Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)
82%RT Audience Score: 71%
Awards & Nominations: 9 wins & 8 nominations
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is an effective, chilling profile of a killer that is sure to shock and disturb
If you’re looking for a movie that will make you want to sleep with the lights on, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is the one for you. This film is not for the faint of heart, but if you can handle it, you’ll be rewarded with a truly chilling experience. The slow zoom shots of the victims are haunting, and the music only adds to the eerie atmosphere. It’s not your typical slasher flick, but that’s what makes it so unique. Just don’t watch it alone.
Production Company(ies)
Distributor
NA
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Chicago, Illinois, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Unrated
Year of Release
1990
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Stereo
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Aspect ratio:1.33 : 1 (original & negative ratio)
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Runtime:NA
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Streaming): Jul 1, 2014
Genre(s)
Crime/Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Michael Rooker, Tracy Arnold, Tom Towles, Anne Bartoletti, Mary Demas, Elizabeth Kaden, Lisa Dedmond, Steven A Jones, John McNaughton, directed by John McNaughton, written by Richard Fire, John McNaughton, crime, drama, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Bill Cosford, Richard Corliss, John Hartl, Jay Boyar, Desmond Ryan, Terrence Rafferty, Rob Aldam, C.H Newell, Rob Gonsalves, Tim Brayton, Henry Lee Lucas, serial killer, violence, horror, chilling, disturbing, effective, shocking, depravity, bond, Otis’ sister, Becky, exterminator, drug dealer, willing accomplice, indiscriminate, violent murders, true-life story, coroner, mind of a murderer, cynical, manipulative, screen carnage, violent media, raw realism, existential chill, grindhouse, hurtful, creepy, city-after-dark overtone, artistry, grind house titillations
Worldwide gross: $609,939
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $1,406,147
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,512
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 153,342
US/Canada gross: NA
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend:
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $111,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $255,898
Production budget ranking: 2,130
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $137,801
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $1,012,447
ROI to date (est.): 257%
ROI ranking: 521
Tracy Arnold – Becky
Tom Towles – Otis
Anne Bartoletti – Waitress
Mary Demas – Dead Woman/Dead Prostitute
Elizabeth Kaden – Dead Couple/Wife
Director(s)
John McNaughton
Writer(s)
Richard Fire, John McNaughton
Producer(s)
Lisa Dedmond, Steven A. Jones, John McNaughton
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
9 wins & 8 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (63) | Top Critics (20) | Fresh (56) | Rotten (7)
Make no mistake: Henry will give you the creeps.
August 18, 2021 | Rating: 3/4
Bill Cosford
Miami Herald
TOP CRITIC
[Director John McNaughton] shows few of Henry’s dozen or so crimes. Instead he reveals the victims, at the scenes of their deaths, in slow zoom shots accompanied by elegiac music. He is a coroner with a touch of the poet.
April 21, 2020
Richard Corliss
TIME Magazine
TOP CRITIC
In a world in which eight nearly identical Friday the 13th movies offer the adventures of Jason the ax-murderer as entertainment for teen-agers, maybe we do need this sobering alternative.
September 16, 2014 | Rating: 3.5/4
John Hartl
Seattle Times
TOP CRITIC
The film is an honest and disturbing attempt to come to grips with the sort of modern horror that we must — more urgently every day — try to understand.
August 12, 2013 | Rating: 3/5
Jay Boyar
Orlando Sentinel
TOP CRITIC
The difference between John McNaughton’s incredibly chilling film and the usual serving of screen carnage is the difference between the mind of a murderer and the cynical and manipulative depiction of mindless murder.
August 12, 2013 | Rating: 4/4
Desmond Ryan
Philadelphia Inquirer
TOP CRITIC
Sure, it’s compelling; the nature of the material guarantees that. But it doesn’t seem to be telling us much more than that the world is a scary place and murder is ugly. We knew those things. This is tabloid chic.
August 12, 2013
Terrence Rafferty
New Yorker
TOP CRITIC
A relentlessly creepy study in evil.
April 15, 2022
Rob Aldam
Backseat Mafia
Combining raw realism and commentary on violent media, McNaughton closes the gap between fictional slasher horror.
May 7, 2019
C.H. Newell
Scriptophobic
A disturbing, realistic film loosely based on Henry Lee Lucas that also questions our relationship to violence in media. One of the best horrors of the 1980s.
May 5, 2019 | Rating: 4.5/5
C.H. Newell
Father Son Holy Gore
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer has a creepy, city-after-dark overtone, an existential chill. It carries a true grindhouse whiff while staking its claim as art.
May 17, 2017 | Rating: 5/5
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com
It is unspeakably unpleasant, and it is almost perfect.
December 5, 2016 | Rating: 10/10
Tim Brayton
Antagony & Ecstasy
The director’s artistry overshadows his grind house titillations, though they’re still to be found aplenty…not just grim and gross or even disturbing; it’s hurtful.
November 9, 2016
Henry Stewart
Brooklyn Magazine…
Plot
Loosely based on serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, the film follows Henry and his roommate Otis who Henry introduces to murdering randomly selected people. The killing spree depicted in the film starts after Otis’ sister Becky comes to stay with them. The people they kill are strangers and in one particularly gruesome attack, kill all three members of a family during a home invasion. Henry lacks compassion in everything he does and isn’t the kind to leave behind witnesses – of any kind.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
There is no goofy or funny or odd comment about the film Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer on Fresh Kernels.
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