Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | John McNaughton |
| Produced by | Malik B. Ali, Waleed B. Ali, Lisa Dedmond, Steven A. Jones, John McNaughton |
| Written by | Richard Fire, John McNaughton |
| Starring | Michael Rooker, Tom Towles, Tracy Arnold |
| Music by | Ken Hale, Steven A. Jones, Robert McNaughton |
| Cinematography | Charlie Lieberman |
| Editing by | Elena Maganini |
| Distributed by | Greycat films |
| Release date(s) | 1986 |
| Running time | 83 min |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Followed by | Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Part 2 |
| IMDb profile | |
Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer is a 1986 movie directed by John McNaughton.
It stars Michael Rooker as Henry, a nomadic serial killer. Henry hooks up with an old friend from prison named Otis in Chicago, who he introduces to the delights of random murder. It is a fairly low budget movie (it was shot in less than a month on a budget of about $110,000), and it was not released until 1989 due to repeated disagreements with the MPAA over the movie's violent content. The film was ultimately released without a rating.
It did not appear on release in the United Kingdom until 1993 and even then two minutes of the movie's violent content were ordered to be removed by the BBFC. An uncut version of the movie was eventually allowed for release in 2003 ([1],[2]).
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
The film Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer (often just referred to as Henry) is influenced by the case of the convicted murderer Henry Lee Lucas.
However, as the opening statement makes clear, the film is based on the confessions of Lucas, rather than his crimes, and this distinction is important. Most of Lucas's more than 3,000 murder confessions turned out to be false, and he later recanted those that had been tentatively verified. Some even doubt that Lucas even was a serial killer, but merely a pathological liar who murdered his mother and perhaps one or two acquaintances during domestic rows. Even those who uphold the belief that Lucas was a serial killer do not go so far as to believe his original claims of hundreds of victims.
The opening statement to Henry claims that the characters of Otis and Becky are fictional, but this is probably just to cover the producers from a legal perspective. The real Henry Lee Lucas was acquainted with a fellow convicted killer named Ottis Toole and Toole's pubescent niece, Frieda Powell, who often went under the pseudonym of "Becky" (although in the movie, "Becky" is portrayed as Toole's sister, rather than his niece, and is somewhat older, in her mid-twenties.) Also, Henry, Otis, and Becky's surnames are never given in the film.
The film was not exactly a blockbuster, but thanks to its dark and grisly nature, it is considered a classic amongst fans of horror movies - particularly the slasher variety - and might be considered a cult film.
In 2005, a special edition two-disc DVD release was announced for release later that year. It is said to include two differently-edited versions of the film, a director commentary, "making of" featurettes, and a documentary on Henry Lee Lucas amongst other features.
A lesser-known sequel was made in 1998, but with Neil Giuntoli playing Henry instead of Michael Rooker. Despite getting some good reviews in some quarters, the sequel has not gone on to have the popularity or cult status of the original.
[edit] Plot Summary
The start of the film shows Henry going about his business (finishing a greasy meal in a cafe, driving aimlessly along highways and working in menial jobs), occasionally interpersed with views of murdered people. Although none of these first killings are actually shown, the camera pans across their corpses accompanied by the sound of their screaming and dying. The obvious implication is that Henry is responsible for their deaths. Amongst the victims in this first segment is a young woman lying in a ditch disembowelled, another woman dumped naked in a river, a housewife sprawled dead on a sofa, and two people shot to death in a shop.
Henry drifts into Chicago where he meets up with Otis. We later find out that Otis and Henry met in prison a number of years earlier. Henry was serving a sentence for murdering his abusive mother, and Otis had killed someone during a robbery. Henry moves in to the grimy apartment that Otis shares with his recently divorced younger sister, Becky, and from the start there is some sexual tension between Henry and Becky. The pair find they have a common hatred for their parents; Henry was abused, beaten, and humiliated by his mother, while Becky was sexually abused by her father during her teenage years. There's also a simmering amount of incestuous ambition on behalf of Otis, who regularly attempts to molest Becky, much to her disgust.
