Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer
Encyclopedia
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is a 1986 crime
horror film
(released in 1990) directed and co-written by John McNaughton
about the random crime spree of a serial killer
who seemingly operates with impunity. It stars Michael Rooker
as the nomadic killer Henry, Tom Towles
as Otis, a prison buddy with whom Henry is living, and Tracy Arnold as Becky, Otis’ sister. The character of Henry is loosely based on real life serial killer Henry Lee Lucas
.
The film was shot on 16mm in less than a month with a budget of only $110,000.
), who is going about his business. Interspersed with this are shots of other murder victims. None of the actual murders are shown, but accompanying the shots of the bodies are the sounds of screaming and struggle. Henry is also shown following a woman home and watching her as she enters her house.
We are next introduced to Becky (Tracy Arnold), waiting in an airport. She is met by her brother Otis (Tom Towles
). Having split from her husband, Leroy, she has come to Chicago
to make some money for herself and her daughter, who is living with Becky and Otis’ mother for the time being. Otis brings Becky back to the apartment he shares with Henry, and from the start there is sexual tension between Henry and Becky, with Henry awkwardly excusing himself to go to work (he works as a part-time exterminator
). Later that day, Henry, dressed in his work clothes, knocks on the door of the woman he followed home after viewing her from a shopping mall
. Soon after, the woman is shown dead in her living room, with a power cable
wrapped around her throat and cigarette burns on her chest and neck. Otis is also shown at work, as a forecourt attendant in a gas station. While working, Otis is approached by a young man (Kurt Naebig
) wishing to purchase marijuana from him. Otis sets up a deal in two days time. Back at the apartment, Otis tells Becky that he met Henry in prison
, where Henry was serving a sentence for killing his mother, but he warns her not to mention it. Later that night, as Henry and Becky play cards, Becky asks Henry about the murder of his mother. He tells her he stabbed his mother because she abused
and humiliated him as a child. However, he then says he shot her, before correcting himself when Becky comments on his mistake. Becky, for her part, reveals that her father molested
her when she was a teenager.
The next day, Becky gets a job in a hair salon. That evening, Henry and Otis go out and solicit two prostitutes. Without provocation, Henry kills both women by breaking their necks. After dumping the bodies in an alleyway, Henry and Otis drive to a fast food
restaurant and discuss what happened. It becomes clear that Otis, although shocked, feels no remorse
. He does, however, worry that the police might catch them. Henry assures him that everything will work out. Back at the apartment, Henry asks Otis if he has ever killed before, and Otis confesses he has, but only because he didn’t have any choice. Henry points out that if you've killed once, any time you kill again, it always feels the same, and he explains his philosophy that the world they live in is “them or us.” The following night, Otis loses his temper with the poor reception on the television, and kicks in the screen. He and Henry then go to a fence
(Ray Atherton) who trades in stolen electrical goods. They discover they don't have enough money for anything other than a small black and white television, and are about to leave empty handed when the salesman begins to berate them for wasting his time. Enraged at the man's rudeness, Henry suddenly stabs the man with a soldering iron
and smashes a TV over his head, which Otis then plugs in, electrocuting him. They take several items, including a video camera
and a top-of-the-line television.
As arranged, Otis and the young man meet up to exchange drugs, meeting in Otis’ car. After lighting a joint
, Otis places his hand on the man’s thigh; the man punches him and flees the scene. Back at the apartment, an incensed Otis tells Henry he wants to kill the young man. Henry tells him that that would be a mistake as people have seen them together. Otis acknowledges this, but says he would still like to kill someone, so he and Henry go out looking for a random victim. They find one on Lower Wacker Drive when they pull up in a tunnel layby, opening the hood of their car and hailing passing cars for help. Several cars drive past, one stops, and a man (Rick Paul) gets out and asks them if they need any help. Otis shoots the man several times, after which Henry asks him, "Feel better?" Otis says he does, and they leave the scene. Henry begins to teach Otis more about being a serial killer. He explains that every murder should have a different modus operandi
so the police won’t connect the different murders to one killer. He also explains that it’s important never to stay in the same place for too long; that way, by the time police know they’re looking for a serial killer
, they can be long gone. Henry also tells Otis that he will have leave Chicago soon. Henry and Otis then slaughter an entire family, recording the whole incident on their newly acquired video camera, and then watch it at their apartment for entertainment.
Soon thereafter, Becky quits her job so she can return home to her daughter. Meanwhile, Otis smashes the camera by accident while filming pedestrians from the passenger seat window of Henry's car. He and Henry argue and Otis gets out of the car, going for a drink, while Henry returns to the apartment. Becky tells Henry her plans, and they decide to go out for a steak dinner. Later at home, she tries to seduce him, but he is unreceptive to her advances. A drunk Otis enters and asks if he's interrupting anything. Embarrassed, Henry leaves to buy cigarettes. He returns to find Otis strangling Becky after raping her. Henry kicks Otis off her and a fight ensues, which ends when Becky stabs Otis in the eye with the handle of a metal comb. Henry kills Otis and dismembers his body in the bathtub, telling Becky that calling the police would be a mistake, and that they need to deal with this situation themselves.
