Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is a low budget horror that was filmed in under a month with a budget of only $110k. It's based on the real Texan serial killers Henry Lee Lucas and Otis Toole. The production value is low, the practical effects are basic and there's no plot twists or metaphors lurking under the surface. But despite all this it's one of the more powerful and tragic movies I've seen, horror or otherwise. The MPAA actually banned it to keep it out of theaters when it first came out. Job Bob Briggs described it as having a "disturbing moral tone", and he 'aint wrong. This movie hits you hard fast and sticks with you for days.

This movie is about a serial killer serial killing. Nothing more. Nothing less. It opens with Henry leaving a slew of bodies behind in a city he's leaving, never to return. Some are strangled, others are shot, some are drowned. All were random. Next stop, Chicago.

Henry takes a menial job as an exterminator that leaves him with way too much time on his hands.He eventually starts hanging out with a guy named Otis and Otis' sister Becky. Otis and Becky are both damaged goods, just like Henry. One night Henry and Otis go out to grab a beer but end up killing a couple of hookers instead. Otis gets a taste for killing so Henry takes him under his wing as a kind of twisted apprentice.