2009-09-01
N/A
90 min
Inspired by one of America’s most prolific and controversial serial killers, this movie details Henry’s life from his abusive childhood in Blacksburg, Virginia to his violent killing sprees as he drifted across the south with his best friend and young fiancé. Concurrently the film also follows the story of how Henry duped the Texas Rangers by confessing to many more murders.
Drifter, Shifter, Fanciful Mister.
Serial killer movies have become two a penny, it feels like at least a couple come out each year. This one, directed by Michael Feifer, just feels like old hat, like it is treading water to make a point that has been made a hundred times before. It doesn’t help that Henry Lee Lucas has already been covered in brilliantly grainy fashion previously with John McNaughton’s 1990 skin itcher Henry: Portrait OF A Serial Killer, which quite frankly is superior to this in every department. On the plus side are the performances of Antonio Sabato Jr. (Henry) and Kostas Sommer (Ottis), where the former is broody and twitchy, the latter hyper insane, but ultimately it achieves nothing. Kudos, however, is due for at least cleaving close to what facts of the case are known to be true. 4/10