After packing, they dump the body in a river and leave town. Henry suggests that they go to his sister's ranch in San Bernardino, California, promising Becky they will send for her daughter when they arrive. In the car, Becky confesses that she loves Henry. "I guess I love you too," Henry replies, unemotionally. They book into a motel
for the night. The next morning, Henry leaves the motel alone, gets into the car and drives away. He stops at the side of the road to dump a suitcase in a ditch before driving off again. The camera moves in towards the case, revealing blood stains, during which we hear sounds of struggle and screaming; presumably Becky's dying moments.
, to direct a documentary about gangsters in Chicago during the 1930s. Dealers in Death was a moderate success, and was well received critically, so the Ali brothers kept McNaughton on as director for a second documentary, this time about the Chicago wrestling scene in the 1950s. A collection of vintage wrestling tapes had been discovered, and the owner was willing to sell them to the Ali brothers for use in the documentary. However, after financing was in place, the owner doubled his price and the brothers pulled out of the deal. With the documentary cancelled, Waleed and McNaughton, decided that the money for the documentary could instead be used to make a feature film. The Ali brothers gave McNaughton $110,000 to make the film, with the provisos being that it was to be a horror film with plenty of blood.
McNaughton knew that with the budget he was to be working, there would be no way he could make a horror movie about aliens or monsters, and he found himself stumped for a subject matter until he saw an episode of 20/20 about the serial killer Henry Lee Lucas
. It was then that McNaughton decided the subject for the film would be a flesh and blood human being.
In the meantime, the Ali brothers brought Steven A. Jones onto the project as a producer, and Jones hired Richard Fire to work as McNaughton's co-writer. With producer, writer and director in place and with the subject matter decided upon, the film went into production.
confessed to over 600 murders, claiming he committed roughly one murder a week between his release from prison in 1975 to his arrest in 1983. While the film was inspired by Lucas' confessions, the vast majority of his claims turned out to be false. A detailed investigation by the Texas
Attorney General's office was able to rule out Lucas as a suspect in most of his confessions by comparing his known whereabouts to the dates of the murders he confessed to. Lucas was convicted of 11 murders, but law enforcement officers and other investigators have overwhelmingly rejected his claims of having killed hundreds of victims. The "Lucas Report" asserted that reliable physical evidence linked Lucas to three murders. Others familiar with the case have suggested that Lucas committed a low of two murders to — at the most — about 40 killings. The hundreds of confessions stemmed from the fact that Lucas was confessing to almost every unsolved murder brought before him, often with the collusion of police officers who wanted to clear their files of unsolved and "cold cases." Lucas reported that the false confessions ensured better conditions for him, as law enforcement officers would offer him incentives to confess to crimes he did not commit. Such confessions also increased his fame with the public. In the end, Lucas was convicted of 11 murders and sentenced to death
for the murder of an unidentified female victim known only as "Orange Socks". His death sentence was later commuted to life in prison by the then Governor of Texas
George W. Bush
in 1998. Lucas died in prison of heart failure on March 13, 2001.
The character of Henry shares many biographical concurrences with Lucas himself. However, as the opening statement makes clear, the film is based more on Lucas' violent fantasies and confessions rather than the crimes he was convicted of. Similarities between real life and the film include:
Rick Paul plays the man shot in the layby; storyboard artist
Frank Coronado plays the smaller of the attacking bums; grip
Brian Graham plays the husband in the family-massacre scene; and executive producer
Waleed B. Ali plays the clerk serving Henry towards the end of the film.
Rooker remained in character for the duration of the shoot, even off set, not socializing with any of the cast or crew during the month long shoot. According to the costume designer Patricia Hart, she and Rooker would travel to the set together each day, and she never knew from one minute to the next if she was talking to Michael or to Henry as sometimes he would speak about his childhood and background not as Michael Rooker but as Henry. Indeed, so in-character did Rooker remain, that during the shoot, his wife discovered she was pregnant, but she waited until filming had stopped before she told him.
Because the production had so little money, they could not afford extras
, so all of the people in the exterior shots of the streets of Chicago are simply pedestrians going about their business. For example, in the scene where Becky emerges from the subway, two men can be seen standing at the top of the stairs having a heated discussion. These men were really having an argument, and when the film crew arrived to shoot, they refused to move, so John McNaughton decided to include them in the shot.
After filming was finished, there was so little money left that the film had to be edited on a rented 16 mm flatbed
which was set up in editor Elena Maganini's living room.
's review of the film, he writes that the MPAA told the filmmakers that no possible combination of edits would have qualified their movie for an R rating, indicating that the ratings issue did not simply involve graphic violence.
