Henry - Portrait of a Serial Killer

Alternate titles : None

Tagline : "He's not Jason, He's not Freddy...He's Real."

Loosely based on the confessions of real life serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, this gritty, shocking and disturbing tale follows the exploits of psychotic killer Henry (Michael Rooker), who's just been released from jail after murdering his mother.

He travels to Chicago, where he moves into a flat with his former cellmate Otis (Tom Towles). However it isn't too long before Henry's up to his old tricks when his buddy Otis discovers the joys of murder. The 2 of them then go on a killing spree, as Henry shows Otis the Joys of random killing as they go around the city, shooting, stabbing and strangling people to death in the most gruesome and sadistic of fashions.

Some of the more difficult scenes to sit through include the death of a snotty proprietor of an electrical warehouse who gets stabbed with a soldering iron, then wired to the mains and a particularly nasty scene where they film themselves tieing up a family and kicking them to death.

But their friendship becomes strained when Otis's sister Becky (Tracy Arnold) also moves in, who begins to fall in love with Henry. Causing a bit of a rift as her brother Otis, being the sick little pervert he is, had his own eye on her.

Directed by John McNaughton, the shocking murders and the grim picture it paints of American society have ensured this films longevity as a modern day horror classic, which is definitely not for the easily offended. Serious horror fans should check this out, only if for seeing a young Michael Rooker in a Pre-Marvel role.

Overall Marks : 7/10.

Terrifying Trivia

• Michael Rooker, who was a jobbing actor at the time, was working as a janitor when he auditioned for the role of Henry. He's since gone on to star in numerous films and TV shows, most notably playing Merle in TV's "The Walking Dead" and Yondu in the Marvel film "Guardians of the Galaxy".
• The film was shot on 16mm film stock and was completed in just 28 days.
• The film's budget was $110,000.
• The film was shot in 1986, but not released until 1990. Partly because the US ratings board wanted to give it an NC17 rating and partly because the Producers weren't initially impressed with the finished film and were not sure that it was worth releasing. It was only after fellow Director Chuck Parello saw a screener copy of the film, he lobbied the Producers to release it. It was eventually released unrated and given a limited theatrical run in the US, but became a huge hit on home video.
• Although not released until 1990, Michael Rooker still managed to get a lot of work off the back of this prior to it's release, as numerous bootleg screener copies were circulating round Hollywood.
• The movie playing on TV, just before Otis breaks the set, was the 1964 Richard Burton film "Becket".
• The insults made by the snotty Electrical warehouse manager to Henry and Otis were improvised by actor Ray Atherton.
• The UK cinema release was cut by the BBFC, whch removed a scene of a dead prostitute in a bathroom from the opening credits and shortened the killing of the Electrical warehouse manager and the scene where they video themselves killing a family. The UK video release was cut further, which also re-edited the scene showing Henry and Otis watching themselves killing the family on video. Inserting a reaction shot, so it's obvious from early on that we're watching a recording, not viewing it live. The 2001 DVD release was less heavily editied, which re-instated the killings and the original version of the home invasion. But still cut the scene of the dead prostitute from the intro titles. It wasn't until 2003 that the full uncut version was finally passed in the UK.

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