McNaughton, co-writer Richard Fire and Rooker have pulled off an amazing feat -- a portrait of a damaged mind that refuses to explain, judge or glamorize psychopathic violence.
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1990)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:8
Fresh:8
Rotten:0
Average Rating:7.8/10
Consensus: Henry is an effective, chilling profile of a killer that is sure to shock and disturb.
Runtime: 3 hrs 8 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: HENRY PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER, loosely based on the case of Henry Lee Lucas, a confessed serial killer, is a terrifyingly intimate journey into the twisted life of a murderous psychotic. As the... HENRY PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER, loosely based on the case of Henry Lee Lucas, a confessed serial killer, is a terrifyingly intimate journey into the twisted life of a murderous psychotic. As the blank-eyed Henry (Michael Rooker) drifts from place to place, he selects victims at random, slaughters them, and captures the brutality on videotape. When he is joined by his deranged roommate, a loudmouthed ex-convict named Otis (Tom Towles), the almost unfathomably malevolent acts multiply. John McNaughton's film, in the tradition of such classic studies of homicidal personality as PEEPING TOM and TAXI DRIVER, goes further than both of these movies in its flat refusal to tell the killer's story on anything other than the killer's terms. McNaughton is able to present the world Henry aimlessly traverses as Henry sees it--almost unendurably bleak and meaningless--and in doing so he allows his film to go as deep into the nightmarish mind of a killer as anything ever committed to celluloid. [More]
Starring: Michael Rooker, Tom Towles, Tracy Arnold
Starring: Michael Rooker, Tom Towles, Tracy Arnold
Director: John McNaughton
Director: John McNaughton
Producer: John McNaughton, Lisa Dedmond, Steven A. Jones
Reviews for Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
This is sicko territory with a vengeance but certainly has an impact.
McNaughton's compelling study of a blithe sociopath makes the flesh crawl and the mind reel.
John McNaughton's haunting film is a grim journey into the life of its twisted subject that refuses to moralise or judge.
[T]his is a movie that will anger and frighten audiences... Many will also find this one of the most impressive film debuts of the '80s.
Mr. McNaughton's observations are so chilling and precise that they gain some artistic stature even when they cross the line that makes the audience voyeurs and accomplices.
A low-budget tour de force that provides an unforgettable portrait of the pathology of a man for whom killing is not a crime but simply a way of passing time and relieving boredom.
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