Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)

All Critics (43) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (41) | Rotten (5) | DVD (13)

Certainly not for everyone, but if slasher movies are your cup of tea this is a lot better than most, and the use of Chicago locations is especially effective.

October 20, 2008 Full Review | Comment (1)

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

[T]his is a movie that will anger and frighten audiences... Many will also find this one of the most impressive film debuts of the '80s.

April 16, 2007 Full Review

Daniel M. Kimmel

Variety

Top Critic

McNaughton's compelling study of a blithe sociopath makes the flesh crawl and the mind reel.

June 24, 2006 Full Review

Time Out

Top Critic

Mr. McNaughton's observations are so chilling and precise that they gain some artistic stature even when they cross the line that makes the audience voyeurs and accomplices.

May 20, 2003 Full Review

Caryn James

New York Times

Top Critic

This film gives off a dark chill that follows you all the way home.

May 12, 2001

Peter Travers

Rolling Stone

Top Critic

A low-budget tour de force that provides an unforgettable portrait of the pathology of a man for whom killing is not a crime but simply a way of passing time and relieving boredom.

January 1, 2000 Full Review

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Top Critic

The film is diabolically driven by Michael Rooker, who embodies the fractured, disconnected personality of Henry.

October 8, 2012 Full Review

R.L. Shaffer

IGN Movies

The flipside of the '80s teen slasher genre, John McNaughton's movie manages to go beyond the disquieting, distressing or even disturbing. It's downright dismaying.

October 8, 2012 Full Review

Total Film

From a technical standpoint, Henry is amateurish. But ultimately it's not the gilded frame that made it a modern horror classic, but its unblinking portrait of a remorseless killer who stares back at the audience and forces them to turn away.

September 5, 2011 Full Review

Christopher Lloyd

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

McNaughton, co-writer Richard Fire and Rooker have pulled off an amazing feat -- a portrait of a damaged mind that refuses to explain, judge or glamorize psychopathic violence.

October 20, 2008 Full Review

Film4

This is sicko territory with a vengeance but certainly has an impact.

October 20, 2008 Full Review

Empire Magazine

Genuinely frightening.

December 5, 2007

Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

McNughton's film has both suspense and graphic violence, combining a clinical approach with semi-documentary technique that result in genuinely disturbing horror, deepling upsetting look at a murderer; a highlight of indie cinema of the 1990s.

December 5, 2006 Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

A genuinely upsetting film that's guaranteed to make you more paranoid.

October 21, 2005

Chuck O'Leary

Fantastica Daily

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer becomes a chiller so stark that it nearly blinds you and so dire that despair permeates the air like the stink of rotting flesh.

October 19, 2005 Full Review

Bill Gibron

DVDTalk.com

Longe de traçar o "retrato de um assassino", o filme apela para o choque barato, mas evita o fracasso absoluto em função da força das performances de Rooker, Towles e Arnold.

October 15, 2005

Pablo Villaca

Cinema em Cena

"Yeah, I killed my mama." 20 years later, Henry loses none of its impact.

September 7, 2005 Full Review

Jeremiah Kipp

Slant Magazine

As an emotional map, Henry is decidedly raw, personal, and unrelenting.

September 7, 2005 Full Review

Jeremiah Kipp

Slant Magazine

• 1. Becky Otis's Sister: Oh, wh-what was he in for?
  2. Otis: You don't want to know.
  3. Becky Otis's Sister: What did he do-- kill his mama?
  4. Otis: Uh, huh.
  5. Becky Otis's Sister: Come on, what was he in for?
  6. Otis: You don't want to know.
  7. Becky Otis's Sister: What did he do, rob a bank or something?
  8. Otis: You were right the first time.
  9. Becky Otis's Sister: Huh?
  10. Otis: You were right the first time. He killed his mama. Don't you ever tell him I told you.
  – Submitted by Creep F (23 months ago)
• 1. Becky Otis's Sister: I love you, Henry.
  2. Henry: I guess I love you too.
  – Submitted by Creep F (23 months ago)
• 1. Henry: Otis, plug it in!
  – Submitted by Creep F (23 months ago)
• 1. Otis: (his video camera breaks, while filming outside the car window) - Look what you did! Oh, god! Oh, Jesus! Look at it, it's ruined! Damn, Henry you ought to look where you're driving!
  2. Henry: Who the hell told you, to stick your head out the window anyway?
  3. Otis: You could of killed me!
  4. Henry: Sure. Blame it on me!
  5. Otis: Oh, this fu*king camera! [Otis throws the video camera out the car window]
  6. Henry: What did you do that for?
  7. Otis: It wasn't any good anymore.
  8. Henry: Could have fixed it.
  9. Otis: Sh*t, the lens was busted right off!
  10. Henry: Could have fixed it!
  11. Otis: How do you know? You a camera repair man? ...You should have said something.
  12. Henry: You threw the fu*ker right out the window!
  – Submitted by Creep F (23 months ago)
• 1. Becky Otis's Sister: I don't want to talk about Leroy!
  2. Otis: Okay, we don't have to talk about him! You hungry?
  3. Becky Otis's Sister: Yeah.
  4. Otis: Good, I'm hungry too. I wonder if Leroy's hungry. (laughs)
  – Submitted by Creep F (23 months ago)
• 1. Henry: Guns are easy to get. I can make a phone call and get a gun. Anybody can get a gun, Otis.
  – Submitted by Creep F (23 months ago)

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