Zodiac and the 9 best real life serial killer movies
By Rachel Roth
8. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
Henry Lee Lucas is a bit of a mystery. Most likely a compulsive liar, Lucas was a drifter that confessed to over 600 murders between 1960 and 1983, making him the most prolific serial killer in history. When arrested, Lucas confessed to more murders than he would’ve been capable of doing only to later retract them and admit they were lies.
He was ultimately convicted of 11 murders, including his own mother’s, most of which he committed with his lover/accomplice Ottis Toole. The two allegedly showed their affection for each other by killing together.
The film directed by John McNaughton is a unique approach to the subject, one that never tries to explain Lucas or why he started killing. There are mountains of movies about serial killers that are either about an investigative manhunt or an exploration of their backstory. Henry doesn’t attempt either. When Lucas, played by Michael Rooker, first appears in the film, he’s already an established serial killer.
For the most part, his backstory and motivations go ignored as he meets up with Ottis (Tom Towles) and Ottis’s sister Becky (Tracy Arnold). It spends more of its time developing the relationship between Lucas and Becky, who he ended up sharing a short-lived romance with in real life. Like the man and the case itself, the film keeps things ominous. It’s almost hollow in its portrayal of Lucas in order to properly translate his psychopathic mind into film.
Henry got a sequel called Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer Part II that didn’t star any of the original cast and was a straight-up horror film.