Subject to controversy and based on the true story of Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is a harrowing deep dive into the lives of two serial killers. 

Premiering at the Chicago International Film Festival in 1986, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is John McNaughton’s second directorial effort following the success of his Chicago-set documentary, Dealers in Death (1984). Henry (Michael Rooker), a stoic, inscrutable serial killer, moves to the Windy City to stay a while with Otis, a pal from prison. Otis has a sister, Becky, who arrives to stay with her brother after an ugly divorce, and she bonds with Henry as a fellow survivor of parental abuse. Otis soon joins Henry in killing innocent people, and Henry doesn’t like it when Otis gets too carried away.  

The film makes use of O’Hare International Airport, the Loop, and Lower Wacker. Roger Ebert wrote a three-star review of the film after seeing it at the Telluride Film Festival in 1989. Henry, along with Pedro Almodóvar’s Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989) and Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), led to the creation of the NC-17 MPAA rating. 

Announced earlier this year, director John McNaughton and star Michael Rooker are teaming up once again on the upcoming serial killer feature, Road Rage.