In the UK, the film has had a long and complex relationship with the BBFC. In 1990, distributor Electric Pictures submitted the film for classification with 38 seconds already removed (the pan across the hotel room and into the bathroom, revealing the semi-naked woman on the toilet with a broken bottle stuck in her mouth). Electric Pictures had performed this edit themselves without the approval of director John McNaughton because they feared it was such an extreme image so early in the film, it would turn the board against them. The film was classified 18 for theatrical release in April 1991, but only if 24 seconds were cut from the family massacre scene (primarily involving the shots where Otis gropes the mother’s breasts both prior to killing her and after she is dead). Total time cut from the film: 62 seconds.
In 1992, Electric Pictures again submitted the film to the BBFC for home video classification, again with the initial 38-second edit. In January 1993, the BBFC again classified the film 18, waiving the 24 seconds they had cut from the theatrical release. Instead however, they cut four seconds from the scene where the TV salesman is murdered, meaning a total of 42 seconds were supposed to be removed from the home video release. However, BBFC director James Ferman
overruled his own team and demanded that the family massacre scene be trimmed down to almost nothing, removing 71 seconds of footage. Additionally, Ferman re-edited the scene so that the reaction shot of Henry and Otis watching TV now occurred midway through the scene rather than at the end. Total time cut from the film: 113 seconds.
In 2001, Universal Home Entertainment submitted a completely uncut version of the film for classification for home video release. The BBFC waived the four seconds cut from the murder of the TV salesman, and 61 of the 71 seconds from the family massacre scene (they refused to reinstate the 10 seconds of the scene where Otis molests the mother after she is dead). Additionally, they partly approved the 38 second shot of the dead woman on the toilet, but they demanded that the last 17 seconds of the shot be removed. Based upon this, Universal decided to remove the shot entirely. Total time cut from the film: 48 seconds.
In 2003, Optimum Releasing
again submitted a fully uncut version of the film for classification for home video release. In February 2003, the BBFC passed the film completely uncut, and in March 2003, the uncut version of the film was officially released in the UK for the first time.
In New Zealand the film was originally banned outright by the Film Censor's Office in 1992. A censored version was subsequently released on home video with cuts to the "family massacre" sequence. In 2010 a DVD release was approved, apparently without cuts.
with an approval rating of 88% based on 42 reviews. Rooker's performance received generally high marks.
Critics who liked the film tended to focus on the sense of newness it brought to the saturated horror genre. Roger Ebert
, for example, called Henry "a very good film," a "low-budget tour de force," and wrote that the film attempts to deal "honestly with its subject matter, instead of trying to sugar-coat violence as most 'slasher' films
do." Elliott Stein
of The Village Voice
called it "the best film of the year...recalls the best work of Cassavetes
." Siskel & Ebert called it "a powerful and important film, brilliantly acted and directed." Dave Kehr
of the Chicago Tribune
said it was "one of the ten best films of the year...combines Fritz Lang
's sense of predetermination with the freshness of John Cassavetes."
contained a commentary from director John McNaughton
(recorded in 1999), a censorship timeline, comparisons of the scenes edited by the BBFC with their original uncut status, two interviews with McNaughton (one from 1999, one from 2003), a stills gallery and a biography of Henry Lee Lucas (text).
In the US, in 2005 a special 20th Anniversary Edition two-disc DVD was released by Dark Sky Films. This DVD included a newly recorded commentary from McNaughton, a 50-minute making-of documentary, a 23-minute documentary about Henry Lee Lucas, 21 minutes of deleted scene
s with commentary from McNaughton, a stills gallery, and the original storyboards. This DVD also featured a reversible cover featuring the banned original poster art by Joe Coleman.
, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Part 2, was released in 1996. The film was directed by Chuck Parrello and starred Neil Giuntoli
as Henry with Kate Walsh, Penelope Milford
, Carri Levinson, and Daniel Allar
in supporting roles.
Crime film
Crime films are films which focus on the lives of criminals. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the far-fetched evil doings of imaginary arch-villains. Criminal acts are almost always glorified in these movies.- Plays and films...
horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
(released in 1990) directed and co-written by John McNaughton
John McNaughton
John McNaughton is an American film and television director, originally from Chicago, Illinois.-Biography:His first feature film, made in 1986, was Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, a film McNaughton directed, co-wrote, and co-produced. Numerous complications plagued the controversial film,...
about the random crime spree of a serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
who seemingly operates with impunity. It stars Michael Rooker
Michael Rooker
Michael Rooker is an American actor.-Early life:Rooker, who has eight brothers and sisters, was born in Jasper, Alabama and studied at the Goodman School of Drama in Chicago, where he moved with his mother and siblings at the age of thirteen, after his parents divorced.-Movie career:He made his...
as the nomadic killer Henry, Tom Towles
Tom Towles
Tom Towles is an American actor.Towles was born and raised in Chicago. He became an actor after a stint in the U.S. Marines, beginning with an uncredited performance in Dog Day Afternoon . He has appeared in film and television extensively since the 1980s...
as Otis, a prison buddy with whom Henry is living, and Tracy Arnold as Becky, Otis’ sister. The character of Henry is loosely based on real life serial killer Henry Lee Lucas
Henry Lee Lucas
Henry Lee Lucas was an American criminal, convicted of murder in 189 cases and once listed as America's most prolific serial killer; he later recanted his confessions, despite professing information only the assailant would know and flatly stating "I'm a liar" in a letter to researcher Brad Shellady...
