Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
Tags: dark, psychological, grindhouse film, murder, cult, horror, violence, insanity, sadist

Plot synopsis:
In the opening shot, a naked and bloody dead woman is seen lying in grass in a field.In a local diner, a man named Henry (Michael Rooker) finishes his meal, pays his tab, buys a pack of Kool brand cigarettes, and tells the waitress: "real nice smile you got there". Henry walks to his beat-up dark-green 1970 Chevy Impala and drives off.In a convenience/liquor store, a middle-aged man and woman are seen lying dead beside the counter, and the sounds of their murder are heard. In other shots, a woman is seen lying dead in the bathroom of a motel room. Another nude woman is seen lying dead in a creek.Henry drives around Chicago listening to his car radio and staring at the people on the street. He drives to a suburban neighborhood and sees several women walking to their cars in a shopping mall parking lot. He follows one woman to her house, but leaves when he sees a man greet her in the driveway. Henry drives on until he picks up a female guitar-carrying hitchhiker.Meanwhile, a man named Otis (Tom Towles) meets his younger sister Becky (Tracy Arnold) at a terminal at Midway Airport. She has just arrived from Texas to stay with him for a while. Otis tells Becky that she looks terrible (from the bruises on her face). In his car driving from the airport, Otis says he always knew that Becky's husband, Leroy, was no good for her. Becky tells Otis that she is not sure how long she will stay.Otis and Becky arrive at Otis' seedy second floor apartment located at 1801 North Road in Chicago. They are seated at the kitchen table talking when Henry walks in. Henry has the hitchhiker's guitar and gives it to Otis as a gift. Otis introduces Henry to his sister, and Otis tells Becky that Henry is currently heading west and has been staying with him for a few weeks.The next day, Henry is seen working as an exterminator, spraying a kitchen. Henry's boss arrives as he is leaving and tells Henry that this is all the work he has for a while, but tells him to hold onto the spray can. He gives Henry some money for his job and sends him on his way. Henry drives to the house of the same woman that he followed from the mall a few days earlier. He still his spray tank with him. He knocks on the woman's front door and introduces himself as an exterminator and asks if she needs her house fumigated. She lets him inside. Afterwords, the woman is seen laying dead on her living room couch, having been strangled with an electrical cord.Meanwhile, Otis is seen working as a fuel pump operator at a local gas station. A teenage boy visits Otis at the station and asks if Otis has any more of the stuff that he sold the boy last week. He gives Otis some money, and Otis agrees to meet with the teen later.That evening, Becky is in the kitchen cooking dinner and she asks Otis how he met Henry. He tells her that they met in prison a few years ago and that Henry was inside for killing his mother and one of her boyfriends with a baseball bat. After dinner, Henry helps Becky clear the table as well as wash and dry the dishes, while Otis leaves to go to his meeting with the teenager. While playing cards with Henry, Becky asks him about his father, and then tells him that her own father used to rape her. She asks Henry if he killed his mother and repeats what Otis told her. Henry tells Becky that he did kill his own mother but he didn't beat her to death with a baseball bat. He stabbed her. Henry explains that his mother was a prostitute who brought men over and make Henry watch while she had sex with them. When Henry would refuse, she would beat him. When Henry mentions about shooting his mother, Becky reminds him that he told her that he stabbed her. Henry corrects himself.The following evening, Becky again cooks dinner for Henry and Otis and mentions that she got a job as a shampoo girl at a local beauty parlor downtown to help out financially. Otis mentions that Becky's previous job was a stripper and that she used to dance naked at various strips clubs, and asks when she will dance for them. Otis tells Becky to get him a beer. When she comes back to the table with a can, he pulls her by her arm as if to give her a kiss. Henry suddenly grabs Otis' hair and yells "Don't do that, Otis! She's your sister!" Henry makes Otis apologize and promise not to do it again. Otis seems upset, so Becky suggests the two men go out for a beer.While driving along a seedy part of Milwaukee Avenue, Henry and Otis pick up a couple of women. The car pulls into an alley where they begin to make out with the two women. In the back seat, Henry suddenly kills her. The other woman, in the front seat with Otis, screams and tries to get out of the car, but Otis grabs her while Henry reaches up and snaps the woman's neck. He pulls the bodies out and leaves them in the alley. Otis is unsettled, but Henry pacifies him by getting him something to eat. At Otis' apartment later, Henry talks about killing people, and Otis seems to agree with Henry's philosophy that "it is either you or them".Another evening later, Otis in his living room and getting bad TV reception and kicks in the screen. He decides that they need a new television. Otis and Henry drive to a garage where they meet a portly man