HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER (1986)

* * * *

R, C-83m, USA

D: John McNaughton; Michael Rooker, Tom Towles, Tracy Arnold

Tagline: He's not Freddy. He's not Jason. He's real.


Michael Rooker plays the title character, a soulless murderer who preys upon victims at random. Unlike most movie killers, he does not choose particular types, like blondes, hookers, homeless people, executives, families, etc. All are fair game.

At least he doesn't play favourites.

After a couple of days of recreational mayhem, Henry takes up with Otis (Tom Towles), a dull-witted ex-con from his prison days. Otis is also a bad man, though several points lower in intelligence. He's mean, but weak without a leader. But when someone like Henry leads the way, he discovers a taste for torture and killing the innocent. He's a weak man who eagerly seeks out victims weaker than he so he can enjoy the temporary feeling of power. Together, they feed off each other's need for destruction. Becky (Tracy Arnold), Otis's sad sack sister, who is visiting after having run away from an abusive husband, can only hope she'll remain under their radar. Just watching them play house, with her doing the cooking and cleaning as if they're a normal family is disturbing. She is an example of what limited means, lifelong abuse and broken dreams can do to a person.

The gore is mostly off-screen and implied, but there's no doubt what is happening. Even the musical score is beyond creepy and hard to listen to - the jarring ping of piano keys just sets my teeth on edge. it's like a cold finger to the neck - with the nail filed to a point. And unlike most movies about serial killers, there is no mystery to solve, no clues to follow, and no one to unmask. There is one truly horrific scene of a home invasion that I cannot get out of my head, even years later. Fair warning - this is not a 'fun' scary movie where you can crack jokes at the idiocy of teenagers who wander around haunted houses and venture into the basement with a candle or a flashlight. Henry and Otis are not simply complex, flawed individuals. These are empty sacks of skin wandering the earth as human beings.

Michael Rooker, who usually plays sheriffs and good old boy types in supporting parts, is very good in this role and scarier than Hannibal Lector or Patrick Bateman (American Psycho), simply because he's so real and completely lacking in empathy or even introspection. He's not witty or colourful like a movie villain - he's simply there, snuffing out innocent people like bugs, without a thought before or afterward. You could pass him in the street and not notice him. This is a brilliant character study of a man with nothing to lose. He doesn't kill out of anger or revenge. The evil that he and Otis do is banal, more out of boredom than anything else, making it all the more horrifying.