.
The film was shot on 16mm in less than a month with a budget of only $110,000.
Plot
The film opens with a shot of a naked woman, lying dead in a field. We are then introduced to Henry (Michael RookerMichael Rooker
Michael Rooker is an American actor.-Early life:Rooker, who has eight brothers and sisters, was born in Jasper, Alabama and studied at the Goodman School of Drama in Chicago, where he moved with his mother and siblings at the age of thirteen, after his parents divorced.-Movie career:He made his...
), who is going about his business. Interspersed with this are shots of other murder victims. None of the actual murders are shown, but accompanying the shots of the bodies are the sounds of screaming and struggle. Henry is also shown following a woman home and watching her as she enters her house.
We are next introduced to Becky (Tracy Arnold), waiting in an airport. She is met by her brother Otis (Tom Towles
Tom Towles
Tom Towles is an American actor.Towles was born and raised in Chicago. He became an actor after a stint in the U.S. Marines, beginning with an uncredited performance in Dog Day Afternoon . He has appeared in film and television extensively since the 1980s...
). Having split from her husband, Leroy, she has come to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
to make some money for herself and her daughter, who is living with Becky and Otis’ mother for the time being. Otis brings Becky back to the apartment he shares with Henry, and from the start there is sexual tension between Henry and Becky, with Henry awkwardly excusing himself to go to work (he works as a part-time exterminator
Pest control
Pest control refers to the regulation or management of a species defined as a pest, usually because it is perceived to be detrimental to a person's health, the ecology or the economy.-History:...
). Later that day, Henry, dressed in his work clothes, knocks on the door of the woman he followed home after viewing her from a shopping mall
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
. Soon after, the woman is shown dead in her living room, with a power cable
Power cable
A power cable is an assembly of two or more electrical conductors, usually held together with an overall sheath. The assembly is used for transmission of electrical power...
wrapped around her throat and cigarette burns on her chest and neck. Otis is also shown at work, as a forecourt attendant in a gas station. While working, Otis is approached by a young man (Kurt Naebig
Kurt Naebig
Kurt Naebig is an American actor who has made various appearances on ER, Prison Break, and made movie roles in Road to Perdition, The Relic, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, and Howard Beach: Making a Case of a Murder. He also did voice acting in video games such as FreeSpace 2, Summoner, and...
) wishing to purchase marijuana from him. Otis sets up a deal in two days time. Back at the apartment, Otis tells Becky that he met Henry in prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
, where Henry was serving a sentence for killing his mother, but he warns her not to mention it. Later that night, as Henry and Becky play cards, Becky asks Henry about the murder of his mother. He tells her he stabbed his mother because she abused
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
and humiliated him as a child. However, he then says he shot her, before correcting himself when Becky comments on his mistake. Becky, for her part, reveals that her father molested
Sexual abuse
Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or molester...
her when she was a teenager.
The next day, Becky gets a job in a hair salon. That evening, Henry and Otis go out and solicit two prostitutes. Without provocation, Henry kills both women by breaking their necks. After dumping the bodies in an alleyway, Henry and Otis drive to a fast food
Fast food
Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a...
restaurant and discuss what happened. It becomes clear that Otis, although shocked, feels no remorse
Remorse
Remorse is an emotional expression of personal regret felt by a person after he or she has committed an act which they deem to be shameful, hurtful, or violent. Remorse is closely allied to guilt and self-directed resentment...
. He does, however, worry that the police might catch them. Henry assures him that everything will work out. Back at the apartment, Henry asks Otis if he has ever killed before, and Otis confesses he has, but only because he didn’t have any choice. Henry points out that if you've killed once, any time you kill again, it always feels the same, and he explains his philosophy that the world they live in is “them or us.” The following night, Otis loses his temper with the poor reception on the television, and kicks in the screen. He and Henry then go to a fence
Fence (criminal)
A fence is an individual who knowingly buys stolen property for later resale, sometimes in a legitimate market. The fence thus acts as a middleman between thieves and the eventual buyers of stolen goods who may or may not be aware that the goods are stolen. As a verb, the word describes the...