surrounded by television sets and other appliances. The three men discuss different TV's and a $500 video camera before Otis settles on a $50 black-and-white TV. The fat man is angry that they wasted his time to settle for a cheap TV and is rude towards Henry, who responds by stabbing him in his hand and then in the stomach. Then the two of them bash the $50 TV over his head and plug it it, killing the fat man. A little later, Otis, Henry and Becky are playing with the stolen video camera at Otis' apartment and watch TV with a new and stolen TV set.Another few days later, Otis goes to see his parole officer to discuss his job status. Later, Otis goes to a high school parking lot where he meets with the same teenage boy for a drug transaction. Otis touches the boy's leg, and receives a punch to his face by the homophobic youth who runs out of the car.That evening, a furious Otis tells Henry that he wants to go out and kill someone. Henry and Otis drive around Chicago and feign car trouble at Lower Wacker Drive where Otis shoots and kills a man who stops to offer help.The next day, while out filming with the video camera, Henry advices Otis about his MO for killing and tells him to kill in different ways so that the police will not find a pattern. Henry also says that it is important to keep moving and never stay in one place for too long. That evening, the two men head over to a house where they stage a home invasion. Henry films Otis tormenting a woman, while her husband is lying on the floor bound and gagged. The couple's teenage son returns and Henry drops the camera, runs to the boy and breaks his neck. Otis breaks the woman's neck and Henry stabs the man. Otis fondles and kisses the dead woman, and Henry orders him to stop. Later, Henry and Otis are back in the apartment watching the video. Otis rewinds the tape saying, "I want to see it again."Another day or two later, Becky is working at her job at the beauty parlor and during a break, she talks on the phone with her mother long distance and asks how she is doing.Meanwhile, Henry and Otis are driving around in Henry's car. As Otis leans out with the video camera, the camera is hit and broken. Otis throws it out the window and the two men argue. Henry warns Otis that he is getting careless and out of control with his antics. The growing warped Otis says that he wants to stop for a beer, and Henry forces him to get out of the car.Henry arrives back at the apartment where Becky tells him that she just quit her job so she can go back to Texas to live with her daughter and mother, and she asks Henry to go with her. Henry suggests going out to get a steak dinner at a local restaurant so they can talk about it some more. Plus, Henry wants to try out his new credit card (obviously stolen from one of his recent victims).The couple returns a few hours later to find Otis passed out drunk on the living room couch. Becky takes Henry to her bedroom where she takes off her shirt and begins to unbutton his, clearly wanting to have sex with him. Henry seems reluctant. Otis suddenly appears in the doorway and says "I ain't interuptin' nothin', am I?" Henry leaves the apartment and goes for a walk. He goes to a convenience store to buy some more Kool cigarettes. He is angry, but backs out on wanting to kill the store clerk. Outside in an alley, he meets a middle-aged woman walking a dog. He follows the woman for a while, but again backs out from killing her and heads back to the apartment.Upon arriving back at the apartment, Henry finds Otis on top of a partially unclothed Becky, clearly raping her while choking her with his shirt. Henry kicks him off and beats him until Otis breaks a liquor bottle over his head. Just when Otis is about to stab Henry with the broken bottle's jagged edge, Becky leaps up and stabs Otis in his eye with the sharp edge of a steel comb. Henry crawls to the wounded and screaming Otis and stabs him in the stomach with his hunting knife, killing him at last. Becky yells at Henry to get the police, but Henry tells her to shut up and let him think. After a minute, he tells Becky help him clean up the mess and pack up so they can leave since their names are not on the lease of the apartment. While Becky cleans up the blood, Henry chops up Otis in the bathtub and puts his remains in several black plastic trash bags and then puts the bags in a suitcase. Henry and Becky leave the apartment carrying several suitcases as well as the guitar case. They drive to a bridge and throw the suitcase containing Otis' cut up body into the Chicago river.While driving out of the city, Henry says that they are going to hide out at his sister's ranch out west and they will send for Becky's daughter. Becky tells Henry that she loves him. Henry replies unemotionally, "I guess I love you too." The two of them drive to a rural motel and check in for the night. Becky plays with the guitar while Henry looks at himself in the bathroom mirror. He tells Becky that they need to get some sleep for they have a long drive tomorrow.The next morning, Henry showers, shaves, packs up and leaves the motel by himself. He stops his car a short distance from the motel along a rural road, pops open the car trunk and takes out Becky's blood stained suitcase. He drives away, leaving the suitcase (obviously containing Becky's dismembered body in it) behind.

