This is a perfect little movie in its way, succeeding as a voyeuristic experience from start to finish with just the right balance of banality, surprise, horror, disgust and curiosity-arousal & satisfaction. Like watching the seamier part of life through a perpetual keyhole. The art is in the actors & director never giving the appearance of "artfulness". Bravo!!!

Mark Blair's 'Confessions of a Serial Killer' is a rather good film but – whether you like it or not – you automatically compare it to John McNaughton's 'Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer' and then it definitely loses the battle. Reviewing this movie actually states all the more how powerful and unequaled McNaughton's effort really is. 'Confessions...' is very grim, but 'Henry' is at least a dozen times more grim! Rober A. Burns is truly eerie in his role, but Michael Rooker is at least a dozen times eerier in his! 'Confessions...' is disturbing, but... You get the picture! Based on the testimonies of the real Henry Lee Lucas, Burns plays a forty-something Texan hillbilly who quietly and without showing any form of emotions unravels his life as a serial killer to a patient copper. How he picked up multiple hitch-hikers and later dumped their cadavers in peaceful meadows. How he managed to stay out of the police's reach by being on the road all the time, etc... There's very few explicit material featuring in this film and that rather disappointed me. Not that I'm a sick puppy but a documentary about a serial killer is much more realistic when you're exposed to raw, shocking or even downright repulsive footage. Like it was the case in (sorry for bringing it up again) 'Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer". . The film is suspenseful, however, and the extended sequences of Daniel Ray chasing terrified victims though corn fields are truly unsettling The character drawings of Moon Lewton (Daniel Ray's homosexual accomplice) and his sister Molly are weak and the giant anti-climax is sorely disappointing. It's pretty much like the title says: confessions! You sit and listen to a man clarifying his vile acts, but you never really get inside his twisted mind or guess for the motivations of his insane behavior. Worth seeing but certainly not a must.

CONFESSIONS OF A SERIAL KILLER (1985) is an effective but extremely gruelling and realistic low budget serial killer drama, based on the true-life story of Henry Lee Lucas whose crimes inspired the better-known HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER with Michael Rooker. That's also the better film, although this has plenty of merit for those who enjoy this dark, graphic genre. Robert Burns stars as Daniel Ray Hawkins, a bisexual butcher who murders his way through a string of innocent young women in rural Texas with the aid of a couple of similarly deranged companions.

I'd never heard of this particular film before watching it - uncut - on Amazon Prime. It's quite the experience, extremely nihilistic in its depiction of rape and murder, sometimes occuring at the same time. The performances are nothing to write home about, but the direction is unflinching and the content extremely gruelling. To be classed alongside the likes of MANIAC and SNOWTOWN, a film you need to follow with a cold shower to get out of your system.