Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer – no spoiler

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1985) is a film I recently watched and bothered my friends about. So now I am here to bother you.

The film tells the story of Henry, a serial killer who lives with his ex cell-mate Otis in a dirty flat somewhere in the States. I will not give too many details as I promise this would have been no spoiler, and also because I frankly can’t remember where about in the States. Anyways, Henry secretely enjoys killing every woman he encounters, but something seems to change when Otis’ sister, Becky moves to the flat. How does the story change? Well, Becky is attracted to Henry and he feels a weird attachement to her; when her brother does not behave propely with her, Henry intervenes, and although it is not a habit of mine to romanticise serial killers, I inevitably empathised with him. Which is to say: he kills daily at least dozen females but at least he leaves one alone… However, Henry seems to finally be a new man thank to her, but will this last?

The film, titled in italian as “Henry pioggia di sangue” (Henry rain of blood), which does make sense but somehow I still can’t stand it, is inspired to the true story of one of the worst american serial killer, with a dark past behind his shoulders, who managed to murder around 300 women. When he got caught, he was processed for 10 or so murders, although he himselves denied they were just that. In the film, many things refer to the real story; the real serial killer had a friend named Otis for instance.

There certainly is more to say. I am late for lunch now though.