Review: But "Second Most Disturbing Film Of All-Time" is still a damn fine achievement, in my opinion.If you want to see an accurate and appallingly realistic portrayal of what the life of a serial killer must be like, definitely give "Henry" a viewing.
Count on it.Based loosely on the exploits of multiple murderer Henry Lee Lucas, HENRY was the breakout role for Michael Rooker (SLITHER), and together with co-stars Tom Towles as his dim-witted sidekick, Otis and Tracy Arnold as Otis' emotionally blasted sister, Becky, they paint a documentary-style picture under McNaughton's guidance, of how some people living on the fringes of society behave.
'Henry' is not surprisingly often slated as a violent exploitation film, bundled together at Film Fairs with the Italian cannibal flicks of the 70's.Make no mistake though, this is a highly commendable piece of movie-making, which tackles the subject of serial killers with the same no-holds-barred approach which 'M' did way back in 1931.
The trio is made up by Becky, the sister of Otis, who comes to visit.We are introduced to Henry immediately as a killer and the story does exactly what it says it will in the film's title.
Much of the film's power comes from this nonchalant approach, whereby if a person doesn't register that something he is doing is wrong, then it quickly becomes almost acceptable.Rooker, in the title role, is totally convincing and gives a chilling performance, free from the mannerism clichés which detract from more famous serial killer characters like Hannibal Lector and Norman Bates.
I can only think of Kevin Spacey in 'Seven' (1995) giving a similar level of performance for this character-type.Despite a couple of scenes whose violent content borders on the gratuitous, for the most part 'Henry' succeeds by relying on a suffocating atmosphere and it's down-beat characters.Anyone without a sense of desolation at the end of the film must be devoid of their senses.BEST SCENE - Henry and Otis enjoying a night in on the sofa, watching their recent home-video recordings, is one of the most disturbing scenes I can remember watching..
Powell's film has gone on to attract an avid cult following and, if it hasn't done so already, so will "Henry:  Portrait of a Serial Killer."Loosely based on the real life exploits of Henry Lee Lucas, a leering, low IQ sicko who became a media star after claiming to have murdered several dozen people (some believe Henry was bragging), this film takes a gritty, realistic approach that creates the impression that we are watching real life unfold.
Director John McNaughton exploits the discomfort the viewer is inclined to feel by presenting a scene in which Henry and his equally vicious former cellmate, Otis, videotape the rape and murder of one of their victims, then play it back for further amusement.
By casting anonymous non-stars in the leading roles (not that he had a choice considering the budget and the repellent subject matter), and focusing entirely on the exploits of the killers (there are no scenes of police investigating the crimes or peeks into the lives of the victims), McNaughton has created a brutal, amoral horror film that makes the bloodiest gorefest look benign.
Some will be turned off big-time with the shocking brutality of this film, but that's what it is about - a cold-blooded killer (Michael Rooker, playing real-life killer Henry Lee Lucas) with seemingly no conscience, and a stupid partner (Tom Towles as "Otis Toole"), who is about as bad."Chilling" is a good word to describe these guys.The only part of the movie which was repugnant to me was the scene in with Rooker and Towles break into a house, terrorize a woman and videotape it.
This, and the French movie, "Man Bites Dog," are the two movies in my collection I am embarrassed (morally speaking) to say I own and find fascinating to watch.There are only three main actors in this film: Rooker, Towles (playing fellow killer, Otis Toole, a real dumb-ass trashy character) and his kid sister, "Becky" (Tracy Arnold).
But don't be fooled, for "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" is filled with graphic violence and other disturbing moments.The movie feels and breaths an '70's atmosphere.
Supposedly based on the true life serial killer, Henry Lee Lucas (played by a turbulent Michael Rooker), but in fact is framed on tall stories of the largest fabler in American crime history (made even taller by director / scriptwriter John McNaughton, who adds his own two cents to the mythology).
Inspired by the prefabricated musings of a trickster conspiring with police 'to clean up the books' John McNaughton supposedly presents us a portrait of a psychotic mind, but essentially remains underwhelmingly vacuous.The hyperbole of Lucas's life story is taken at face value giving a terrifying vision of a pair of two morally incapacitated individuals, albeit Henry himself finds a soft spot for Otis's cousin Becky (Tracy Arnold).
