Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer


--Reviewed by Lindy Loo


Plotline: Henry is a serial murderer. There's not any real elaborate plot other than that. He murders. Serially. That is what the plotline is about. So there.

Scariness factor: It's creepy. And disturbing. Not jump-in-your-seat scary, but disturbing scary.

Gross-Out Factor: Pretty high, actually. There was actually a scene in here that kind of turned my stomach, between the sound and the events taking place. Definitely not for the squeamish.



Complaints: It was a well-done movie, so I don't have many. Other than that I don't really know that I enjoy sitting through 90 minutes of serially murdering when it SEEMS realistic. Call me a hypocrite, but I'd take a slightly campy, 1980s slasher film over this one any day. Fun horror rather than disturbing horror.

High Points: This MUST'VE been shocking when it came out. It's very graphic. It's very realistic. It doesn't mince words. The acting (at least by the lead) is well-done. And it has a lot of grittily-filmed and well-done moments. Also, the murder scenes are HORRIFIC. And it has a great final-scene. That was probably my favorite part about this movie. Would I watch it again though? Hell no. It's really quite good for what it is, but what it is is a bit too realistic for my horror tastebuds.



Overall: Gritty and realistic. Also horrific. I can understand in some ways why it's high on people's "Favorite Horror Movies" Lists. But I prefer something a little bit less intense and disgusting and disturbing when I want to entertain myself with horror movies. So I dunno: mixed opinions. I think I'd like to hear what YOU think if you've seen it, so feel free to leave your two cents.

Grade: C? B? Can't decide actually.

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3 Comments:

At 10:08 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I watched this movie maybe seven or eight years ago, and surprisingly, don't remember much detail. I vaguely remember feelings of disgust/repulsion, but not in a "this movie sucks" kind of way, but a "this movie is a little too realistic" kind of way. I have it on my Netflix queue for a revisit. I'll have to bump it up the list.

 
At 3:05 AM, Blogger Joanne said...

Well, I am a big fan of "Dexter" so I suppose I might like this but then maybe I won't because it won't be anything like Dexter :)

 
At 3:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm a huge fan of Dexter (although I find the sister very annoying), but this movie doesn't have the subtle black humor that Dexter does.

 

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