John McNaughton

A talented independent filmmaker whose bleak, chilling vision of society has garnered him considerable critical praise, John McNaughton has also engendered at least an equal amount of controversy. His first feature film, "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer," was not distributed for over three years after its completion in 1986--partly as a result of its precarious financial provenance, but also because of its relentless but nonjudgmental examination of the pathology of the real-life Henry Lee Lucas. "Henry" was the first film over which a production company sued the MPPA for the X rating it received. Eventually, McNaughton's powerful and insightful if extremely unnerving film, with its final shooting cost of only $120,000, became a cult hit on the art house circuit and even made the annual "Top 10" lists of TIME, USA TODAY and the CHICAGO TRIBUNE.