Suitably events are portrayed pretty matter of fact (thankfully) without the ulterior intellectually deviant underpinnings so predominant in serial killer movies - this murderer isn't a deranged genius, just a murderous lost soul.Low key direction with unassuming choreography keeps attention focused on Rooker and Towles, which make a oddly disturbing couple, believable, but at the same time unreal.
Henry (Michael Rooker), a character based on serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, hooks up with his prison friend Otis (Tom Towles) and his sister Becky (Tracy Arnold).
It's been half an hour since I finished seeing this movie, and believe me people, I'm still shaking.Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, tells the story of Henry, a man with one hobby: killing strangers.
Title: Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer Director: John McNaughton (The Borrower) Cast: Michael Rooker, Tracy Arnold, Tom Towles Review: There's only a handful of movies out there that you watch them and after wards you are left with this look of shock in your face.
Based on the real life exploits of serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, this films achieves a thing rare in todays horror films.
At times, during their little outings, Otis comes off even more sadistic than Henry, although lacking the intelligence needed to have a successful killing career, besides, Henry's patience is running thin with this obnoxious redneck, plus, Becky is all up in his business, so it might be a good idea to hit the road soon.They occasionally play Henry on the Independent Film Channel.
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, while not, as it is often described, among the most disturbing movies ever made (compare with Eraserhead, Pi, and the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari), takes an approach to the biopic genre which was both novel at the time (grainy film stock, hand-held camera-work, no Hollywood plot resolution, a style echoed in Morris' The Thin Blue Line two years later), and frighteningly effective--even today, when audiences have been thoroughly exposed to Anthony Hopkins (and Brian Cox) and the psychological gore films of Se7en and Saw. By stripping down the production and putting the viewer face to face with the empty eyes of Michael Rooker as Henry Lee Lucas, H:PoaSK makes the viewer wonder whether to sympathize with him and believe his sad story of his childhood, or see him as a killer with no hope of redemption.
The use of mickeymousing (which, for those unfamiliar with the term, is when an action on screen is matched by a similar sound effect: Mickey Mouse falls down the stairs, and the sound effects man slides his hand across a piano) is fairly rare in modern cinema, appearing in the occasional Bond film when a villain appears, or in the Kill Bill movies, but out of fashion, generally; however, H:PoaSK uses mickeymousing to heighten the impact of Henry's murders in a truly startling way--almost as startling as in Lynch's Eraserhead, when the Fats Waller soundtrack cuts to silence, then to an orchestral sting, then to silence.
But that something, instead of like going to a bar or a movie or a show, is killing people, whomever, as long as it's not too obvious (never using a gun twice, and proper disposal of bodies, is some advice given by Henry), with a hapless dumb-ass, Otis, usually in tow.What makes it so unnerving is how McNaughton chooses to just show his protagonist doing these things, without passing any judgment exactly.
Some vulnerability is found with the Becky character, though Arnold' performance is just passable.What makes the movie for me is Rooker's hold on the character, so dark and deep and scary that you can feel your skin crawl knowing he could just snap at any moment (albeit not as awful as Otis, in a weird way), and McNaughton's lack of easy answers - certainly not with the ending, which is equally bizarre and chilling.
I've even talked to myself about how sadistic and how scary it was and that's why it is known to be a controversial film.I'm also glad that the director didn't go into all the detail and back story of Serial Killer Henry Lee Lucas and I'm glad that he sort of kept his story in some tame sort of way.
OK, history lesson over; this is a movie made for pure shock value (and to a lesser degree, entertainment value, as well)."Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" is an impressively brutal and uncompromising feature from director John McNaughton.
(A scene where this is highlighted is when the two break into the home of a married couple and as you would expect from this film already, is not for the squeamish.)What is great about "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" is the brutal and uncompromising presentation of the story - the stark, frightening realism of the events, the raw intensity, brutality, and utter savagery of everything we're forced to see here.
As I stated earlier, no attempt is made to rationalize Henry's actions, though the film and criminologists seem to suggest he was motivated by the abuse he suffered as a child at the hands of his mother - who was a prostitute and would bring home clients and force young Henry to watch her have sex with them, and would sometimes put him in a dress - his murderous actions being an expression of misogynistic rage (his targets were mostly women) over that humiliation.Where most movies fail is where "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" succeeds.
To be sure, he's even more frightening sometimes than Rooker is as Henry."Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" is a chilling and challenging exercise in horror film-making.
