

The promo ends in violent fashion as Rihanna and her pals appear to torture Mikkelsen's character to get her money and the singer is covered in blood as she lies in a trunk full of cash as the screen fades to black.

Rihanna celebrated the video launch by similarly 'kidnapping' a group of lucky fans for a special premiere event in Los Angeles, in collaboration with Tidal, the music streaming service she co-owns with the likes of Madonna, Beyonce, Nicki Minaj and her mentor and label boss Jay Z.

- WENN