HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER (1986)

Body after body is depicted together with murdering agonizing screams as a background sound.  This is the beginning of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, which instills a nightmarish vision of the mind of a serial killer.  The film is loosely based on Henry Lee Lucas who was emotionally, physically, and sexually abused as child by his mother while living with his handicapped father who had lost his legs in an train accident.  Henry had been forced to wear dresses and watch his mother having sex with strangers, which has created internal enraged emotions toward women.  In addition, Henry shows an emotional numbness whenever he has killed someone as if he had just finished the last of his coffee.

The story takes place in the Chicago area where Henry lives with Otis and Becky.  Otis spent time in jail with Henry where the two became friends.  His sister Becky has recently escaped an abusive relationship while Henry goes about trying to find odd jobs and killing women in random ways as it will not leave a trail back to him.  However, when living in close quarters with others it is does not take long before Otis finds out about Henry's secret, but instead of going to the police they partner up.  Henry teaches him the secret of killing for pleasure and together they begin to find ways of sharing these grotesque moments with each other.

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer has some interesting cinematic moments where a camera is use for the main point-of-view, which later is transferred into the living room.  This brings a morbidly surreal experience to the audience as the fetish of the disturbed characters is brought to the eyes of the audience in a revolting manner.  Yet, it is a subtle transition, which most people have experienced through their own home video moments.  The story is filmed with highly grained film stock, which enhances the realistic acuity of the environment as it brings further horror to the minds of the audience.  Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is a highly disturbing film that experiments with audience participation in the film in a most clever way, which leaves the audience with a truly horrific cinematic experience.

DIRECTED BY

John McNaughton

COUNTRY

USA
REVIEWED
7/9/2004
GRADE


Filmography links and data courtesy of  
The Internet Movie Database.