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| “ | The eternal serpent will free you child. Be my fifth. Be my fifth. I will wash you in the river. Your blood will feed the river. | „ |
| ~ Henri possessing Deborah and making her speak in French. |
Henri Desjardins is the main antagonist of the live-action horror film The Taking of Deborah Logan. He is a former pediatrician from Quebec that sought to become immortal through performing a Monacan blood ritual, but failed after being murdered by the original fifth victim's mother, Deborah Logan. Years after his death, he took over the now mentally unstable body of Deborah, and he planned to finish the ritual by murdering a young cancer patient named Cara.
He was portrayed by Kevin A. Campbell.
Biography[]
Past[]
It is unknown when and where Henri was born, but some of his past is revealed through photos. Henri served as a pediatrician in Quebec as well as a boy-scout troop leader. He was apparently well known and respected, having done a lot of pro-bona work.
After Henri found out that he was dying of Lou Gehrig's disease in the 1970s, he became obsessed with trying to make himself immortal. He decided that he would attempt this by preforming a very specific Monacan blood ritual, the "cauterized symbol of the snake consuming itself". The ritual involved murdering four young girls, and while it isn't explicitly said what is needed to be done to the bodies, we know that they were all found with serpentine carvings on their foreheads, parts of their body having been cannibalized, and traces of rattlesnake venom were found in their blood. The place of their murder, the Monacan Mines, was chosen specifically because it was a cave system sacred to the natives, having fed directly into the river rouge. The sacrifice involved five girls being sacrificed during the times of their first menstruations (periods), and their blood would bleed flowers. Their period blood would be offered to "The Demon", in exchange for immortality.
Henri was never a suspect of as he went missing around when they occurred. A month after his disappearance, a paper boy directed authorities to a home with a strange odor emitting from within it. When the home was inspected, it was revealed that it was filled with hundreds of various species of snakes, Monacan totems, and books on rituals. Henri then became the prime suspect of the killing of these four murders, but despite having a search that spanned through several boarders, he was never found. Even stranger, the murders stopped, meaning the ritual was never completed. Little did anyone know, that Deborah Logan had murdered Henri and buried his body at her home after finding out that her daughter was to be the fifth victim. It was here that his spirit laid dormant, until Deborah's mental state began to dwindle due to her old age.
The Taking of Deborah Logan[]
Throughout the duration of the film, Henri possessed Deborah and forces her to continue with his sinister plot. After Deborah experienced a demonic episode involving her nude self continuously plugging into the number 337 on her old switch board, the crew was able to track the number back to Henri Desjardins. After learning of who he was, Deborah's daughter Sarah revealed that he she remembered the curfews she had while there were searches going on for him. She was surprised that the crewman did not know who he was, as he was a known infamous legend. She also stated that there was a documentary on him, which they proceeded to view. This is when we are introduced to Henri's first four victims and a documentary about his life.
Sarah and another crew member later went to visit the interviewee, who told them that the most logical explanation was that Deborah became obsessed with Henri so much to the point that she believed that she was him. Sarah protested to this notion, to which he responded by telling her that "spiritual parasites" were not uncommon among cultures. The idea was that weak minds were susceptible to vengeful spirits/entities, the young, very old, and (the most susceptible) mentally unstable. He then reveals a story of when he visited a town in Africa, a young mother had her son die. Having been so distraught over his loss, she held his rotting corpse for more than a month. She began taking on attributes of the boy, ultimately becoming possessed by him. She wasn't lifted from the curse until a local witch doctor burned the boy's body.
Deborah was eventually admitted to a hospital. In the hospital, Henri used his powers to smash Deborahs husband's head with a T.V. after Deborah requested that he kill her. While in the hospital, Henri decided to take it upon himself to make one of the hospital's patience into his next victims. This next victim would turn out to be would turn out to be a young girl named Cara.
While this was going on, Sarah and the crew were told by Sarah's father where the body was buried. After going back to the house to retrieve the body, they found it in the basement. They quickly dug it up and took it with them to the Monacan Mines. Meanwhile, Henri had used Deborah's body to lure Cara out of the hospital and towards the Monacan Mines. Along the way, authorities attempted to apprehend Deborah several times, but Henri was able to kill them. Once making it into the Monacan Mines, Henri attempted to use Deborah's body to devour the girl, but he was stopped by the camera crew. The crew then proceeded to drop Henri's original body onto the ground and burn it while Henri (in Deborah's body) laughed maniacally.
At the end of the movie, Cara was seen having been carried out with a bullet wound on her head. Apparently, Deborah's condition began to worsen rapidly, and was loosing her functioning skills, making her unworthy of going on trials for the crimes "she" committed. The movie ends with Cara having recovered from her leukemia, and she was celebrating her birthday. A news crew was filming this and a small interview was then held with her. The reporter asked her what she wanted to do now that she was turning whatever age she was (it was not specified). She responded by saying that she doesn't know, to which the reporter told her that she'd better make a plan. She told him that he had one, but when asked what it was, she responded by telling him that it was a secret. The reporter then thanked her for letting them report on her birthday party, and continued giving his report. Cara then slowly looked into the camera, a smile slowly beginning to manifest across her face, implying that she was now in fact possessed by Henri.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Henri possesses many snake like/related powers. For starters, when the protagonists were in his spiritual or physical presence, black snakes would appear in an abundance. As for physically, Henri himself possesses many traits of snakes. He (as Deborah) was seen biting a security guard in a snake like manner, causing them to double over and die, possibly due to poison. We see this mainly when he is possessing Deborah, spitting acid at one of the police officers faces, and and making Deborah attempt to swallow Cara in a snake-like manner. All of his victims were found with snake-venom in their bloodstream, which may have been caused by him when he ate their body parts.
- One of Henri's key traits is his ability to possess other beings, such as Deborah and (implied) Cara.
- When possessing Deborah, Henri also demonstrated many paranormal-type powers. One of the first abilities we are introduced to is his ability to make Deborah teleport, which is antically what aroused the concern over her when it was caught on camera. He also appears to have Telekinesis, being able to throw the TV at Harris through and invisible force when he was attempting to kill Deborah (in order to get rid of Henri).
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Whether or not Cara is possessed because the ritual worked or because Cara's mind was susceptible (being a child with cancer) is unknown.
- Much of Henri's beliefs and background is unknown, but it was revealed through the photos in the documentary that he is a Boy's Scouts troop leader.
- When Henri's body failed to burn and the gang ran outside, a face was seen watching them, which prompted them to scream and run away. It's hard to tell who the face is, but it extremely similar to that of Henri.
- Henri Desjardins does not exist, he is a fictional character. There is no truth behind the backstory that he was given in the film.