Henry - Portrait Of A Serial Killer (DVD)

Dark. Depressing. Dour. Dirty. When it comes to describing Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, the letter D pretty much has it covered. Divisive is another word as, in the eyes of some people, is Dull. In some ways, Henry is a poor man's American Psycho; and I don't mean that in a negative way. Whereas American Psycho was a glossy, well-financed glimpse into the mind of a yuppie turned psycho, mixing black humour, satire and violence, Henry is a low budget look into the mind of working class psycho. It's this crucial difference which makes Henry the more powerful film. Whereas American Psycho made its main character and his lifestyle rather ...  Read the complete review

This is a review of the Uncut edition DVD released by Optimum Entertainment. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is a pretty grim little film. It was made in 1986 in Chicago by first-time director John McNaughton, but didn’t get released for a few years after that. It was only available in a cut version in this country until a few years ago – the dear old BBFC decided that it was just too morally degenerate for us to see all of it. It’s (very loosely) based on a real-life murderer, Henry Lee Lucas, who at one point had confessed to hundreds of sex crimes and murders (although he later retracted most of the confessions). Henry works as a roach ...  Read the complete review