(Ray Atherton) who trades in stolen electrical goods. They discover they don't have enough money for anything other than a small black and white television, and are about to leave empty handed when the salesman begins to berate them for wasting his time. Enraged at the man's rudeness, Henry suddenly stabs the man with a soldering iron
Soldering iron
A soldering iron is a hand tool most commonly used in soldering. It supplies heat to melt the solder so that it can flow into the joint between two workpieces.A soldering iron is composed of a heated metal tip and an insulated handle...
and smashes a TV over his head, which Otis then plugs in, electrocuting him. They take several items, including a video camera
Video camera
A video camera is a camera used for electronic motion picture acquisition, initially developed by the television industry but now common in other applications as well. The earliest video cameras were those of John Logie Baird, based on the electromechanical Nipkow disk and used by the BBC in...
and a top-of-the-line television.
As arranged, Otis and the young man meet up to exchange drugs, meeting in Otis’ car. After lighting a joint
Joint (cannabis)
Joint is a slang term for a cigarette rolled using cannabis. Rolling papers are the most common rolling medium among industrialized countries, however brown paper, cigarettes with the tobacco removed, and newspaper are commonly used in developing countries. Modern papers are now made from a wide...
, Otis places his hand on the man’s thigh; the man punches him and flees the scene. Back at the apartment, an incensed Otis tells Henry he wants to kill the young man. Henry tells him that that would be a mistake as people have seen them together. Otis acknowledges this, but says he would still like to kill someone, so he and Henry go out looking for a random victim. They find one on Lower Wacker Drive when they pull up in a tunnel layby, opening the hood of their car and hailing passing cars for help. Several cars drive past, one stops, and a man (Rick Paul) gets out and asks them if they need any help. Otis shoots the man several times, after which Henry asks him, "Feel better?" Otis says he does, and they leave the scene. Henry begins to teach Otis more about being a serial killer. He explains that every murder should have a different modus operandi
Modus operandi
Modus operandi is a Latin phrase, approximately translated as "mode of operation". The term is used to describe someone's habits or manner of working, their method of operating or functioning...
so the police won’t connect the different murders to one killer. He also explains that it’s important never to stay in the same place for too long; that way, by the time police know they’re looking for a serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
, they can be long gone. Henry also tells Otis that he will have leave Chicago soon. Henry and Otis then slaughter an entire family, recording the whole incident on their newly acquired video camera, and then watch it at their apartment for entertainment.
Soon thereafter, Becky quits her job so she can return home to her daughter. Meanwhile, Otis smashes the camera by accident while filming pedestrians from the passenger seat window of Henry's car. He and Henry argue and Otis gets out of the car, going for a drink, while Henry returns to the apartment. Becky tells Henry her plans, and they decide to go out for a steak dinner. Later at home, she tries to seduce him, but he is unreceptive to her advances. A drunk Otis enters and asks if he's interrupting anything. Embarrassed, Henry leaves to buy cigarettes. He returns to find Otis strangling Becky after raping her. Henry kicks Otis off her and a fight ensues, which ends when Becky stabs Otis in the eye with the handle of a metal comb. Henry kills Otis and dismembers his body in the bathtub, telling Becky that calling the police would be a mistake, and that they need to deal with this situation themselves.
After packing, they dump the body in a river and leave town. Henry suggests that they go to his sister's ranch in San Bernardino, California, promising Becky they will send for her daughter when they arrive. In the car, Becky confesses that she loves Henry. "I guess I love you too," Henry replies, unemotionally. They book into a motel
Motel
A motor hotel, or motel for short, is a hotel designed for motorists, and usually has a parking area for motor vehicles...
for the night. The next morning, Henry leaves the motel alone, gets into the car and drives away. He stops at the side of the road to dump a suitcase in a ditch before driving off again. The camera moves in towards the case, revealing blood stains, during which we hear sounds of struggle and screaming; presumably Becky's dying moments.
Cast
- Michael RookerMichael RookerMichael Rooker is an American actor.-Early life:Rooker, who has eight brothers and sisters, was born in Jasper, Alabama and studied at the Goodman School of Drama in Chicago, where he moved with his mother and siblings at the age of thirteen, after his parents divorced.-Movie career:He made his...
as Henry - Tom TowlesTom TowlesTom Towles is an American actor.Towles was born and raised in Chicago. He became an actor after a stint in the U.S. Marines, beginning with an uncredited performance in Dog Day Afternoon . He has appeared in film and television extensively since the 1980s...
as Otis - Tracy Arnold as Becky
- Mary Demas as Woman in ditch / Woman with bottle in mouth / Prostitute #1
- Kristin Finger as Prostitute #2
- Anne Bartoletti as Waitress
- Ray Atherton as FenceFence (criminal)A fence is an individual who knowingly buys stolen property for later resale, sometimes in a legitimate market. The fence thus acts as a middleman between thieves and the eventual buyers of stolen goods who may or may not be aware that the goods are stolen. As a verb, the word describes the...
