Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)

Director: John McNaughton
Stars: Michael Rooker, Tom Towles, Tracy Arnold, David Katz

Spend 90 minutes with Henry Lee Lucas (an exceptional Michael Rooker) and you’ll want to program an all-day Disney movie marathon shortly after, simply to remind yourself that it’s not all bad.

One of the creepiest and most probing examinations of a (fictional) homicidal maniac ever put to film, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is virtually plot-less, centering on the titular Henry and his matter-of-fact approach to gruesome slaughter and sexual depravation, all of which he captures on a rinky-dink video camera.

The film’s director, John McNaughton (who’d go on to direct 1998’s Wild Things), cleverly lets his camera just observe the madness, never cutting away whenever Henry gets to his death-for-the-sport-of-it work. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer rubs the viewers’ faces in its sadism, as if Henry himself is saying, “You wanted to watch this? Here you go.” Stream at your own risk.