Candy and a Movie: Movie # 30 Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer

Henry : Portrait of a Serial Killer

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099763/

Why not start March Madness off with a little movie murder madness. That would just be marvelous and mawesome. This is a movie that I've been wanting to see for a while because it is on most people top horror movie lists. It stars Michael Rooker as Henry. Rooker is usually pretty creepy in movies and this one is no different.

I'll just jump in because this movie did the same. It goes straight from opening credits to a dead naked chick to dead people in a diner to a dead hooker in a bathroom to a dead chick in a creek. Imagine turning this movie on not knowing the title and expecting something cheerful. Madness. Henry must be quite the serial killer. Movie slows down and we see him sitting in a car at the mall. He is obviously scoping out his next victim. Creepy “I'm on the search for a murder” music is playing in the background. Things end up not working out. I mean things don't work out for Henry and the mall search is a bust. Things did work out for the rest of humanity. Not for long though because Henry picks up a hitchhiker on his way home and kills her. She was hitchhiking though so you could say that she was asking for it.

Henry's roommate is this hick guy named Otis. I think they met in jail and are now living together on the outside in Chicago. Otis' sister comes stays with them for a little while because she is looking for work. They all get introduced and Henry says he leaving for work but you know that isn't the case. He's leaving for murderin. If things aren't weird enough, we now hit a new level. Otis tells his sister that Henry killed his mom and her boyfriend. I guess the sister, Becky, feels like it's story time and tells Henry about her relationship with her father. It starts out with her telling a tale involving him making her eat and ice cream cone off the ground. That's really messed up, I know. Then he banged her. Whoa, whoa, whoa hold on now. You can't jump from eating dirty ice cream to dad rape. I'm not ready for that. I would also like to add that the dad doesn't sound like a solid dude. Becky gives this weird monologue in her worst acting phase too. I think it adds to the creepy in a way. She then asks Henry about his mom and he calls her a whore. Uh, a little harsh Henry? Then he says that she used to make him watch her sleep with guys that she would bring over and then beat him if he didn't watch. Sometimes she made him wear a dress when he had to watch. Sorry Henry, I take it back.

Otis barges in right as Becky says that she used to be a “dancer”. He then tries to lay some game on Becky, his sister. Henry is apparently just as creeped out about it as I was and puts Otis in his place. To make up for it Otis and Henry go out to a bar and the night ends with two more dead hookers. It really is a dangerous profession. A totally different kind of deadliest catch. Otis hasn't seen dead bodies before and freaks out meaning he got thrown in the joint for something totally not hard. He ends up kicking the TV out of frustration and the two go back out together to get a new one. Instead of heading to a department store, they go to a sketchy warehouse with a guy selling most likely stolen products. The poor thief gets stabbed by Henry with a soldering iron and Otis kills him by dropping a TV on his head. Now Otis has a taste for blood and wants more.

Some night in the future they are together again and they pull their car off the road. They then wave a guy over to fix their “broken” car and shot the guy. Like the hitchhiker, he had it coming. If two dudes have a broken down car and can't fix it then they are on their own. If it's a chick in a convertible then maybe you give it a chance. The new killing team picks up a camera and now up the weird. We see a home movie version of them killing a family. Otis starts to rape the DEAD woman but Henry stops him. Let's jump back to Becky and see what she's up to. Oh she has a kid. Wonderful.

I'm sure by now that you, like me are just waiting for the moment when things go bad between Henry and Otis. One day while driving around, Otis gets mad again and this time throws the camera out the window. After a mini-fight, Otis just leaves. Becky tells Henry that she is leaving to go back home and she wants him to go with her. Weirdly enough because Otis is such trash, Henry is almost looking like a good guy now and maybe he can change for the better. They start making out and are about to get it on when Otis barges in and thankfully interrupts.

MURDERY SPOILERS.

Henry leaves after Otis ruins the moments. We find out that he hates the Chicago Bears. After getting some air, he comes back home to Otis raping Becky. HIS SISTER. Henry stops him and starts giving Otis a beating but Otis gets a good shot in too. I think Henry got a little stabbed but wasn't sure. Otis is about to kill Henry when Becky stabs him in the eye. Henry finishes him off with a good stabbing himself. Henry goes in to serial killer mode and starts working on getting rid of Otis' body. Got to cut the body into little pieces so he can get rid of it, severed head first of course. They get him all ready in a bag and leave together. It's awkward now. He dumps the two hefty bags full of Otis into some body of water and leaves. Becky says she is scared. Aww don't be scared Becky. She drops an “I love you” on Henry and gets the response every woman wants back, “I guess I love you too”. The next morning we see Henry leaving the motel alone. I'm not sure where Becky is but I'm guessing something not good happened to her. Henry pulls over and takes a heavy suitcase out of the trunk. It has blood stains on it. I might as well say parts of Becky are inside. Henry leaves it by the side of the road and leaves”

GLAD THAT'S OVER

Favorite Scene : Uh. I wouldn't say this was really a favorite because there weren't any scenes that I liked. Doesn't mean there weren't good scenes. The home movie family killing was pretty well done.

Memorable Lines : “It's always the same and it's always different”.

“Don't do that Otis. She's your sister”

Rating : 6 lemon heads. I thought the movie was OK but it didn't live up to expectations. It definitely felt creepy, there just wasn't a whole lot going on. I don't know about you, but I find serial killers interesting. Like finding out what happened to them in the past that made them turn out that way or maybe they are just wacko's. Psychology stuff.

Alternate Ending : Can't have a movie called Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer ending happy so lets say Henry moves back with Becky. Things are going great and you think everything will end happy. That's the fake ending. The real ending is he kills everyone

What I would've done if I was the main character : Not live with Otis is the first thing. I could smell that guy through the TV. Woof. Then I'd probably get some counseling. Depending on how that goes I'll either be a normal person or got to kill a counselor. Win Win.

What happens in the sequel : Henry: Portrait of a Serial Miller? Not funny? Serial Stiller staring Ben Stiller. Any better? A movie where Henry travels to each one of Ben Stiller's movies and kills his characters. I'd watch.