Entertainment
The 1980s Thriller So Extreme, It Almost Didn’t Make It Past The Censors
By Robert Scucci
| Published
Most serial killer movies land firmly in the R rated category so they can see a wide theatrical release and score big with horror fans at the box office. 1986’s Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, on the other hand, was deemed so extreme when it made its early rounds through the festival circuit that it was slapped with an X rating by the MPAA despite its positive reception. While several versions of the film have circulated over the years in an effort to secure an R rating, the unrated cut is currently streaming for free on Tubi, and it’s easy to see why the censors were all over this one.
By today’s standards, the violence in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer feels surprisingly restrained on a practical level. There are still a handful of brutally effective sequences in the second and third acts that will make your skin crawl, but it’s not necessarily the gore that risks putting you off. Much of the violence plays out like crime scene photographs taken after the fact rather than staged acts of carnage. That said, those images alone are more than enough to make you want to wash your eyeballs out with Listerine.
Based loosely on the life of real life serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, who famously claimed responsibility for hundreds of murders, and his associate Ottis Toole, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer leans into its depravity with a level of casual confidence that’s far more unsettling than stylized cinematic violence. It’s not the crimes themselves that are most disturbing here, but the people committing them as if it were just another day at work.
Simple Story, Complex Characters
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer wastes no time introducing its three principal characters. We first meet Henry (Michael Rooker) as he drifts from town to town, picking up hitchhikers and stopping at diners. These mundane routines are punctuated by shock cuts of the bodies he leaves behind, but we never actually see him commit the murders themselves. This approach tells you everything you need to know about Henry. He’s completely unassuming, and the contrast between his outward normalcy and the devastation he causes makes it clear how easily he blends in with society.
Meanwhile, Otis (Tom Towles), Henry’s former prison mate and current roommate, is returning from the airport with his sister Becky (Tracy Arnold), who will be staying with them for the time being. When Becky presses Henry about his past, he’s forthcoming about murdering his abusive mother, the crime that landed him in prison. Becky doesn’t immediately see Henry as a bad person because she comes from an abusive household herself and understands how desperate circumstances can push people to extreme behavior that they later regret.
As Becky searches for work and tries to get back on her feet with plans to eventually return home, Otis and Henry embark on an increasingly brutal crime spree that steadily escalates. It begins with Henry killing the call girls he and Otis are seeing, but takes a darker turn after they rob a fence and steal his video equipment. Otis quickly develops a sick fascination with filming their crimes and watching the footage back when they return home.
During this stretch, Henry lays out his philosophy for staying ahead of the law, explaining the importance of constantly changing his MO and staying on the move. As the body count rises, Otis’s lack of impulse control begins to clash with Henry’s colder, more methodical approach. Otis is reckless in a way that somehow makes Henry look almost reasonable by comparison, and that growing tension eventually puts the two men at odds.
A Total Punisher In The Best Kind Of Way
Visually and thematically, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is far from an easy watch. As a character study, it remains one of director John McNaughton’s most punishing and effective efforts because it refuses to pull its punches. The violence is disturbing on its own, but what lingers far longer is the sheer indifference behind it. Henry can be polite, patient, and accommodating with Becky, only to turn into a monster without warning.
That duality is the film’s most unsettling quality. One moment he’s helping Becky clean up after dinner. The next, he’s stepping out to murder a call girl with the same emotional investment you’d put into a late night gas station run for cigarettes. The lack of distinction between those two worlds is what makes the film so difficult to shake.
Boasting an 89 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is a certified fresh outing that grapples with subject matter that’s rotten to its core. Whether you can handle it is entirely up to you, but if you’re willing to find out, the unrated version is currently streaming for free on Tubi as of this writing.
Entertainment
Best Buy is running free Pokémon Trade and Play events this weekend — score free packs, trade, and shop exclusive collections
TL;DR: Best Buy is running free Pokémon Trade and Play events on Feb. 28 (12-2 p.m. local time). Participants can score free packs, trade cards, and shop exclusive collections.
We’ve made a lot of noise about Pokémon’s 30th birthday celebrations, and so has the rest of the world. We’ve seen genuine excitement over new Pokémon TCG releases, the first-ever Lego Pokémon sets, and the return of nostalgic Pokémon games, and it feels like there’s more to come from this special anniversary.
Best Buy is clearly feeling the party vibes. On Feb. 28 (12-2 p.m. local time), Best Buy stores across the country will host in-store Trade and Play events, with demo stations, Pokémon TCG trades, exclusive card drops, freebies, expert tuition, and a whole lot more. Attend solo, bring a friend, or gather together everyone from your neighborhood. This is going to be big.
Mashable Trend Report
Somehow still on the fence? Here’s a snapshot of what you can expect from these special events:
Before you set off, it’s important to check out Best Buy’s Pokémon page to find a Trade and Play event at a store near you. Once that’s sorted, you’re all set to capture the magic of Pokémon this weekend.
Topics
Pokemon
Trading Cards
Entertainment
Get the 65-inch Samsung The Frame Pro for $600 less at Amazon
SAVE 29%: As of Feb. 27, you can get the 65-inch Samsung The Frame Pro LED Smart TV (LS03FW, 2025) for $1,497.99, down from $2,097.99, at Amazon. That’s a 29% discount or $600 savings. It’s also the lowest price we’ve tracked to date!
