Who wrote the film Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer loosely based on real life serial killers Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole?
Ottis Toole Ottis Elwood Toole (March 5, 1947 – September 15, 1996) was an American drifter and serial killer who was convicted of six counts of murder. Like his companion Henry Lee Lucas, Toole made confessions he later recanted, but which resulted in murder convictions. The discrediting of the case against Lucas for crimes in which Toole had offered corroborating statements created doubts as to whether either was a genuine serial killer or, as Hugh Aynesworth suggested, both were merely compliant interviewees whom police used to clear unsolved murders from the books. Toole received two death sentences, but on appeal they were commuted to life imprisonment. He died in his cell from cirrhosis, aged 49. Police attributed the murder of Adam Walsh to Toole on the basis of recanted statements. Lucas had backed Toole's confession to the Walsh murder, claiming he had been in possession of the victim's severed head.
The Stepfather (1987 film) The Stepfather is a 1987 American psychological horror thriller film directed by Joseph Ruben and starring Terry O'Quinn, Jill Schoelen and Shelley Hack. O'Quinn stars as Henry Morrison, an identity-assuming serial killer who remarries a widow with a teenage daughter. After previously killing his family and changing his identity, his killing spree continues after his stepdaughter becomes suspicious about him. It is loosely based on the life of mass murderer John List, although the plot is more commonly associated with slasher films of the era than a true story. The film was written by Donald E. Westlake, from a story by Westlake, Carolyn Lefcourt and Brian Garfield.