- Kurt NaebigKurt NaebigKurt Naebig is an American actor who has made various appearances on ER, Prison Break, and made movie roles in Road to Perdition, The Relic, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, and Howard Beach: Making a Case of a Murder. He also did voice acting in video games such as FreeSpace 2, Summoner, and...
as Marijuana boy
Origins
In 1984, executive producers Malik B. Ali and Waleed B. Ali of Maljack Productions hired a former delivery man for their video equipment rental business, John McNaughtonJohn McNaughton
John McNaughton is an American film and television director, originally from Chicago, Illinois.-Biography:His first feature film, made in 1986, was Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, a film McNaughton directed, co-wrote, and co-produced. Numerous complications plagued the controversial film,...
, to direct a documentary about gangsters in Chicago during the 1930s. Dealers in Death was a moderate success, and was well received critically, so the Ali brothers kept McNaughton on as director for a second documentary, this time about the Chicago wrestling scene in the 1950s. A collection of vintage wrestling tapes had been discovered, and the owner was willing to sell them to the Ali brothers for use in the documentary. However, after financing was in place, the owner doubled his price and the brothers pulled out of the deal. With the documentary cancelled, Waleed and McNaughton, decided that the money for the documentary could instead be used to make a feature film. The Ali brothers gave McNaughton $110,000 to make the film, with the provisos being that it was to be a horror film with plenty of blood.
McNaughton knew that with the budget he was to be working, there would be no way he could make a horror movie about aliens or monsters, and he found himself stumped for a subject matter until he saw an episode of 20/20 about the serial killer Henry Lee Lucas
Henry Lee Lucas
Henry Lee Lucas was an American criminal, convicted of murder in 189 cases and once listed as America's most prolific serial killer; he later recanted his confessions, despite professing information only the assailant would know and flatly stating "I'm a liar" in a letter to researcher Brad Shellady...
. It was then that McNaughton decided the subject for the film would be a flesh and blood human being.
In the meantime, the Ali brothers brought Steven A. Jones onto the project as a producer, and Jones hired Richard Fire to work as McNaughton's co-writer. With producer, writer and director in place and with the subject matter decided upon, the film went into production.
Truth from fiction
In prison, Henry Lee LucasHenry Lee Lucas
Henry Lee Lucas was an American criminal, convicted of murder in 189 cases and once listed as America's most prolific serial killer; he later recanted his confessions, despite professing information only the assailant would know and flatly stating "I'm a liar" in a letter to researcher Brad Shellady...
confessed to over 600 murders, claiming he committed roughly one murder a week between his release from prison in 1975 to his arrest in 1983. While the film was inspired by Lucas' confessions, the vast majority of his claims turned out to be false. A detailed investigation by the Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
Attorney General's office was able to rule out Lucas as a suspect in most of his confessions by comparing his known whereabouts to the dates of the murders he confessed to. Lucas was convicted of 11 murders, but law enforcement officers and other investigators have overwhelmingly rejected his claims of having killed hundreds of victims. The "Lucas Report" asserted that reliable physical evidence linked Lucas to three murders. Others familiar with the case have suggested that Lucas committed a low of two murders to — at the most — about 40 killings. The hundreds of confessions stemmed from the fact that Lucas was confessing to almost every unsolved murder brought before him, often with the collusion of police officers who wanted to clear their files of unsolved and "cold cases." Lucas reported that the false confessions ensured better conditions for him, as law enforcement officers would offer him incentives to confess to crimes he did not commit. Such confessions also increased his fame with the public. In the end, Lucas was convicted of 11 murders and sentenced to death
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
for the murder of an unidentified female victim known only as "Orange Socks". His death sentence was later commuted to life in prison by the then Governor of Texas
Governor of Texas
The governor of Texas is the head of the executive branch of Texas's government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Texas Legislature, and to convene the legislature...
George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
in 1998. Lucas died in prison of heart failure on March 13, 2001.
The character of Henry shares many biographical concurrences with Lucas himself. However, as the opening statement makes clear, the film is based more on Lucas' violent fantasies and confessions rather than the crimes he was convicted of. Similarities between real life and the film include:
- Henry Lee Lucas became acquainted with a drifter and male prostitute named Ottis TooleOttis TooleOttis Elwood Toole was an American serial killer, arsonist and cannibal. Toole was an accomplice of convicted serial killer Henry Lee Lucas...
, whom he had met in a soup kitchen in Jacksonville, FloridaJacksonville, FloridaJacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
. In the film, the character's name is "Otis" and the two met in prison. - Henry Lee Lucas became the lover of Toole's 12-year-old niece, Frieda Powell, who lived with Lucas and her uncle for many years. As in the film, Frieda Powell preferred to be addressed as "Becky" rather than her given name. However, in the film Becky is Otis' younger sister and is considerably older than the 12-year-old Frieda Powell.
- As in the film, Lucas' mother was a violent prostitute who often forced him to watch her while she had sex with clients. The mother sometimes would make him wear girl's clothing and dresses. Lucas' father lost both his legs after being struck by a freight train; the character relates a similar story.