$1,497.99
at Amazon
$2,097.99
Save $600.00
To say I despise the look of a giant TV sitting at the front of my living room would be putting it lightly. It’s just not my idea of a relaxing setting. That’s why I’ve always loved the concept of Samsung‘s The Frame TV. It’s designed to blend in with your decor and doubles as a piece of art when it’s not on.
As of Feb. 27, you can get the 65-inch Samsung The Frame Pro LED Smart TV (LS03FW, 2025) for $1,497.99, down from $2,097.99, at Amazon. That’s a 29% discount or $600 savings. It’s also the lowest price we’ve tracked to date!
The 2025 Frame Pro upgrades the standard viewing experience with a virtually glare-free screen featuring a subtle matte texture that makes the digital artwork look like a real, physical print. When you aren’t watching your favorite shows, it shifts into Art Mode, which lets you display a curated collection of museum-worthy pieces from the Art Store or even upload your own photos. Bonus: It comes with a Slim Fit Wall Mount to ensure the TV hangs nearly flush against your wall.
Mashable Deals
It uses a Neo QLED panel with mini LEDs for precise lighting, and it features a Wireless One Connect hub so you can hide all your messy cables away from the screen itself. It’s basically the most aesthetic TV on the market.
Entertainment
Raunchy, R-Rated Action Comedy From South Park Creators Nearly Broke Them
By Robert Scucci
| Published
There’s only one thing more amusing than watching 2004’s Team America: World Police, and that’s listening to the Season 8 commentary tracks on the South Park DVDs. Not only did Team America: World Police require a biblical amount of work from Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and their puppeteering production crew to pull it off, they were also concurrently working on their flagship series, a time they now refer to as the year from hell when looking back at this era of their careers.
Parker and Stone worked themselves into the ground with Team America: World Police, resulting in some of the most unhinged episodes South Park has to offer.
Episodes like “Cartman’s Incredible Gift,” which I consider essential viewing and a perfect entry point to the series, have commentary tracks from Parker and Stone suggesting they don’t even remember making the episode because they were so locked in at that point that they were putting very little thought into the minor details. They were contractually obligated to stick to their grueling production schedule, and relied on their manic, do-or-die energy to pull it off. The finale, “Woodland Critter Christmas,” one of South Park’s most notorious episodes, is another example of a zero-hour effort that was constantly reworked until just a day before it aired.
Team America’s Grueling Production
Always leading with what’s funny and figuring out how to do it later, Parker and Stone had no idea how complicated it would be to pull off their movie, which they fully intended to play like a Jerry Bruckheimer production starring marionettes. Dozens of scale replica set pieces were constructed, including Paris, Cairo, the Panama Canal, Mount Rushmore, and North Korea.
Their vision was simple. They wanted each location to look like how it’s depicted in action movies, and therefore how the average American thinks it looks.
Additionally, 270 puppet characters had to be built, along with over a thousand costumes to make Team America: World Police possible. Given the puppets’ roughly two-foot stature, countless props had to be custom made to accommodate their size, along with multiple animatronic heads that would be attached to their bodies. Controlling the puppets proved exhausting, resulting in unthinkably long shooting days with only a handful of usable dailies passed off to editors compared to films made through more conventional means. Rumor has it that designing Kim Jong-il’s glasses was a painstaking process due to camera glare, making them one of the most expensive props in the movie.
America, F*** Yeah!
Team America: World Police centers on the titular international counterterrorist organization, run by its fearless leader, Spottswoode (Daran Norris). Under his command are psychologist Lisa, psychic Sarah, martial arts expert Chris, Carson, and all American jock Joe. Together, they fight terrorism by causing so much collateral damage to whatever locale they visit, that a terrorist attack would actually leave the area better off. When Carson is killed and a new threat reveals itself, Spottswoode recruits Gary Johnston, a Broadway actor, to use his acting skills to infiltrate various terrorist factions.
Meanwhile, Kim Jong-il is revealed to be the true mastermind behind the terrorists, and the supplier of WMDs, unbeknownst to Team America, resulting in the Film Actors Guild throwing Team America under the bus for their sloppy, reckless work.
If you’ve never had the pleasure of watching Team America: World Police, all you need to know is that it carries itself like every over the top action movie, but with enough raunch that it almost landed an NC-17 rating.
By then, knowing exactly how to work with censors, Parker and Stone knew what they had to do. By filming a prolonged sex scene with the puppets that was far longer than what they needed for the film, they simply waited for the production notes explaining how short the scene would have to be in order to secure an R rating.
Appreciate The Hustle
Though it’s not my favorite Trey Parker and Matt Stone vehicle, Team America: World Police is indirectly responsible for some of the best episodes South Park has to offer. Had they not taken on such an ambitious project while also working on the series in tandem, we may have never gotten episodes like “Good Times with Weapons,” “Awesome-O,” “Goobacks,” “Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes,” “Quest for Ratings,” or “Cartman’s Incredible Gift.”
Don’t get me wrong. Matt Damon only being capable of saying his own name, poorly, in Team America: World Police because his puppet came off the production line looking a little dim is comedy gold. But topical political humor is fleeting. South Park is forever.
Team America: World Police is streaming on Paramount+.
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