| Cover Art |
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| Credits |
Director: John McNaughton
Starring: Michael Rooker,
Tom Towles, Tracy Arnold
Screenplay: John McNaughton, Richard Fire
Music: Robert McNaughton
Tagline: He's
not Freddy. He's not Jason. He's real
Country: USA |
As the tag line on the cover tells you: 'He's
not Freddy. He's not Jason. He's real.'
Henry could be the chap walking on the
other side of the road from you. He could be your
neighbour or a work colleague. This guy isn't
a rampaging zombie or haunter of nightmares, he's
an everyday Joe with an especially anti-social
hobby, and he could well be in your neighbourhood
- right now...
Henry is an ex-con who served time for savagely
slaughtering his abusive mother. He shares a run-down
Chicago apartment with a fellow ex-con, Ottis,
and his sister Becky. Henry was released from
jail a few months before Ottis and filled his
spare time by killing people. No real motive for
this, it's just what he does - prowling
the city, selecting his victims at random and
killing without remorse. Ottis soon falls under
Henry's spell and begins to assist Henry
in his acts of destruction. Becky, oblivious to
the pair's criminal activities, falls in
love with Henry. As soon as these three characters
are thrown together you know that it's all
going to end badly and, sure enough, the violence
comes closer to home before the film reaches an
especially downbeat finale.
Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer is an incredibly bleak film led by two characters
who simply have no hope of anything approaching
a normal and productive life. Henry, played by
gravel voiced newcomer Michael Rooker (JFK, Cliffhanger, Days Of
Thunder), is so far over the edge that
he doesn't even remember the method of most
of his kills. When questioned by Becky about the
murder of his mother, he can't even remember
how he disposed of her. Shot? Stabbed? It's
unimportant and/or irrelevant to Henry. He does
give an occasional hint of humanity though when
protecting Becky from her brother's unwanted
advances, ('No Ottis, she's your sister').
Ottis, played by Tom Towles (House
Of 1000 Corpses, Mad Dog and
Glory), on the other hand, is a piece
of human trash through and through. Drug dealer,
sex offender and, thanks to Henry's encouragement
and coaching, he's now also added the title
of murderer to his CV. Becky (Tracy Arnold) is
the only likeable character in the whole movie;
a pretty young woman who is separated from her
husband and child, she is at least attempting
to do something with her life. Unfortunately for
her, she has Ottis for a brother and Henry for
a roommate. Poor girl.
Photographed around the grimy back streets of
Chicago (McNaughton's neighbourhood) during
1985 and 1986 (but not released until 1989) and
wrapped up in a jagged, foreboding music score, Henry… is grim stuff indeed,
with some stomach-churning violence contained
in the second half and a downbeat atmosphere that
is present in every single frame of the movie.
Interestingly, McNaughton once stated that repeat
viewings of Henry… would
lead you to view it as a black comedy. I can't
say I completely agree with him, (Henry… is a horror movie, make no mistake about that),
but closer examination does reveal a streak of
black humour running through the movie with most
of the humour, bizarrely enough, coming from Ottis
(Towles was trained as a comedy actor.)
One especially amusing scene involving a broken
video camera reminded me of a similar scene in Pulp Fiction, (you'll spot
the similarity easily enough.)
Performances are excellent all-round, both in
front of and behind the camera. The three leads
are all outstanding in their roles - Rooker is
superb as Henry - emotionless and chilling. Towles
plays the human scum that is Ottis perfectly and
Arnold effectively gets the viewers sympathy as
the sweet and likeable Becky. McNaughton's
direction is assured, especially considering the
film's low budget (100,000 USD), with the
early scenes of Henry's handiwork being
a good example, (the aftermath of the murder is
shown while the sounds of the act (screams etc.)
play on the soundtrack - hugely effective.) Another
example would be the infamous 'videotape'
scene which I won't spoil for those who
haven't seen the film, but it's a
powerful and clever piece of cinema and, possibly
the most important scene in the movie. The eerie
music score is simply the 'icing on the
cake.'
McNaughton (who would later land the choice gig
of directing Denise Richards' breasts in
1998's superb Wild Things)
mentions that the people who financed this movie
were initially disappointed with the film he gave
to them. They were expecting a straightforward
slasher/exploitation picture, (this was the mid-eighties
remember, the slasher heyday), but instead got
something much better but less commercial.
No happy ending and cheap shocks here, I'm
glad to say. In fact, Henry… could almost be considered an 'anti-slasher'
film, (for want of a better phrase), as all the
clichés of that particular genre are noticeable
only by their absence. That is why, in my opinion
at least, this film so successfully achieves its
aims of being (as one critic called it) 'a
real horror film'. When the film is over
and the disc/tape is ejected from the player,
Jason, Freddy, Pinhead or pretty much any other
splatter movie killer you care to mention disappear
back into the imagination. Henry doesn't.
He's (unfortunately) still out there… |
| You want bonus goodies? Well, this disc has
plenty to offer...
Firstly we have three bonus items featuring director
John McNaughton - 'An Interview with John
McNaughton', 'John McNaughton in Conversation
with Nigel Floyd' and a commentary track
from the director. All three cover the director's
memories concerning the creation of this film,
his aims when making it, his influences and his
opinions on the film some 14 years after its completion.
The commentary was recorded four years ago and,
I would assume, is the same track that is featured
on other DVD releases of this film. McNaughton
is an interesting and intelligent speaker who
never pauses for breath during the track and reels
off numerous snippets of information. Some material
is repeated throughout these extras but, besides
that, these are three fascinating and very informative
features.
Following the above, we have a text essay on
the life and crimes of one Henry Lee Lucas, the
inspiration for this movie (although the start
of the film does carry a disclaimer of sorts.)
A worthwhile addition.
Next up (and one of the most interesting extras
I have seen in a long while) is a 14 minute feature
concerning the censorship problems this film encountered,
(it has taken 12 years to be granted an uncut
release in Britain and is still heavily cut in
Australia.) Three of the scenes which proved troublesome
are presented with a voice over from the director,
giving us a view on censorship from the filmmaker's
side of things and how the intention of these
scenes was ruined by the censor and/or studio
cuts, (most famously during the 'videotape'
scene.)
The films theatrical trailer is also included,
as is a (very) short stills gallery, mostly consisting
of on-set photographs.
To round off the bonus materials, some trailers
for other films released by the distributor of
this disc are also present, plus the menu screens
are animated and scored. The cover art is also
pretty neat and therefore worth a mention, as
is the cute little box the disc is housed in.
(The back of the case does list the usual 'cast
and crew info' as an extra feature, but
I'll be damned if I can find 'em on
the disc.) |