One evening, Henry and Otis engage two prostitutes. Henry kills both women without provocation, with Otis largely uninvolved in these homicides save for trying to muffle the screams of the second victim before Henry abruptly breaks her neck. Then, after dumping the bodies in an alleyway, Henry drives to a fast food restaurant with Otis and casually buys some french fries. Otis is shocked by what happened - not remorseful, but just worried about the police catching them; "What's gonna happen when they find those bodies?" - but Henry reassures him that everything will be okay.
The pair soon develop a taste for murder. Otis loses his temper and damages the television one night, so they go to a fence who trades in stolen electrical goods. When they are told they don't have enough money for anything other than a rubbish black and white television, Henry and Otis kill the fence by stabbing him repeatedly with a soldering iron and smashing the black-and-white TV over his head. Then they take several items, including a video camera which they later use to film one of the most controversial scene of the movie, the murder of an entire family. The pair later watch the recording at home at their leisure. Another controversial scene occurs when Otis shoots a man at random, after which Henry asks him "Feel better?" and Otis nods and laughs.
Henry lectures his accomplice on the art of serial murder, explaining that it is best to keep moving from place to place and murdering people by different methods; stabbing, strangulation, shooting. "That way they might never catch you," he explains.
One night, Henry comes home to find Otis attempting to rape Becky (who is unwaware of the killings her brother and Henry have committed). Henry drags Otis off Becky and a fight ensues, which ends when Becky stabs Otis in the eyeball with a comb handle. Henry then kills Otis and hacks his body apart in the bathtub.
After dumping the remains of his former friend in a river, Henry drives off with Becky after they pack their bags. Henry suggests that they go to his sister's ranch and lay low for a while. In the car, Becky confesses that she loves Henry. "I guess I love you too," Henry admits, unemotionally. A typical sociopath, Henry clearly does not love her, or indeed anyone.
The two of them book into a motel that night. The next morning, Henry leaves the motel alone, gets into the car and cruises away. He stops at the side of the road a little later to dump a suitcase in a ditch before driving off again. The film ends with a lingering shot of the suitcase. It is clear it contains Becky's hacked remains.
[edit] Response
Henry turned a respectable profit, making over $600,000, from a budget of about $110,000. One of the reasons for its low budget was its creative use of actors. For example, Mary Demas played three different murder victims, a trick accomplished by her face only being clearly shown in one instance (the opening shot of a woman in a ditch.) Some of the crew also doubled as the cast, such as Rick Paul (art direction), who played a young man shot dead in a layby; Brian Graham, a grip, who played the husband in the family-massacre scene; and Waleed Ali, one of the executive producers, who appeared in front of the camera towards the end of the film, serving a bad-tempered Henry a pack of cigarettes ("How about them Bears?").
Critical responses were mixed, and many critics were bothered by the film's graphic violence. Rooker's performance — his debut in a feature film — received generally high marks.
Film critic Roger Ebert called Henry "a very good film," a "low-budget tour de force," and writes that the film attempts to deal "honestly with its subject matter, instead of trying to sugar-coat violence as most 'slasher' films do."
[edit] Quotes
Henry:' "Otis..plug it in"
Clerk: "How about them Bears?"
Henry: "Fuck the bears!"
Henry: "That's a really nice smile you got there"
Waitress: "Thank you."
Otis: "What'll happen when they find those bodies?"
Henry: "Nothing. Nothing is gonna happen 'cos I don't know nuthin' about nuthin', whatever it is. What about you?"
Otis: "Hey, I don't know nuthin'!"
[edit] Trivia
- Michael Rooker unofficially reprised his Henry role for the music video All Wrapped Up by American Head Charge. [3]
- Some shots from the film are shown in Nanni Moretti's 'Caro diario'.
- Ontario punk band Boys Night Out's sampled dialogue from the movie on their 2002 album, Broken Bones and Bloody Kisses, specifically the songs "A Torrid Love Affair" and "Where We Breathe".
- Fantômas did a cover of the main theme to this film on their album The Director's Cut - an album of film soundtrack covers.
[edit] See Also
Henry Lee Lucas
Ottis Toole
Serial Killer
Henry the serial killer
[edit] External links
- Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer at All Movie Guide
- House Of Horrors entry
- Roger Ebert's movie review
- Portraits of a Serial Killer a review of the DVD releases of Henry and its sequel Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer 2 – Mask of Sanity.
- Review of Henry at bloodydisgusting.com
