Dark Sky Films | 1986 | 86 mins. | Unrated
Rarely do I have trouble watching a film, but such was the case with Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. Directed by John McNaughton, the film, filmed in 1986 and not widely released until 1989, is loosely based on the life of American serial killer Henry Lee Lucas. As difficult as it is to watch, Portrait of a Serial Killer is to be commended for taking on a realistic tone rather than employing campy humor, or presenting Lucas and his comrade Otis (also loosely based on real life serial killer Otis Toole) as some type of anti-heroes. Instead, they are portrayed as violent individuals who apparently lacked any sense of compassion or human decency.
The audience is aware from the start that Henry has a brutal story to tell. In between scenes of Henry (Michael Rooker) going about the mundane routine of his daily life, we are shown various grisly tableaux of his many victims, some shot, others stabbed or strangled. We see him sitting in a car park observing women go to and from a shopping mall, watching and waiting for the right one to cross his path, the predator stalking his prey. He takes after one potential victim in his car, following her all the way home but proceeds no further when he notices her being greeted by a man, perhaps a husband or boyfriend. She will never know how close she came…
Henry (Michael Rooker) is a thirty something drifter, who becomes Otis’ roommate. Ottis, a parolee working at a gas station in Chicago, has a younger sister named Becky (Tracy Arnold) who arrives from out of town and moves in. A teenage stripper, Becky is trying to get away from an abusive husband and get a job that will allow her young daughter to come live with her. She finds herself becoming attracted to Henry even after he tells her that he killed his own mother.
One evening, Henry and Otis decide to pick up a couple of prostitutes for a little entertainment. Once they’re done with them, Henry suddenly kills them without provocation. After dumping the bodies in an alleyway, Henry and Otis drive to a fast food restaurant, where they buy french fries. From then on, Ottis is a changed man. Never having killed for the thrill of it before, his excitement is palpable.
From here on out, Henry and Otis become obsessed with killing. The two men begin a series of murders in and around the Chicago area, with each one becoming more depraved than the one before. With killing, Otis something that truly excites him; more than all the drugs he sold and other crimes he committed in the past. While Otis gets increasingly revved up as the body count rises, Henry remains calm and introverted throughout their escapades. The sicker these two become, the more intense their relationship gets, and Becky ends up caught in the middle of it all.
Some people are bound to be very disturbed by Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. The film does nothing to shed light on the lives of the victims, tell their stories or even their names. Henry is strictly the story of these two depraved individuals and the victims are simply part of that sickness.
Shot in twenty eight days with a budget of just over $110,000.00, Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer was filmed in 1986, it was not released until 1989 partly due to repeated disagreements with the MPAA over the movie’s violent content, and executive producers, Malik B. Ali and Waleed B. Ali, not knowing how to market it. The film was subsequently given an X rating and ultimately released without a rating in the United States. Unless you’re a fan of the horror/gore genre this is likely a film you’ll want to avoid. Even though I don’t think it’s a film I would give repeated viewings, I give the filmmakers credit for creating an honest portrait of a killer, rather than resorting to the campy gimmicks that are so common in slasher flicks.
Henry comes to Blu-ray with a VC-1 encoded 1.33.1 fullframe 1080p high definition transfer that presents the film in its original aspect ratio and which, according to the packaging, was taken from the original 16mm negative. Skin tones look lifelike, and color reproduction is quite good for a low budget production. The detail is surprisingly strong throughout the presentation. There’s no real print damage and while there is some mild to moderate film grain noticeable throughout, it’s never overpowering. This is a gritty, grainy, nasty looking movie and it seems appropriate that it maintain a low-fi tone that gives it an effectively drab atmosphere.
The English language Linear PCM 48kHz 1.5Mbps Stereo sound mix is clean, clear and free of any hiss or distortion. There are one or two instances where the levels bounce around just ever so slightly but never so much that anything gets buried or to make you reach for you’re remote to adjust the volume. Dialogue comes through nice and clear. the bass is solid and the screams piercing Optional English subtitles are included.
Dark Sky has carried over all of the extras from the two disc special edition DVD release they put out in 2005. The commentary by director John McNaughton is informative and gives insight into what the filmmakers were trying to achieve (they were making something disturbing, not entertaining). While it’s informative, I only listened to a few minutes of the commentary. I just couldn’t bring myself watch this movie a second time around in such a short period of time. A few theatrical trailers and a gallery of stills start things off.
The meatier part of things begins with a documentary titled Portrait: The Making of Henry which features interviews with most of the cast and crew, including director McNaughton, actors Rooker, Towles, and Arnold, and a some others folks who worked on the film. It’s a glimpse into what everyone thought of the script, story, and the shoot. The Serial Killers: Henry Lee Lucas is a look at the real life killer that Henry was patterned after. The program includes interview footage with those who caught him—as well as Lucas himself—shed some light into the mind of a this killer. Finally there are a few deleted scenes and outtakes (sans audio) with commentary by the director, and original storyboards from the shoot.
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