Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1986 |
| length | 83 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK no youth approval |
| Rod | |
| Director | John McNaughton |
| script |
Richard Fire John McNaughton |
| production |
Lisa Dedmond Steven A. Jones John McNaughton |
| music |
Ken Hale Steven A. Jones Robert McNaughton |
| camera | Charlie Lieberman |
| cut | Elena Maganini |
| occupation | |
| |
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is a low-budget thriller from 1986 by American director John McNaughton . The film depicts the life of a serial killer in Chicago in sober and realistic images.
action
The convicted murderer Henry meets his friend Otis, whom he met years ago in prison , in Chicago and moves in with him. Henry and Otis' younger sister Becky, who also lives in the poor apartment, shared a sad childhood. While Becky was sexually abused by her father, Henry suffered his mother's humiliation until he eventually killed her. Henry feels drawn to Becky, but Otis also has an incestuous interest in his sister.
One evening, Henry and Otis take two prostitutes in their car, and Henry kills them for no reason. Otis, who helps his friend clean up the bodies, shows no remorse but is afraid of getting caught. Henry calms him down and introduces him to the art of serial murder. In the months that follow, Otis and Henry kill numerous other people, including an entire family. Sometimes they even record their deeds on video. Becky doesn't notice any of this.
When Henry comes home one day and catches Becky raping Otis, he kills his friend, dismembles the body in the bathtub, and then throws it into a river. Henry suggests that Becky go into hiding for a while, and the two drive south in their car. On the way, Becky confesses her love for Henry, which Henry seems to return. When night falls, they take a motel room, which Henry leaves alone the next morning. He drives away in the car, stops after a while on the side of the road and leaves behind a suitcase with blood dripping from the inside.
background
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is based on the real-life case of serial killer Henry Lee Lucas , who killed his mother as a teenager and was sentenced to death in 1984. Lucas claimed to have killed more than 3,000 people when he was arrested. However, many of these confessions have been refuted. In 1998 the sentence of George W. Bush , then governor of Texas , was commuted to life imprisonment. Lucas died of natural causes in 2001.
The film opens by stating that Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer was based on Lucas' confessions, not the crimes for which he was ultimately convicted. In addition, it is claimed that Otis and Becky are made up characters, even though Henry Lee Lucas actually had an accomplice named Ottis Toole . As a model for Becky, Toole's niece Frieda Powell, who was often called Becky, was probably used. Aside from their names, Toole and Powell had little in common with the characters in the movie.
The idea of making a film about Lucas came to director John McNaughton when he saw a feature about him on the TV show 20/20 . Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer was McNaughton's first feature film and was shot in just 28 days in the fall of 1985. The cost of production was about $ 111,000. To save money, some actors played multiple roles and crew members were used as extras. The main role was played by Michael Rooker, who was working as a caretaker at the time and wore his uniform throughout the entire filming process. He only took it off for the murder scenes, since it couldn't get dirty.
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer premiered on September 24, 1986 at the Chicago International Film Festival. Due to disagreements between McNaughton and the MPAA censorship agency , which wanted to give it an X rating , the film did not hit theaters until 1989, three years after its completion. In Great Britain it was only available in a shortened version until 2003. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer grossed around $ 610,000 in the United States and won multiple awards.
In 1996, Chuck Parello made a sequel called Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer 2 . Neil Giuntoli played the main role.
Michael Rooker took on the role of Henry one more time for a music video for the rock band American Head Charge from 2001.
The film was indexed in Germany. The indexing was lifted in August 2012 at the request of the image disturbance label (Capelight Pictures) and the film was not approved for young people when it was re-examined by the FSK . It was published on October 26, 2012.
