50 Movies Where Evil Won

Plot: Henry (Michael Rooker), a deranged serial killer, goes on the rampage with his accomplice Otis (Tom Towles). 

The tagline for this tremendous low-budget 1980s horror reads, "He's not Freddy, he's not Jason, he's real." In an era where most serial killers in horror movies were supernatural slashers, Henry is the polar opposite. He's a down-to-earth, believable murderer who was modelled on various real figures. 

A realistic, well-researched work shot in a cinema verite style, Portrait is a discomfortingly authentic look at a killing spree, and the grounded, matter-of-fact way it depicts the murders is seriously disturbing. Worse still, the picture doesn't reward viewers with the satisfying resolution a more commercial horror film probably would've had. 

Though Otis does die at Henry's hands, Henry never faces any sort of comeuppance for his numerous murders, and the movie ends with him dumping a suitcase that is strongly implied to contain the remains of Otis' sister Becky (Tracy Arnold), a woman who loved Henry and was unaware of his true nature. He then drives on, presumably to commit more murders. 

While a great movie, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is not an easy watch in the slightest, and the fact that Henry never gets caught makes it all even grimmer.