There’s only been just a few movies in the history of the medium that can claim to have deeply shaken up rating boards and cause massive uproar over the portrayal of violence onscreen. John McNaughton’s 1986 serial killer movie Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is one of them. The film’s gritty visuals and matter-of-fact brutality gave the story a documentary-like feel that came across as snuff for some. It’s one of the most unsettling movies ever because of it. Now, you’ll be able to own it on VHS courtesy of Dark Sky Selects.
The collectible VHS will be available exclusively on the Dark Sky Selects website on November 19 and it’ll run for $29.99. It’s already up for pre-order. This version of Henry is uncut and uncensored, which has been available for some time in other formats. Regardless, getting to see every single drop of blood that was intended to be in the final cut in lower resolution does make the movie hit a bit differently.
As is the case with the recently announced Alien: Romulus VHS, this release seems to be eyeing collectors as their main audience. Other than catering to nostalgia, interested parties should be aware they’re not getting the best-looking version of the movie. Henry is already available on 4K, and the various disc editions already out in the wild come with special features that just can’t all fit into one video tape. On top of that, VCRs are no longer in production. So either dust off your parents’ old machine or get one on eBay.
That said, no matter what you watch it on, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is a horror classic with one of the most complex backstories around. Based on the “true” story of Henry Lee Lucas, the movie follows the titular killer (played by Michael Rooker) as he goes around butchering random people with his friend Otis (played by Tom Towles). Things get complicated when Otis’ sister (played by Tracy Arnold) comes in and interferes with the dynamic.
The problem is, the real-life Henry the character is based on confessed to hundreds of killings that he quite simply could not have done, thus earning him the nickname The Confession Killer. Be it by the impossibility of distances travelled between murders, the suspicious timelines that sometimes put him in different states at the same time while specific killings happened, and the fact that the Texas Rangers that surrounded him saw in Lucas a way to clear cold cases, we’re left with a very unreliable subject that casts heavy doubt over the veracity of his involvement in the cases attributed to him.
Thankfully, none of this prevents the enjoyment of the film itself. In fact, for an even richer experience, watch the 2019 Netflix documentary on the real story, aptly titled The Confession Killer. It goes places you wouldn’t believe. As a collectible, the Henry VHS is a pretty cool display piece that can inspire both discussion of the movie and the real case that inspired it. Many might keep it unopened to preserve it, but I’ll definitely be looking for a VCR to rewatch it in the format I first saw it in years ago. Even if it means wrestling it out of the claws of a pack of rats that have claimed it as their home.
