Review: ‘Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer’ still delivers potent depiction of evil

John McNaughton’s notorious indie calling card, the bleak, violent, slice-of-death 1986 film “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer,” would hardly seem like the kind of film you’d want to see treated like a lost treasure. Yet, 30 years later we have a new 4K restoration, and believe it or not, the impact of its original 16-millimeter graininess is a potent reminder that at one time, true independent horror was mean, cold and unforgiving.

Michael Rooker’s breakout turn as the dead-eyed, homicidal lurker in the puke-green sedan is still chilling: murderer as working stiff. His recruiting of pervy lout Otis (the actively creepy Tom Towles, sporting the ugliest teeth in movie history) into his nihilistic doings is a black parody of be-all-you-can-be narratives (“Feel better?” he calmly inquires after each goaded kill), while Henry’s politeness toward Otis’ sister Becky (an affecting Tracy Arnold) — a sexual abuse victim on the run from a brutal husband — is arguably the movie’s cruelest touch.

McNaughton’s approach to the numerous killings can be tonally haphazard. The opening montage is a series of bloody aftermath tableaux out of an art installation, while other murders are depicted in full, and a few are played for laughs. (See female hitchhiker with guitar, cut to Henry strolling into his apartment with guitar.) But the overall tone of quotidian horror, despite the occasional dated stylistic touch, remains powerfully disturbing, a vision of evil that’s man-sized, random and unexamined.

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‘Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer’

Running time: 1 hour, 23 minutes

Not rated

Playing: Laemmle NoHo 7, North Hollywood

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