Production
Henry was shot on 16mm in only 28 days for $110,000. During filmmaking, costs were cut by employing family and friends wherever possible, and participants utilized their own possessions. For example, the dead couple in the bar at the start of the film are the parents of director John McNaughton’s best friend, while the bar itself is where McNaughton once worked. Actress Mary Demas, a close friend of McNaughton’s, plays three different murder victims: the woman in the ditch in the opening shot, the woman with the bottle in her mouth in the toilet, and the first of the two murdered prostitutes. The four women Henry encounters outside the shopping mall were all played by close friends of McNaughton. The woman hitchhiking was a woman with whom McNaughton used to work. The clothes Michael Rooker wears throughout the film were his own (apart from the shoes and socks). The car driven by Henry belonged to one of the electricians on the film. Art directorArt director
The art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
Rick Paul plays the man shot in the layby; storyboard artist
Storyboard artist
Storyboard artist is a profession specialized in creating storyboards for advertising agencies and film productions.A storyboard artist is able to visualize any stories using quick sketches on paper at any moment...
Frank Coronado plays the smaller of the attacking bums; grip
Grip (job)
In the U.S. and Canada, grips are lighting and rigging technicians in the filmmaking and video production industries. They constitute their own department on a film set and are directed by a key grip. Grips have two main functions...
Brian Graham plays the husband in the family-massacre scene; and executive producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
Waleed B. Ali plays the clerk serving Henry towards the end of the film.
Rooker remained in character for the duration of the shoot, even off set, not socializing with any of the cast or crew during the month long shoot. According to the costume designer Patricia Hart, she and Rooker would travel to the set together each day, and she never knew from one minute to the next if she was talking to Michael or to Henry as sometimes he would speak about his childhood and background not as Michael Rooker but as Henry. Indeed, so in-character did Rooker remain, that during the shoot, his wife discovered she was pregnant, but she waited until filming had stopped before she told him.
Because the production had so little money, they could not afford extras
Extra (actor)
A background actor or extra is a performer in a film, television show, stage, musical, opera or ballet production, who appears in a nonspeaking, nonsinging or nondancing capacity, usually in the background...
, so all of the people in the exterior shots of the streets of Chicago are simply pedestrians going about their business. For example, in the scene where Becky emerges from the subway, two men can be seen standing at the top of the stairs having a heated discussion. These men were really having an argument, and when the film crew arrived to shoot, they refused to move, so John McNaughton decided to include them in the shot.
After filming was finished, there was so little money left that the film had to be edited on a rented 16 mm flatbed
Flatbed editor
A flatbed editor is a type of machine used to edit film for a motion picture.Picture and sound rolls load onto separate motorized wheels, called "plates." Each set of plates moves forward or backward separately, or locked together to maintain synchronization between picture and sound...
which was set up in editor Elena Maganini's living room.
Censorship
Although the film was made in 1986, it was not released until 1990 partly due to repeated disagreements with the MPAA over the movie's violent content, partly due to the executive producers not knowing how to market it, and partly their not thinking it was a very good film. The film was given an X rating by the MPAA but ultimately released in the United States without a rating. In Roger EbertRoger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
's review of the film, he writes that the MPAA told the filmmakers that no possible combination of edits would have qualified their movie for an R rating, indicating that the ratings issue did not simply involve graphic violence.
In the UK, the film has had a long and complex relationship with the BBFC. In 1990, distributor Electric Pictures submitted the film for classification with 38 seconds already removed (the pan across the hotel room and into the bathroom, revealing the semi-naked woman on the toilet with a broken bottle stuck in her mouth). Electric Pictures had performed this edit themselves without the approval of director John McNaughton because they feared it was such an extreme image so early in the film, it would turn the board against them. The film was classified 18 for theatrical release in April 1991, but only if 24 seconds were cut from the family massacre scene (primarily involving the shots where Otis gropes the mother’s breasts both prior to killing her and after she is dead). Total time cut from the film: 62 seconds.
In 1992, Electric Pictures again submitted the film to the BBFC for home video classification, again with the initial 38-second edit. In January 1993, the BBFC again classified the film 18, waiving the 24 seconds they had cut from the theatrical release. Instead however, they cut four seconds from the scene where the TV salesman is murdered, meaning a total of 42 seconds were supposed to be removed from the home video release. However, BBFC director James Ferman
James Ferman
James Alan Ferman was an American television and theatre director. He was the Secretary of the British Board of Film Classification from 1975 to 1999....
overruled his own team and demanded that the family massacre scene be trimmed down to almost nothing, removing 71 seconds of footage. Additionally, Ferman re-edited the scene so that the reaction shot of Henry and Otis watching TV now occurred midway through the scene rather than at the end. Total time cut from the film: 113 seconds.
