Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer - Will's Review

I am fascinated by serial killers. 

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to be one, or meet one, and in an ideal world they wouldn't exist; but as they do exist, I may as well admit that I find them fascinating, and read about them... So I do.

Henry Lee Lucas isn't as well represented in serial killer literature and documentaries as most of his contemporaries, mostly because little about his crimes is actually known; most of his confessions were debunked, and his death sentence was commuted to a life sentence when it turned out he was probably in the wrong state to have committed the murder he was sentenced for (scumbag or not, a life sentence for a crime you were hundreds of miles away from seems a bit much to me).

What we do know about Lucas, is that he had a male lover, Ottis, whom he met at a soup kitchen, and that he had an affair with Ottis' 12 year old daughter, Becky.

It tells us all we need to know about the accuracy of this movie that Ottis is present as a flatmate that he knew from prison, and Becky is here as Ottis' adult sister. This movie isn't so much 'based on a true story' as 'based on a trio of actual first names'. But that's fine; what we are left with is a gritty, almost exploitative, piece about a realistic, though fictional, serial killer.

Or, more accurately, pair of serial killers; as is believed to be the case in real life, Ottis joins Henry on part of his rampage.

Whereas the real Ottis was probably a serial killer in his own right, here it is Henry who desensitises him to murder, and teaches him the 'art' of serial killing; specifically, Henry is a fan of the 'no MO' MO - shoot one victim, strangle the next, dismember one, dump one in an alley whole - no pattern makes you harder to catch!

One of the movies most effective scenes is also the one that gave me greatest pause from a story point of view; having established that Henry is all about not being caught and leaving a trail (he dissuades Ottis from killing a college kid he sells drugs to, on the grounds that killing so robe you have a connection to is a big no-no) the pair use a camcorder to film a home-invasion they stage. While the invasion is disturbing and effective, I don't buy that someone so familiar with the serial killer no-noes would create such a piece of evidence.

Ottis at one point tries to forcibly kiss his sister (squick!) for "a joke"; Henry does not take kindly to this, forcing Ottis to apologise, it's one of two time that Henry shows any kind of morals as you and I might understand them (the other relates to a postmortem sexual assault). Theses moments work to set up a line that even he will not cross, but do nothing to redeem him as a human being, as such I found them interesting; usually these things are set up as some kind of redemption of a killer turned hero-killer.... This is SO not that kind of movie. 

From the technical side, this movie was made for around $100,000 in 10 days, leaving neither the time nor budget for effects and reshoots; The director has used this entirely to his advantage, bringing us a low-key movie which adds to the realism. Performances are solid, but a special mention must go to  Michael Rooker (The Walking Dead's Merl) who is almost too believable in the title role.

With enough differences between the this movie and the truth of the case, it would be wrong to claim this movie is, in any meaningful sense, a true story; but it is at least realistic. As such, it's probably one of the best realistic serial killer movies I've seen ('true' or otherwise), but it's not for everyone; it's gritty, nasty, and uncomfortable, there are no punch-the-air moments, or 'creative' kills, no twisted justice, or victims that 'had it coming' (well, one, but even that isn't framed as a cathartic moment for the viewer), it truly is a great movie... Not that's not to say it's an enjoyable one.

Recommended, but proceed with caution if you're not hardened to this kind of thing.

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer - Lisa's Review

A familiar title this week.  I vaguely remember watching a bit of this one years ago.  I didn't quite remember what happened though, but that's nothing unusual with my memory.  I had convinced myself that it was a really good movie because there had to be some reason that the title stuck in my head.  Having watched it again, I suddenly remember both why the title stuck in my head and why I didn't remember much about it.  Quite simply I didn't get to the end of it first time and struggled in a big way this time.

So, the premise?  We follow Henry (Michael Rooker) and a prison buddy friend of his Otis (Tom Towles) and their wierd, somewhat uncomfortable friendship.  Another major player is Otis's sister Becky (Tracy Arnold) who seems to have a strange fascination with Henry, even after being let into the secret that Henry killed his mother.

We follow Henry & Otis as they travel down the slippery slope of depravity and murder.  They kill purely for the kicks, just because they feel like it.  There is nothing to gain from it.  They will kill anyone, man or woman.  As Henry advises, they don't want to go for the same type of person every time and provide the police with a MO.   As the movie progresses Becky grows closer to Henry, maybe because she came from such a depraved home.  She may be transfixed by Henry, but she has a naivety about her and sadly she just seems to be one of those girls who gets shit upon over and over in life.  Her story was very moving and sad to watch.


Now to why I'm not a fan.  Maybe this is unfair... it probably is, but I found watching this movie SO uncomfortable, I didn't want to inflict my eyeballs with it any more.  I literally had to FORCE myself to sit through the last half of the movie.  Maybe that's a testament as to how good the movie is or how well it did its job, but the sheer nastiness of some of the scenes is just hard to stomach for me.  It is filmed with such a dreariness and grittiness it adds to the whole utter hopelessness I felt watching it.  The movie is just so..... grey and depressing.  Henry & Otis give absolutely no thought as to what they are doing, what they are putting people through, that it made my stomach turn.

There is one particular scene which involved a family which made me deeply angry and disgusted.  I won't go into detail.  If I were actually to try to explain it to you, no words could convey the scene for me, as it sounds quite lame when written down, but for me it was too much.   They say everyone has their limits and this scene is quite close to it for me.  I don't tend to feel revulsion and disgust when watching gore for some odd reason... maybe I can distance myself from it as it's usually so removed from reality.  This movie though is very close to the truth.

After having watched the movie, the simple thought that people exist who are like Henry or Otis, fills me with revulsion and anger.  They simply don't deserve to draw breath.  There are few movies with a similar premise that manage to convey the depths to which some people will stoop in the pursuit of 'feeling something' or 'scratching an itch'.  Maybe I should be singing this movies praises for making me feel this way, but I feel like a need a wash after having watched it, so I simply can't.

If you want to watch a truely nasty, horrible movie, then this is for you.  Sadly it most definately wasn't for me.

Week 137 - Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer

Reviews / Author Comments due: 04/01/2014

Position on TimeOut list: 85

More Info: Wikipedia, IMDB

DVD: Link

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