Confessions of a Serial Killer (1985, Mark Blair)

Much like John McNaughton's gritty and more well-known film "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer", Mark Blair's "Confessions of a Serial Killer" explores the life of the notorious psychopath Henry Lee Lucas. I don't think it's possible to review this one without bringing up McNaughton's sadistic flick due to the matching subject matter, gruesome tone and the fact that both came out around the same time and, while "Henry" will always reign supreme as far as I'm concerned, "Confessions" holds it's own just fine.

A prolific Texas serial killer by the name of Daniel Ray Hawkins is in police custody and spilling his guts about a pile of unsolved murder and missing persons cases that he claims to have been involved with. The bulk of the movie is told via flashbacks with him, his homosexual partner in crime and, later on, his buddy's sister who joins in on their tour of mercilessly misogynistic spree-killing...

This flick is nowhere near as graphic and sick as "Henry". In fact, it's downright tame when it comes to violence and gory mayhem, though I felt it made up for this little 'shortcoming' by maintaining a nicely uncomfortable look and feel, some realistically sinister acting and characters and really good suspense in parts. Really, the movie would have been top-notch if it had just delivered a little more in the brutality department and, perhaps, added a little more psychology behind his desire to kill, which is barely touched upon in the brief look at his fucked up childhood. Still, "Confessions of a Serial Killer" is an effective and entertaining serial killer film. Again, not as disturbing and memorable as the Michael Rooker flick, but surely worthy of checking out.