In 2001, Universal Home Entertainment submitted a completely uncut version of the film for classification for home video release. The BBFC waived the four seconds cut from the murder of the TV salesman, and 61 of the 71 seconds from the family massacre scene (they refused to reinstate the 10 seconds of the scene where Otis molests the mother after she is dead). Additionally, they partly approved the 38 second shot of the dead woman on the toilet, but they demanded that the last 17 seconds of the shot be removed. Based upon this, Universal decided to remove the shot entirely. Total time cut from the film: 48 seconds.
In 2003, Optimum Releasing
Optimum Releasing
StudioCanal UK is a film distributor company working in the UK and Ireland. The company releases many films, including foreign language films, anime releases such as Studio Ghibli's films and independent British, Irish and American films in the UK and sometimes Ireland.Optimum was acquired by...
again submitted a fully uncut version of the film for classification for home video release. In February 2003, the BBFC passed the film completely uncut, and in March 2003, the uncut version of the film was officially released in the UK for the first time.
In New Zealand the film was originally banned outright by the Film Censor's Office in 1992. A censored version was subsequently released on home video with cuts to the "family massacre" sequence. In 2010 a DVD release was approved, apparently without cuts.
Response
Henry turned a profit, making over $600,000 during its initial 1989 theatrical run. The film has a 'Fresh' certification from Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
with an approval rating of 88% based on 42 reviews. Rooker's performance received generally high marks.
Critics who liked the film tended to focus on the sense of newness it brought to the saturated horror genre. Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
, for example, called Henry "a very good film," a "low-budget tour de force," and wrote that the film attempts to deal "honestly with its subject matter, instead of trying to sugar-coat violence as most 'slasher' films
Slasher film
A slasher film is a type of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife or axe...
do." Elliott Stein
Elliott Stein
Journalist, historian, the American born Elliott Stein was in the years 60-70, in Paris, the fim critic for the Financial Times and for Village Voice. . In the 50s he managed a literary review in Paris: "Janus"...
of The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
called it "the best film of the year...recalls the best work of Cassavetes
John Cassavetes
John Nicholas Cassavetes was an American actor, screenwriter and filmmaker. He acted in many Hollywood films, notably Rosemary's Baby and The Dirty Dozen...
." Siskel & Ebert called it "a powerful and important film, brilliantly acted and directed." Dave Kehr
Dave Kehr
Dave Kehr is an American film critic. A critic at the Chicago Reader and the Chicago Tribune for many years, he writes a weekly column for The New York Times on DVD releases, in addition to contributing occasional pieces on individual films or filmmakers.-Early life and education:Dave Kehr did...
of the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
said it was "one of the ten best films of the year...combines Fritz Lang
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang was an Austrian-American filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional film producer and actor. One of the best known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute...
's sense of predetermination with the freshness of John Cassavetes."
DVD release
In the UK, the film was first released in its uncut form in 2003 by Optimum Releasing. The DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
contained a commentary from director John McNaughton
John McNaughton
John McNaughton is an American film and television director, originally from Chicago, Illinois.-Biography:His first feature film, made in 1986, was Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, a film McNaughton directed, co-wrote, and co-produced. Numerous complications plagued the controversial film,...
(recorded in 1999), a censorship timeline, comparisons of the scenes edited by the BBFC with their original uncut status, two interviews with McNaughton (one from 1999, one from 2003), a stills gallery and a biography of Henry Lee Lucas (text).
In the US, in 2005 a special 20th Anniversary Edition two-disc DVD was released by Dark Sky Films. This DVD included a newly recorded commentary from McNaughton, a 50-minute making-of documentary, a 23-minute documentary about Henry Lee Lucas, 21 minutes of deleted scene
Deleted scene
In Entertainment, especially the film and television industry, Deleted scenes are parts of a film removed or censored from or replaced by another scene in the final "cut", or version, of a film...
s with commentary from McNaughton, a stills gallery, and the original storyboards. This DVD also featured a reversible cover featuring the banned original poster art by Joe Coleman.
Sequel
A sequelSequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Part 2, was released in 1996. The film was directed by Chuck Parrello and starred Neil Giuntoli
Neil Giuntoli
Neil Giuntoli is an American actor active since 1987, whose most famous role was in Child's Play . Giuntoli is also the author and lead actor of the play Hizzoner, a fictional account of former Chicago mayor Richard Daley...
as Henry with Kate Walsh, Penelope Milford
Penelope Milford
Penelope Milford is an American film, stage, and television actress.An alumnus of the Chicago/New York theatrical scene , American actress Penelope Milford struck paydirt with her first film Coming Home...
, Carri Levinson, and Daniel Allar
Daniel Allar
Daniel E. Allar was an American actor, perhaps best known for his role as prison inmate Balz "Avocado" Johnson on the American television series Prison Break....
in supporting roles.
External links
- Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer at HouseofHorrors.com
- Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer at RogerEbert.com