John McNaughton's brilliantly dark Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer sat in limbo for years due to the MPAA's total disgust for a movie whose "moral tone" they felt was unacceptable for public viewing. The MPAA powers that be not only slapped an X rating on the film but offered no cut advise (The MPAA will normally relate to the director what scenes need to be clipped in order to assure a more commercial rating).

Henry is definitely unlike any other "serial killer" flick, there are no cute audience pleasing one liners about eating livers, no glossy MTV style action scenes, just a dark and dreary look into the mind of two uneducated and highly twisted maniacs. Michael Rooker's intense portrayal of Henry (slightly based on the life of real life killer Henry Lee Lucas), Tom Towles portrayal as the dumb as shit Otis, along with the grainy documentary look of the film, makes for a mesmerizing seemingly realistic account of how a couple of killers spend their days.

Known for its brutal portrayal of murder as well as the infamous "house attack" sequence (Henry and Otis brutally kill a family and record it on tape for their at home viewing pleasure, a truly disturbing unforgettable scene), one of the most overlooked aspects of the film is that its chock full of black comedy!

One can not help but chuckle as Henry describes his childhood of unbelievable misery: his dads legs were cut off in an accident, his brother, "had a bone disorder...he was a little deformed", and his mother "was a whore...sometimes she beat me and made me wear a dress!!" Or the scene where the completely filthy and hideous Otis tells Henry he's gonna "spruce up" before they go out!

One of the powerful tricks McNaughton pulls is showing the aftermath of Henry's murders as the soundtrack is filled with a distorted account of the struggle between the victim and Henry. The film ends as brutally as it begins leaving the viewer feeling a little dirty for the voyeuristic peek into the life of a killer. When Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer was finally released it received much critical praise winding up on many top ten best of year lists.