Reviews
“A terrifying, gruesome film. Brutality and violence are [...] not used as a spectacular thrill, but as a common, incomprehensible and oppressive event in large cities [...] "
“Henry's not such a bad guy when he isn't killing […] an awesome debut performance by Michael Rooker. The power and intensity of Rooker's chilling performance is just incredible ”
"Henry isn't that bad if he's not killing [...] an incredible debut from Michael Rooker. The power and intensity of his icy portrayal is simply incredible. "
"Henry [...] for whom murder and taking a cold beer out of the fridge are analogous events. [... the] dialogue achieves what McNaughton has called 'the poetry of idiocy' ”
“[... Henry] is someone for whom murder and a cold beer from the refrigerator are analogous. The [...] dialogue symbolizes what McNaughton called 'the poetry of idiocy ' "
“The camera is moving slowly but constantly. Soberly, she registers the dirty dishes on the counter of a café or the blood on the face of a mutilated woman's corpse. […] This camera view is not the view of the killer in the sense of a cinematic first person narration, through subjective settings or the like, but it is a view for which the violence is something everyday and normal. A look for which mutilated corpses are just as much or just as little a reason to linger as the rubbish in the lake or the dirty dishes on the counter. [...] Can love save someone like Henry? Can there be salvation for him? Atonement? No. Because even at the beginning there was no longer any paradise to return to. No idyll, nowhere. "
"The movie [...] isn't a psychological study in the conventional sense"
"[...] is not a psychological study in the conventional sense."
“A strong, relentless quality that is sometimes mistaken for art. [...] But it doesn't seem to be telling us much more than that the world is a scary place and murder is ugly ”
"Of a desolate, relentless design that is sometimes confused with art [...] Actually doesn't tell us much more than that the world is a gruesome place and that murder is ugly."
Awards
- Silver Raven for John McNaughton
- Fantastic postage 1991
- Award for Best Picture for John McNaughton
- Award for Best Screenplay for John McNaughton and Richard Fire
- Award in the Best Actor category for Michael Rooker
- Award in the Best Actress category for Tracy Arnold
- Nomination for Best Picture for John McNaughton, Lisa Dedmond and Steven A. Jones
- Nomination for Best Director for John McNaughton
- Nomination for Best Screenplay for John McNaughton and Richard Fire
- Nomination in the category Best Actor for Michael Rooker
- Nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Tom Towles
- Nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category for Tracy Arnold
- Nomination for the Golden Leopard for John McNaughton
Seattle International Film Festival 1990
- Michael Rooker received the Golden Space Needle Award in the Best Actor category
- Award for Best Picture for John McNaughton
- Award for Best Director for John McNaughton
literature
- Interview with McNaughton in: Thomas Gaschler & Eckhard Vollmar: "Dark Stars". Belleville, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-923646-50-X .
- –MAERZ– (Axel Estein): "Henry: A Portrait Of A Serial Killer - Single Image Continuation." In: Splatting Image, # 2, February 1990
Sources and Notes
- The article on the English language Wikipedia ( list of authors )
- ↑ "Henry gets entangled in stories of lies when he tries to make his mother a scapegoat." (Artechock) Henry - Portrait of a Serial Killer. In: Artechock. artechock film, accessed February 4, 2009 .
- ↑ The statement in full : “ This film is a fictional dramatization of certain events. 'Henry' is not intended to be an accurate portrayal of a true story. The film is based partly on confessions of a person named Henry, many of which he later recanted. As to Otis and Betty, the film is fictional. ”
- ^ Film service : Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. In: Kabeleins Filmlexikon. SevenOne Intermedia GmbH, accessed on February 4, 2009 .
- ↑ Mike Lorefice: Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. In: Raging Bull Movie Reviews. June 23, 2001, accessed February 4, 2009 .
- ↑ Adrian Gargett: Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. (No longer available online.) In: www.kamera.co.uk. Archived from the original on July 17, 2009 ; accessed on February 4, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Nicolai Bühnemann: Henry - Portrait of a Serial Killer - Die Wegwerf-Gesellschaft. In: Filmzentrale.com. Retrieved February 4, 2009 .
- ↑ Hal Hinson, 'Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer'. In: The Washington Post . May 4, 1990, accessed February 4, 2009 .
- ↑ Terrence Rafferty: Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. (No longer available online.) In: The New Yorker . Archived from the original on December 18, 2008 ; accessed on February 4, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
- Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- Norbert Grob: Terror of Exhilaration in Die Zeit
- Adrian Gargett: Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer in www.kamera.co.uk (English)
- Mike Bracken: The Horror Geek Speaks: Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer at IGN (English)
- Comparison of the cut versions FSK 16 - FSK 18 , BBFC 18 VHS (Electric Video) - FSK 18 , BBFC 18 (Universal) - FSK 18 by Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer at Schnittberichte.com