Dorathen Better Late Then Never

TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Loui Blair It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

BA_Harrison Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is one of the most disturbing serial killer flicks of all time, but seemed to me to be an unlikely candidate for the sequel treatment: despite receiving praise from serious horror fans, the original film's grim subject matter and unflinching approach to cold-blooded murder was hardly blockbuster material, meaning no-one was ever going to get rich or famous by making a follow up.But what surprises me even more than the fact that a sequel was actually made, is that this film, a virtual rehash of the original bereft of both the first film's star, Michael Rooker, and its director, John McNaughton, actually turns out to be much better than I had expected: it is suitably repugnant, sleazy, violent and shocking, and even though it never quite matches the power of McNaughton's classic, it's an effective little serial killer flick that refuses to pull its punches and certainly doesn't deserve to be ignored.In Mask of Sanity, Neil Giuntoli replaces Rooker in the central role of Henry, a seemingly mild but psychotic drifter who leaves a trail of death wherever he goes. Penniless and homeless, Henry finds himself a job servicing porta-loos, where he makes friends with workmate Kai (Rich Komenich) who invites Henry to stay with his family, sexy wife Cricket (Kate Walsh) and geeky niece Louisa (Carri Levinson), until he can find more permanent lodgings.When Henry discovers that Kai has been setting fire to warehouses for a little extra cash, his newfound pal cuts him in on the deal; in return, Henry shows Kai how he keeps busy in his spare time: by murdering people!Writer/director Chuck Parello does a pretty good job at emulating McNaughton's style, taking time to build his characters and develop their relationships whilst also presenting scenes of extreme violence in a cold, matter of fact style. At first Neil Giuntoli is hard to accept as Henry, being less physically imposing than Rooker (thanks to his rather short stature), but once he has done away with a few innocent people in brutal and bloody fashion, there is no doubt that he was a good choice for the part. If you're not even a little bit frightened of Giuntoli's Henry after he casually hacks off one poor victim's head with a knife, you're made of tougher stuff than me!Admittedly, Mask of Sanity rarely strays from the formula set by the first film, even going so far as to start with a montage of Henry's earlier victims and end with a nihilistic finalé that sees the killer lay waste to virtually everyone he knows before once again moving on; but even though the format is familiar, this unlikely sequel is definitely more hit than miss.

Tromafreak Yeah, yeah, I know. Different director, and a different Henry, even. Not quite what I had in mind, either. Perhaps a bit insulting, if you're like me, and you think highly of Henry 1, that is, unless you're, once again, like me and have extremely low standards for Horror, and are used to that sort of inconvinence, because there sure is whole lot of it. So, as far as half-ass sequels with different directors, and an all together different feel goes, this one is actually pretty good. Good, but not awesome, at least not compared to the original, which. by the way, is a masterpiece, but let's try not to hold that against Chuck Parello's underdog of a sequel. Henry 2 picks up some time after the events of the original. Henry is broke, desperate, and completely out of his mind. Henry ends up with a job cleaning porta-potties, and soon gets friendly with a co-worker and his wife (Kai and Cricket), resulting in a place to crash for a few days. Polite at first, Henry makes himself right at home after discovering Kai's hobbie... firebug. Naturally, Henry wants to play, and soon Henry introduces Kai to his own games, quickly turning this regular joe firebug into a bloodthirsty killer. But as we all know, Henry is only capable of playing well with others for so long.I take it we weren't supposed to notice that the new Henry is about a foot shorter than Michael Rooker. In that case, forget I said anything. Henry 2 Mask Of Sanity is a much better stand-alone movie than one may think, and also has a lot going for it in the violence and terror department, despite being in the shadow of Henry one. for those who can really appreciate a quality sequel, Troll 2 is waiting. And as for Henry 2, this may sound strange, but this movie really is a worthy sequel. 7/10

a.north This is nothing more than a series of badly staged violent scenes base around the perpertrators situation with his unfortunate house friends and the wider community.Apart from reasonable photography at times this picture has no merit which was annoying as the local T.V. guide gave it 5 stars!

A-Ron-2 I had no intention of seeing this piece of schlock, but finally caved into temptation. I had to see why anyone would bother to make a sequel to a film that obviously did not need one (much like Jaws), well I did not expect much and got even less. This film is a gratuitous waste of time that has nothing like the intensity of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. Henry was not a slasher film, it is human portrait, better yet a sort of cynical comment on films about real people. Henry Lee Lucas was a real person, but certainly not the type of person that has any right being venerated in film. Even if he did not kill all of the people that he claimed to, he is still a degenerate who has still killed.This film was a meditation on the type of mind that can do these horrible things, it is a commentary on the evil in man's heart. Henry was not exploitive in any way (which is why I object to it being placed in the Horror section at video stores and its being referred to as a Slasher film), it was grim and unpleasantly realistic. It did not attempt to be entertaining, whereas this pathetic sequel does, it tries to portray Henry as a slasher or a character rather than the simple, banal evil of the original film. I am completely baffled by the fact that this film was ever made and what possibly could have motivated it (well, money of course, but thats not an excuse).