Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) a retrospective
“When are you going to dance for us? When the Pope pees in his hat!”
1986 was a strange and bizarre year and perhaps, in retrospect, just as strangely bizarre as all the rest. I was in the first flush of early teenage love and achieving boyhood ambitions galore as a football World Cup storm was brewing in faraway Mexico. Elsewhere in the wider world and before my own personal world collapsed around me in a November morning I’ll never be able to forget, the nuclear reactors of Chernobyl exploded, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded too and live on televisions around a world that also welcomed actor Jamie Bell, singer songwriter and actress Lady Gaga and actor Robert Pattinson into the land of the living and the land of Tinseltown make believe. Talking of which, 1986 also saw Tom Cruise feeling the need for speed in Top Gun when not hustling Paul Newman in The Color of Money, Aliens premiered its shoot-em-up sequel to its far superior predecessor and whilst Oliver Stone provided the muck and bullets of Platoon and Highlander stressed “there can only be one”, there was rather a dearth in debut films for my retrospective selection here and after discounting Crocodile Dundee (Peter Fairman), The Hitcher (Robert Harmon) and Psycho III (Anthony Perkins) as I’ve watched them all far too many times previously, I instead plumped for Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer and quickly wished I hadn’t!
I was intrigued more than anything else by the rather pleasing fact that not only was this film the debut feature of director John McNaughton, but also that of his headliner and future Guardian of the Galaxy Michael Rooker and of his co-star Tracy Arnold and, continuing a pleasing theme, this was only the second big screen feature for the third in our trio of Chicago desperation, Tom Towles. For Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is a true “three-hander” in every respect as every other character are mere flotsam and jetsam left to rot in the dual killers destructive wake. Loosely based on real life serial killers Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole (although both would vehemently recant and deny the voluminous crimes for which they were convicted — See the 2019 documentary The Confession Killer for more on the bizarre circumstances surrounding Henry Lee Lucas alone) this added a further layer of intrigue for my first time, late night viewing, and yet between a bloody and brutal beginning to the film and of a stalker marking out his next innocent victim, and a crushing ending that was signposted yet you still hoped wouldn’t materialise, lies a fairly empty film that I dare say would be made into a serial killing blockbuster today.
Three of the film’s bloodiest and hard to stomach scenes were cut and censored pre-release, with further seconds cut from each scene on worldwide distribution and whilst spoilers won’t allow for elaboration, I can see why. In essence, you have two dead to the world psychopaths and one whose mantra is “got to keep moving” egging on the other on to sate his personal desires for random, mindless death and destruction and in the middle, an innocent rose between two damaged and despicably evil thorns.
In the almost four decades since release, director John McNaughton has helmed eight further big screen releases with his latest The Harvest in 2013 coming 15 years after perhaps his most notable film Wild Things starring Kevin Bacon and Matt Dillon. Whilst the rose in our story here Tracy Arnold has only 6 further acting credits to her name since 1986, Tom Towles racked up a further 24 before ending his film career with the 2008 horror Blood on the Highway and Michael Rooker continues to act to this very day. From Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer to a run of stellar performances in late 1980’s and early 1990’s blockbusters such as Mississippi Burning, Sea of Love, Days of Thunder, JFK, Cliffhanger and Tombstone through to the much loved “Yondu” in the Guardians of the Galaxy.
All hail Michael Rooker, if not the debut film that started his Hollywood career!
Thanks for reading. I hope this message in a bottle in The Matrix finds you well, prospering, and the right way up in an upside down world.
Whilst you’re here I may as well brag about the release of my two recently self-published books. Both are free to read if you subscribe to Amazon Kindle “Unlimited” or reasonably priced in both paperback and hardback. Go on, treat yourself or a loved one and help out an Indie Author! Buy the books if you’re financially able to. They also look far, far better in print!
We HAVE to keep the spirit of reading books alive and well.
Thanks.
"still life, with gooseberry" - link to Amazon
"Rasputin and Raspberry Jam" - link to Amazon
Thank you for your review. always wanted to see it but now glad I haven’t!