Its gritty and gripping tale was so different, so fresh, and just so plain nasty, that everyone watching was lost for words.Even today, Henry still has the power to render the viewer speechless, such is the brilliance of the direction and performances in this powerful and shocking movie.Recently released from prison, murderer Henry (Michael Rooker) is earning a meagre living as a bug exterminator; in his spare time, however, he prefers to seek out bigger prey, committing a series of indiscriminate murders in a variety of grisly ways.
But when sexual deviant Otis takes the idea of brotherly love a little too far, Henry steps in with devastating consequences for all.Director John McNaughton shows that he means business from the very start by opening his film on a slow reveal of a naked female corpse, which has been dumped unceremoniously in some shallow water.
McNaughton's sparing use of his unsettling score, coupled with some particularly stylish and clever storytelling techniques (most noticeably, the ferocious 'house invasion' scene, which I believe to be a big influence the effectively sickening August Underground pseudo-snuff movies) make this a chilling character study that pulls no punches: nihilistic and disturbingly graphic, the film presents violent death without the glossy veneer that would be present in a Hollywood production.8.5 out of 10, rounded up to 9 for IMDb..
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.
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.
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.
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..
Henry Portrait of a serial killer is a film that feels more like a documentary than a general horror/slasher film.
Instead of the cheap slasher film he was hired to direct, Chicago filmmaker John McNaughton borrowed the case history of local mass murderer Henry Lee Lucas and created a fictitious portrait of an actual killer which, however well drawn, is so brutally honest it becomes a difficult film to recommend.
McNaughton flirts, at times, with outright exploitation, but underneath all the appalling violence is a film that demands to be taken seriously, examining a casual murderer (played with unnerving, low-key intensity by Michael Rooker) who preys on his (mostly female) victims with no remorse, no pity, and no real motive: the only reason he kills is because it's easy and he's able to.
It just follows Henry (chillingly played by Michael Rooker) and his cousin Otis as he teaches him the way of being a serial killer.I really wasn't prepared for this movie.
And make no mistake, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer definitely earns it, mostly with the notorious scene in which the titular murderer and his sidekick Otis sit down to watch a videotape they've made of themselves brutally killing a defenseless family.
Therefore, I've always liked films about serial killers, and always preferred those that were "biographies" and not "fiction".OK, so I realize "Henry" was released 26 years ago, and that at the time it made a real serious impact on account of the scenes there that had been considered graphic and violent more than had ever been seen on screen.
It ultimately rendered this ugly, vicious and nasty film to the level of being one of the s-h-i-t-tiest "portraits" of anyone that I've ever seen.And, on top of all of the above, here are a number of other points about this pointless story that just about killed me to pieces - (1) Henry (who had already spent time in jail) wasn't in the least bit concerned about leaving tell-tale fingerprints, here, there, and everywhere, around each site of every single murder he committed.
Infamous scenes like the one when Henry (Micharl Rooker) and Otis (Tom Towells) watch a tape of their own murderous acts ruin society's fascination about serial killers.
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!
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.
Unfortunately Otis's sister Becky ( Tracy Arnold) has moved in for a little while to their apartment and don't know about the secrets of Henry at night time as she falls for him, but he can't let the truth out or can he?.A powerful, brutal and unique psychological horror thriller with excellent performances by Rooker and company here, director John McNaughton brings us a dark and disturbing look into the mind of a psychopath on the verge of killing people.
Uncompromising, brutal, and brilliant; director John McNaughton's "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" shows the violent life of its titular character in stark reality.
I have to admit that even though I saw the movie "Henry:Portrait of a Serial Killer" more then ten years ago it still shocks me thinking about it, far more then any film of that type that I've ever seen, before or after.
Shocking, disturbing, extremely graphic horror film loosely based on the real-life serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, with Rooker playing the title role who, along with his roommate Otis (Towles), go on a killing spree.
This is the most realistic and Frightening movie ever made.In the way that it happened to a real man and that the whole story is true.Other movies is just fiction and of course there is other movies that are more graphic,but you got to remember that this is real,and that's what is sick.The things that the main character(Henry Lee Lucas)experienced when he was a child was just tragic and we really get to hear about it in the movie.I don't think that it ever have been made a movie like this,who shows a real serial killer from the inside.
HENRY: portrait of a serial killer (horror-thriller, 1992) Henry (Michael Rooker) lives with his ex-prison buddy Otis & teen sister Becky.