Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) 8/10

Of all the films I watched during my formative years Henry stands out as the darkest and most disturbing. I picked it up some time in my early teens out of curiosity but at the time couldn't stomach the realistic carnage. I decided to re-visit the film to see if it really was as bad as I remembered.

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is a film with quite a reputation. It's about a killer that kills for no reason, with no motive, with no profile. He's just a killer through and through. No one is chasing him. No detective hot on his trail. Nope, he just kills and kills. More the that he's not a complete monster. He does have some sense of moral decency and a code of honor as well. For a guy that habitually kills men but women especially, he does have a sense of chivalry. An indiscriminate killer is repulsive enough without him also having admirable attributes. Henry is the main character which is also repugnant for most viewers. Henry lives with Otis a man he met in jail. Henry begins to share with Otis his knowledge of killing, how to do it, and how to not get caught. The film reads as a how to in mass murder. We are not shown the error of his ways, nor do we ever really discover a definitive reason as to why he kills. We learn of a possibly dysfunctional past but even that might be smoke and mirrors for a man with so many kills and stories he may not even know the truth.

So, to put it plainly the film is disturbing. The film is repulsive. The film is...good. The film is carefully written and directed to get the maximum amount of information and impact in the shortest time possible. The film only runs at 82 minutes which by the end feels like a perfect run time. I certainly didn't want any more and nothing could be removed without taking away something vital to the development or exposition of the characters.

And to put bluntly, Henry is a sick fuck. Interestingly Otis is too of course but in a different way. He's a sexual monster. Willing to have sex with anyone, male or female, living, or dead, blood relative or not. He's a killer just like Henry but gets a sexual thrill from it that Henry does not. Henry kills because he's drawn to kill, Otis goes with Henry to kill for fun. Henry has no remorse for his deeds and feels justified in his actions, Otis has no remorse as well but revels in the kill. These distinctions are shown throughout the film asking the audience, not if these guys are monsters, but who is the bigger monster.

The film was not made for exploitative abhorrence nor was it made to simply shock the audience. The film was made so that we could see evil and eviler. Just because we are not as bad as those we spend time with, it does not mean we are not bad ourselves. The film was meant for us to analyze our own role in evil doings and how we compare them to our companions. Because Henry is a serial killer, but Otis is a whole different kind of killer. Which is worse? Who's to say. So, who's worse you, or your friends? Are you just as evil as they but perhaps different?

Here is a imperfect film that deserves a careful eye and contemplative mind to truly understand the intent. Without that the viewer may just write it off as a sensational repulsive film meant for corrupted minds. What this is is a warning to all of us to be mindful of the evil we may or may not create.

Gore - medium to high
Nudity - some
Overall - 8/10