HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER (1986/1990) d. John McNaughton (USA)

Tonight we take a look back at one of the most disturbing and uncompromising horror films ever made: Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. Loosely inspired by the real-life confessions of Henry Lee Lucas, John McNaughton’s debut feature is relentless in its refusal to offer comfort, catharsis, or a triumphant finale of good over evil. Originally slapped with an X rating, which made it nearly inaccessible for years, Henry is no ordinary 80s slasher. And what it lacks in graphic cinematic splatter, it makes up for in atmosphere and dread.  

Michael Rooker, in a chilling breakout performance, grimly underplays Henry as an illiterate drifter who ends human life without remorse, logic, or pattern. Henry doesn’t kill for pleasure. He kills because… it’s simply what he does. Murder, for him, is as routine as breathing.

McNaughton, working from a script co-written with Richard Fire, doesn’t make a cheap exploitation horror film. He delivers a sincere, unsentimental character study. The film follows Henry across a bleak, anonymous Midwest to the urban locales of Chicago, shot with natural lighting, real locations, and minimal music, intentionally blur the line between fiction and reality.

With strong supporting performances by Tracy Arnold as a young woman fascinated with Henry, and Tom Towles as her lowlife brother (and sometime accomplice to Henry’s crimes), Henry remains a stark, nihilistic entry in the canon of independent and regional American horror that still manages to shock and surprise, decades after its troubled release.

Join AC and his cadre of confrontational horror fans (Aaron AuBuchon, Ben Beard, Rigo Garay, Hunter Johnson, Jonathon Lucas) as they celebrate 35 years of the wide release of Henry!!
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AARON AUBUCHON is a film professor and writer, and also an editor, director, motion graphics artist and producer. He is also co-host of the Discover the Horror podcast. https://discoverthehorror.com/

BEN BEARD is the author of The South Never Plays Itself, The Bad Class, Four Horses Seven Seals, and I Never Told You I Was Any Good: The Life and Films of Joseph H. Lewis, among other books. He lives in Chicago with his wife and three daughters. https://bwbeard.com/

RIGO GARAY is a writer/actor/director from Long Island, NY, currently and joyfully employed at Glass Eye Pix (founded by horror auteur Larry Fessenden). He has been seen onscreen in Crumb Catcher (d. Chris Skotchdopple), Blackout (d. Larry Fessenden), and The Leech (d. Eric Pennycoff), as well as TV roles on Blue Bloods, Law & Order: SVU, and Law & Order: Organized Crime. He is preparing for his directorial feature debut, PULL: A DARK COMEDY, currently in pre-production.

HUNTER JOHNSON is an actor, producer, and writer born in Wisconsin, educated in Chicago, experienced in L.A., and currently living in MO. He is the co-creator of the HORROR VILLAINS podcast. https://linktr.ee/lahorrorcom

JONATHON LUCAS is a horror fiend from Australia whose love for the genre predates his brain’s ability to form memories. He contributed the essay for At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul for Hidden Horror, and has appeared numerous times as a panelist for H101wDrAC.
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