Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer-review

I feel pretty, Oh so pretty

            “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer” is a really great movie.  Not so much scary as it was disturbing.  Michael Rooker (of “Mallrats”, “Tombstone”, and the AMC hit show the “Walking Dead”) plays a chilling killer with no remorse, no emotion, and no problem dealing death.  Whoever wrote the script must have a great knowledge into the mind of a sociopath because it really was spot on and Michael did a fantastic job pulling off the story of the killer based on serial murder Henry Lee Lucas.

            There are aspects that seemed familiar to me from other mediums but since this came first I have to bring them up.  For example Henry was in jail for killing his mother but his story changes constantly regarding the method of how he killed her.  One time it’s with a baseball bat, another he stabbed her and yet again he shot her.  Reminded me a lot of the Joker in “Dark Knight” telling how he got his scars. 

And I thought what happened to Tila Tequila with a bottle was harsh.

He also takes a fellow named Otis under his wings to teach how to kill and not get caught. This doesn’t go well as Otis has killing methods that differ widely from Henry and his own little code.  This entire plot device including the code of sorts on not getting caught was almost pound for pound “Dexter”.  Like I said, this came first so I see that this one is likely not ripping off the other but WOW that is too obvious not to notice.

            Where Dexter holds some things sacred such as not harming children and protection for what matters to him Henry does not.  I thought that made this so much creepier and more realistic as a sociopath.  There is a dark element to this movie and the fact that it’s set in a time when DNA and forensic science was not the caliber it was today.  All he is doing is basically changing his modus operandi every time he kills and moving around to make it seem like a different person each time.  In a modern crime scene he’d have left hair and prints all over the place.

Henry finds its best to stay one step ahead of the competition.

            Either way I recommend seeing it if you want a scarier look into a criminal mind that takes you to a different place.  Lower class then Hannibal Lecter and with fewer ties to humanity than Dexter it would make any anyone squirm a bit.  Most of the gruesome killings are done off-screen leaving much to the imagination.  Still, like I said it’s a disturbing bit of work but worth the ride.