The controversial and disturbing horror filmHenry: Portrait of a Serial Killertook a while to reach audiences. It was filmed in 1985, had its premiere in 1986, and then a theatrical release in 1990. Now, the movie is regarded as a cult classic.John McNaughton, co-writer and director, was inspired by the true story of American serial killer Henry Lee Lucas. The facts surrounding Lucas are relatively unclear, largely because he was a pathological liar, but both he and his companion Ottis Toole are depicted in McNaughton’s movie. Because of the hazy details of the real-life cases of Lucas and Toole, McNaughton never intended to accurately depict them or their crimes. Instead,Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killeris inspired by the horrifying stories of the two murderers with a mixture of truth and fiction.
McNaughton shot the movie on a budget of just $110,000 which resulted in some non-professional actors having roles and many members of the crew stepping into some scenes. In the title role wasMichael Rooker, who stayed in character the whole time on set. The low budget actually makes the movie more effective, almost giving an unnerving documentary-feel to it. The grittiness of the violence as well as the raw realism caused complications with censorship, with many requests for cuts and edits to get it down to an R rating, which would have been necessary for a theatrical release. McNaughton refused the cuts, and the film was rated X. The movie was actually a huge contributing factor to the MPAA creating the NC-17 rating.
It is not – nor has it ever been – uncommon for horror movies to try and pass themselves off as true stories. Of course, our experience with the movie is more terrifying if it is true – that is the idea, at least. Most often though, the horror movie greatly exaggerates true events for dramatic purposes. However, this is not exactly the case withHenry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. McNaughton incorporates reality with fiction and twists the story around just as the real-life serial killers did. The inconsistencies and fabricated admissions of Lucas led him to become known as The Confessions Killer. He was a pathological liar who confessed to as many as 600 murders. In actuality, he was only ever convicted of eleven murders, and in his later life, he recanted almost all of his crimes. Toole was hardly any different, and claimed to have accompanied Lucas on over 100 murders despite no real proof. During police interviews, Lucas and Toole’s stories did not add up and their spree of false confessions, in hindsight, seem more like delusional gloating. Subsequent interviews with Lucas see him as a smug, vile man desiring the credit for murders he had nothing to do with.
What makesHenry: Portrait of a Serial Killerso disturbingly effective is the way it reflects Lucas’ lies. A diagnosed psychopath and a pathological liar, Lucas ensured no one would ever know how many deaths he was responsible for. Just as Lucas mixed fabrications amongst truths, McNaughton does the same in his movie as a reflection of the unhinged serial killer. It is more of a speculation of the appalling potential Lucas and Toole were capable of. McNaughton maintains realism in the moments that are complete fiction, which makes the moments closest to the truth get lost. This sustained docudrama approach he took never falters, and depicts events which might have occurred had the murderous duo never been caught.
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McNaughton began filming the movie just two years after the arrests of Lucas and Toole, and at a time when many of their false confessions were yet to be discredited. After Lucas’ arrest, he became cocky and started playing with the authorities. Outrageously, he began making requests for luxury items such as television sets, cigarettes and strawberry milkshakes in exchange for providing authorities with more information. He was flown around the country to murder scenes in order to refresh his memory, and he enjoyed the attention that came with this. Lucas was a sick individual who cared not for solving murder cases, but more for taking the credit and the attention which came with his never-ending web of lies.
What is factual – and referred to inHenry: Portrait of a Serial Killer– is that Lucas murdered his mother. In an early scene, Henry opens up to Becky (Tracy Arnold) about how he killed his mother and unintentionally contradicts himself several times. The story he recounts is close to the truth regarding Lucas and his real mother, which was the only murder Lucas did not recant towards the end of his life. By contradicting himself here, Henry is immediately established as an unreliable character.
The most famous scene in the movie is the distressing home invasion scene in which Henry and Ottis (Tom Towles) watch a recording they took of themselves breaking into a family of three’s home and brutally slaughtering them. This scene in particular truly captures the fear of the victims and the psychotic joy of the perpetrators. There is an unsettling sense of thrill on Henry and Ottis’ parts, and it is as if committing their crimes is equally fun as it is addictive for them. While the home invasion scene is fictitious, McNaughton does not go over-the-top, keeping the scene terrifyingly realistic and forcing the audience into the malevolent mentalities of two cold-blooded serial killers.
Many journalists and interviewers who got the chance to speak directly to Lucas in prison later claimed they suspected he was lying to them.Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killeris a horrifying interpretation of the violent desires of one of the most disturbed serial killers in American history. McNaughton is able to capture the lunacy of Henry and Ottis in the murder scenes, and their deceitfulness in the dialogue. The eventual chaos that erupts between Henry, Ottis and Becky towards the end of the movie echoes the troubled relationship which the three of them shared. The nihilistic tone of the movie makes it a realistic depiction of unimaginable horror, and its mix of truth and fiction is a smart reflection of the lies told by the real murderers.
