Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer -- X -- 1986

I finally got to watching this film that I'd heard of it through Entertainment Weekly's 25 scariest films of all time, and it is actually the only 'Rated X' film I've ever seen. This one was said to be rated X due to content, and the MPAA told the filmmakers that there were no changes they could make to lower the rating to an R. After some contemplation following the film, I kind of understand why.

Like Silence of the Lambs, this film doesn't have the trademark shock moments, but it is just creepy and even a bit weird. What gives it the fear factor is the character of Henry; after all, it is a portrait of Henry? Why does Henry do what he does? We don't fully know. In fact, there is no pattern to his killing. He makes a special note of doing it differently every time so he isn't caught and no pattern is established.

His victims are without pattern...almost completely. He tends to go for the lonely female, but within the course of the film, he wipes out male and female at total randomness, but not without abandon. Every death is carefully chosen so he can basically fulfill his addiction and not get caught.

That's really what it is for him: an addiction. He can only go so long before he has to just kill someone else. Anyone else. And therein lies the fear in this film. Because there are people like Henry out there. People who would kill someone randomly -- just for being alone or vulnerable.

There really wasn't a firm plot. It was a film about a killer and who he is. Just a slice of his life and the people around him. We got a piece of his past, but only down to his first killing -- and even that is in question. He remains almost a total enigma except in his habits and somehow in the context of this film, it works. Normally, I complain about lack of character development, but if they went much further into him, it wouldn't work so well.

It was interesting to say the least, and kind of freaky. The ending under normal cicumstances, would be one that is unfavorable, but in the  context of this movie, it couldn't end any other way without coming off as cheap.

So the bottom line at the end of the film, it worked for me. When it first ended, I wasn't sure, but after some thought, it worked out exactly as it should have, and it told a slice of the life of a serial killer. It stuck with his living at one house before he decided to move on. And it was good.