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.
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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