HENRY - PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER (1986)

DIRECTED BY John McNaughton 

SCREENPLAY BY Richard Fire & John McNaughton 

STARRING - Michael Rooker as Henry, Tom Towles as Otis,  Tracy Arnold as Becky.

PLOT - Becky, a young mother, flees from her abusive marriage and goes to live with her brother Otis in his run down home.

Once there Becky finds that Otis has another lodger - a strange drifter called Henry who was once Otis's cellmate when he was in jail.

Becky finds herself becoming attracted to Henry, but little does she know that Henry has a deadly secret.

Henry is a serial killer. A serial killer who has awakened a taste for killing in her brother Otis. Henry has become a twisted mentor to Otis and the two begin to spur each other on,,, each killing becoming more sick and twisted than the last, until eventually matters come to a head...

PERFORMANCES - Henry - Portrait Of A Serial Killer is the film that put Michael Rooker's career on the map and was responsible for him becoming the respected character actor he is today.

I've talked about Rooker on this blog before, mainly in my review of Skeleton Man. He gave a lazy performance there (it was a terrible film and you could tell he damn well knew it) but here we see Rooker at his absolute chilling best.

Rooker plays the titular Henry (based upon real life serial killer Henry Lee Lucas - more on him later). Henry is a drifter, a loner even when he's amongst his few friends. As the film progresses we learn that Henry was the product of an abusive childhood - he had no real father figure and his mum was a prostitute. We learn Henry killed his mother in a rage (it was this murder that he was in jail for when he met Otis), however Henry has acquired a taste for killing and now embarks on an (at first) solo killing spree.

Rooker is very good as Henry. He's got a sort of dead eyed look to him, he very rarely smiles, doesn't even seem to blink much. He seems very "buttoned down" in his mannerisms - he's softly spoken, indeed we barely even hear him raise his voice once (even when he's in the midst of murdering someone). He's every inch the creepy loner that we hear about when somebody does snap in real life and go on a murderous rampage ("he seemed so quiet") and it's this that makes Henry such a chilling character. Rooker could have so easily chosen to play him as an OTT psycho, but he doesn't. Instead we get a quiet, slightly socially awkward man with a grim and tragic past and even grimmer future 

We also get the impression that Henry feels nothing. Nothing for Otis, nothing for Becky (who falls in love with him), nothing for himself and certainly NOTHING for his victims. He's an empty, hollow shell of a man whose only passion is murder.

Veteran horror/B-movie actor Tom Towers plays Otis. Henry's "best friend" and eventual protégé.

Otis is an utter sleazeball. Half the time he's drunk and seems to enjoy making inappropriately sexualised comments towards his younger sister Becky. Inevitably these sexual advances eventually get to the point where Otis full-on rapes Becky, an action that ultimately leads to him becoming Henry's latest victim (perhaps the only "heroic" moment Henry gets in the entire film)..

Before we get to that point though we get to see Otis learn of Henry's true vocation. Rather than being absolutely horrified that his friend and lodger is a cold blooded killer like any sane person would be, Otis actually decides to join Henry in his rampage. His fascination turns to obsession and soon he becomes every bit as sick and twisted as Henry is himself - if anything he's worse. At least Henry kind of has an excuse for what he does (if you're feeling EXCEPTIONALLY understanding and willing to tune out some of the finer, messier details), Henry clearly can't help himself (his total inability to feel leaves him with little choice) but Otis DOES have a choice, he's just a depraved sicko. To me this makes him an even bigger monster than Henry is. Towles is excellent, every bit as chilling as Rooker is. Otis is one character you're really rooting to see get his comeuppance and when he does it doesn't disappoint.

Tracy Arnold is also good as Becky. She's the only sympathetic character out of the three leads. She's basically one of life's victims. We learn that she was sexualy abused as a child by her dad (a family tradition Otis is only too happy to continue), she's fleeing from a violent drunken husband and her little daughter is (thankfully) staying with an aunt whilst Becky looks to set herself up in the city and build a new life for herself, unfortunately in deciding to stay with her brother and falling in love with Henry she makes the most terrible choice possible for her "new start".

We get the impression that Backy is a bit naive and not very bright (let's face it, she doesn't come from very good stock) but really her only crime is to have lousy taste in men. Becky's eventual fate is perhaps the saddest part of the entire movie. She almost offers Henry a chance for redemption of some kind, but alas Henry being the utter sociopath that he is, fails to take it and instead continues down his ever darker path.

SEX & VIOLENCE - We see some disturbing scenes of sexual violence (so I suppose that's both bases covered).

There's a fairly large amount of killings in the movie (unsurprisingly considering the subject matter).

There's many killings that we don't see, instead we just see the mutilated bodies of Henry's victims. The camera lingers on these corpses whilst over the soundtrack we hear the victim's final dying screams play out like some kind of snuff tape, in many ways this is actually MORE disturbing than seeing the killings take place.

Neither though does the film shirk from showing us various atrocities either. We see an entire family get wiped out by Henry and Otis at one point, at another point Henry and Otis go to rent a new TV and get pissed off at the obnoxious salesman. Henry smashes the TV over the guy's head, says 'Ok, Otis, plug it in.", the TV explodes over the man's head in what is probably the only (blackly) comedic moment in the entire movie.

Otis meets his end at the hands of both Henry and Becky. Firstly Becky stabs him in the eye with the end of a comb (this is entirely in self defence) whilst Henry then finishes him off. Henry then dismembers Otis's body (hiding his various body parts in bin liners).

Becky dies off-camera, killed by Henry the morning after she professes her love for him. We see Henry leaving thier Motel room alone, carrying with him a bloodstained holdall that contains Becky's corpse. The film ends on this unsettling image.

SFX - Some mild to extreme gore effects, most impressive is the severed head of Otis.

RATING -  Henry - Portrait Of A Serial Killer is of course based on the real life case of Henry Lee Lucas and his partner in crime Otis Toole. Both men where undoubtedly psychopaths but there's been some doubts raised about the amount of people they actually did murder. 

Lucas confessed to over 300 killings and Toole likewise "took the credit" for many more. However, it's since been established that it was physically impossible for either man to have been present at many of thier alleged crimes. That they definitely killed SOME people is without doubt but Lucas in particular was known to be something of a fantasist and overall bullshit artist. At the end of the day it was just a case of two worthless redneck psychos looking for attention and to score points in thier own twisted little games.

Despite the dubious source material, this film nevertheless is very, very good and highly disturbing. The sad fact is that characters like Henry and Otis ARE out there and this film makes us confront that by showing thier side of the story. This makes the viewer feel almost complicit in thier horrible actions (a feeling that is only heightened by the gritty, documentary style that the movie is filmed in.)

The acting is across the board excellent, the script is dark and troubling. This is not a movie to watch lightly but it does deserve your time. Only watch this if you feel like wallowing in the shit stained grime of the dark side of human nature. 5 cold hearted killers out of 5. You might feel the need to take a shower afterwards though...

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