Most critics find Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer still disturbing decades on, and they praise it for much the same reasons. The consensus is that McNaughton’s rough, documentary-style direction, which declines to judge its killer, is what makes the film so cold and so hard to shake off. Michael Rooker’s understated performance is singled out again and again as the source of the fright: an ordinary man doing terrible things without emphasis.
The reservations are about age and purpose. Several critics say the violence lands less hard than it once did, that the score has dated badly and that the cheap production shows. Empire questions what the film is for and finds one plot turn hard to credit. The Guardian goes furthest, finding little left in it beyond a few lingering shocks. The spread is wide, from five stars to near dismissal, and the doubters are mostly writing about later re-releases rather than the film’s first appearance.