Saturday, April 11, 2009

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)





Director: John McNaughton
Writers: Richard Fire, John McNaughton
Actors: Michael Rooker, Tom Towles, Tracy Arnold

Rating: 3 Black Sheep

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is a dark, fictional portrayal based on the confessions of real-life Henry Lee Lucas, a convicted murderer who claimed to have taken the lives of hundreds of victims. His true number of crimes has since come under much contention due to many factors including the inconsistency of his claims, faulty police work, and Lee's frequent recanting of details. Still, he remains one of the more infamous killers of modern time, no small thanks to this film.

Director John McNaughton delivers a truly creepy and disturbed inside look at Henry (Michael Rooker), a man that we know has served time supposedly for killing his mother, and is sharing an apartment with Otis (Tom Towles), a small-time ex-con who was in prison with Henry. The film starts with Otis' sister Becky (Tracy Arnold) coming to live with the two men after she has apparently escaped a domestic violence situation. Henry and Becky "bond" over their shared abused pasts and Becky spends the majority of the film trying to seduce Henry much to his discomfort and Otis' inappropriate delight. Henry seems to use murder as a way to "blow off steam", to stave off the anxiety acting normal brings him, and he soon draws Otis into his world. Otis doesn't have the control that Henry does and acts on impulse, something that brings him trouble.

What I find interesting about this film is the lack of a law and order presence. Typically in these kind of movies, we see the depraved acts and simultaneously, there is a parallel story of the detective attempting to solve the case. The closest we come to law of any kind is Otis paying his monthly visit to his parole officer, a character we see as clueless because we know what is really going on. The film focuses solely on these three characters and their relationships with each other. We aren't drawn to feel sorry for them but at the same time we are given clues as to how they came to be in the place they are. We see how their deep level of disfunction has made it impossible for them to draw any real meaning from their lives, as much as they try to connect with each other. McNaughton has a real talent for painting a gritty, unglamorous reality. There's nothing fun about this movie but it draws you in and forces you to look at a dark side of society you don't want to believe exists in real life.

No comments:

Post a Comment