thesar-2 I seriously put off Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer for three decades because I thought it would be too gruesome. Bah!This movie is easily thrown into three segments: It begins with aftermaths, it follows with "story" and ends with what you'd expect. In fact, there's nothing here you wouldn't anticipate except one thing…Have all the cops been fired? I know there are some great 2016 debates on the police handling our citizens, but this was the 80s! I mean, the movie's title gives away the "protagonist's" profession and we see him do a little serial killing, but nothing major (even for 1980s standards) and no one ever suspects a thing. In fact, we're lead to believe 100% of his victims have no close ties and will remain unnoticed in the afterlife for, I dunno, eternity?Basically, stalker Henry is seeking out women to rid the world of, but he's soon stalked by his roommate's sister and at the same time takes said roommate under his wing.It might have been budgetary as this looked like it fell in the "Who's got $25,000 to make film?" category, but the fact that no police activity takes place, I couldn't get on board. Plus, it was so incredibly slow-paced and nowhere near as gory as I thought it promoted. It's passable and has some decent setup scenes, but it's not recommended and you should really be craving 1970's-80's American Psychos to follow Henry around.***Final thoughts: Day 1 Movie in the Can! I'm watching a NEW-2-ME horror movie every day of October 2016 and this one I've been waiting to see for decades, but never got around to it. Wish I had and just put it out of my misery.

CinemaClown An utterly discomforting journey into the mind of a sadist, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is exactly what its subtitle suggests. Brutal, disturbing & absolutely uncompromising with its content, Henry is unsettling from the very first frame but what really separates it from other examples of its genre is its stringent focus on telling the story from the killer's perspective.Loosely based on real life serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, Henry covers the crime spree of its titular character who goes around randomly killing people without any remorse or empathy. The plot mainly focuses on his stay in Chicago where he lives with Otis, a drug dealer he befriended in prison, and the inner turmoil he undergoes when the latter's sister comes to stay with them.Co-written & directed by John McNaughton, Henry establishes an uneasy tone within the first few minutes in which we see this sociopath driving around the town but interspersed within that segment are snippets of the brutality he leaves behind on every corner. Most of Henry's murders take place off the screen and yet its effect is deeply felt, which can be attributed to the film's clever use of sound effects.The film is truly an unhinged view of a mind filled with reckless hate but it is also extremely honest in illustrating the root cause of Henry's evilness, his philosophy of life & the ruthless but calculated nature of his crimes. Shot on a shoestring budget, the movie makes use of real locations & settings that gives its story an added sense of realism, which in turn ends up making the experience all the more horrifying.Despite the low budget, the technical aspects are no slouch here for the film creatively uses its limited resources to full potential and all of it works in harmony to serve its story as well as characters, whether it's the bleak shots of Chicago streets, the stark arrangement of few scenes juxtaposed together, the pace at which its plot unfolds, the brilliant use of sound & music to further amplify its ominous vibe, and keeping it as true to real life as possible.Coming to the performances, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer features a committed cast in Michael Rooker, Tom Towles & Tracy Arnold, with all three of them doing an excellent job in their given roles. Rooker is obviously the show-stealer here for his rendition of Henry is very chilling, effective & exquisitely balanced. Towles begins his act as if his character is dim but as the plot progresses, he adopts a highly repulsive persona that's destined to shock many, and even Arnold does well with what she's given.On an overall scale, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer isn't a film for everyone. It's an absolute horror show that takes a no-holds-barred approach with its content, swims against the tide of its time by discarding a moral conclusion, is bolstered by three convincing performances, utilises its available resources amazingly well, and despite lacking the graphic depiction of murders, barring one family massacre sequence, can leave its viewers emotionally scarred. A low-budget classic that shows that people in real life are capable of inflicting more horror than any monster on film, Henry is definitely worth a shot.

andishorrorblog The scariest part of this movie is that Henry and Otis , our main characters, were the real life serial killers Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis O'Toole.I loved this film! Michael Rooker reminded me of Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain. Each character does a fantastic job at being both normal and creepy, especially Rooker. The movie told the story well, although I wished they would have spent more time on Henry and Becky. In real life their relationship was quite complicated. Since real life Henry was a pathological liar, we don't know how many people he really killed but the movie doesn't make it about numbers yet shows how brutal he really was.Awesome movie.. it's going on my favorite's list!

Chris Smith (RockPortReview) To quote Homer Simpson "Oooh portrait, sounds classy". This movie is the chilling and brutal story of serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, who along with his accomplice Otis killed an unknown number of people. Also known as the confession killer for taking credit for hundreds and hundreds of killings. Henry's actual number of victims it unknown, but he was convicted of 11 murders and sentenced to life in prison. He died in 2001.Directed by John McNahugton on a shoestring budget of $100,000, "Henry" was filmed in Chicago with unknown actors in late 1985 and early 1986. It marked the screen debut of Michael Rooker, who plays Henry, has gone on to have a prolific career. Most currently playing Merle Dixon on "The Walking Dead".Henry is loner living Chicago and is a part time exterminator of bugs, then at night an exterminator of humans. He lives with Otis another sleazebag loner who isn't to bright. They met while serving time and now share a small prison like apartment. Otis also has a sister, Becky, who left her husband and has come to live with the serial killer odd couple. Henry and Becky spark up a relationship and he protects her against the verbally and physically abusive Otis.McNaughton opens the movie on a close up of one of Henry's victims (the orange socks girl) that was ditched in the weeds. We then see a few more gruesome crime scenes of Henry's work. His tableaux of carnage. This movie is not a your typical horror movie, it's more of a pitch black character drama about violence. Rooker is amazing in his performance as the remorseless and soulless killer. Although Henry mostly killed by himself, he let Otis tag along and they became a team, until Henry ultimately killed him too. The movie is not a truly accurate account of actual events and some things were changed to make a it a better movie."Henry" was completed in 1986 but wasn't released until 1989 as it had an epic battle with the MPAA over the films rating. Originally given and X rating, which was mostly reserved for pornography. "Henry" was one of the movies that led to the creation of the NC-17 rating (which is still a ratings death sentence). Meaning that the movie contains intense adult themes, but is not pornography. Once released it really polarized critics, it received several rave reviews from critics like Roger Ebert (R.I.P). Its an intense and unflinching look into the darkest corners of humanity. Dark Sky films released a 2 disc special edition in 2006 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the film. It has a commentary track from the director, an hour long making of documentary, and much more. Check it out!