Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer Movie Review

McNaughton's compelling study of a blithe sociopath makes the flesh crawl and the mind reel. Turning up at the Chicago apartment shared by old prison buddy Otis and his timid sister Becky, Henry (Rooker) slowly draws Otis into his dark, obsessive world of casual murder. The violence is at first oblique, with Henry's past murders presented as a series of grotesque tableaux accompanied by the (recorded?) sounds of the victims death struggles. Later, the violence becomes more graphic, but what makes it so disturbing, and sometimes almost unwatchable, is the cool matter-of-fact tone McNaughton sustains throughout. Whether presenting a halting conversation or bloody carnage, he observes events with the unblinking eye of a surveillance camera. It is this air of detachment that makes the blood run cold. Rooker achieves frightening intensity as an ice-killer for whom murder and taking a beer out of the fridge are much the same thing. The remote possibility of moral redemption seems to be held out by Henry's tentative relationship with Becky, but even that faint glimmer of hope is extinguished by a devastatingly downbeat ending. A film of ferocious, haunting power.

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer Movie Trailer

He also explains that it’s important never to stay in the same place for too long; that way, by the time police know they’re looking for a serial killer, they can be long gone. Henry also tells Otis that he will have to leave Chicago soon, feeling the police will eventually be able to track him down. Henry and Otis then slaughter an entire family, recording the whole incident on their newly acquired video camera, and then watch it at their apartment for entertainment.
Soon thereafter, Becky quits her job so she can return home to her daughter. Meanwhile, Otis and Henry get into an argument after their camera gets destroyed while driving. Otis gets out of the car and goes for a drink, while Henry returns to the apartment. Becky tells Henry her plans, and they decide to go out for a steak dinner. Later at home, she tries to seduce him, but he is unreceptive to her advances. A drunk Otis enters and asks if he's interrupting anything. Embarrassed, Henry leaves to buy cigarettes.

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer Movie Wiki

 He returns to find Otis strangling Becky after raping her. Henry kicks Otis off her and a fight ensues. Otis gets the upper hand and smashes a beer bottle onto Henry's face. Otis is about to kill Henry when Becky stabs Otis in the eye with the handle of a metal comb. Henry stabs Otis to death and dismembers his body in the bathtub, telling Becky that calling the police would be a mistake, and that they need to deal with the situation themselves.
After packing, they dump Otis' body parts in a river and leave town. Henry suggests that they go to his sister's ranch in San Bernardino, California, promising Becky they will send for her daughter when they arrive. In the car, Becky confesses that she loves Henry. "I guess I love you too," Henry replies, unemotionally. They book into a motel for the night. The next morning, Henry leaves the motel alone, gets into the car and drives away. He stops at the side of the road to dump a suitcase in a ditch before driving off again. Blood stains are shown on the suitcase as the camera zooms in, implying that Becky was killed by Henry and that her body parts were placed into the suitcase.

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer Movie Poster

The next day, Becky gets a job in a hair salon. That evening, Henry kills two prostitutes with Otis witnessing. It becomes clear that Otis, although shocked, feels no remorse. He does, however, worry that the police might catch them. Henry assures him that everything will work out. Back at the apartment, Henry points out that if you've killed once, any time you kill again, it always feels the same, and he explains his philosophy that the world they live in it is “them or us.”
Henry and Otis go on a series of killings across Chicago together, killing a fence (Ray Atherton) and stealing a video camera and a top-of-the-line television in the process. The duo later on kill a random victim in Lower Wacker Drive, where Otis shoots a man who is tricked into pulling over. Henry begins to teach Otis more about being a serial killer.