The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Newly
recruited FBI Agent Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) is still in training at the
academy, when she is called into the office by her superior. The case at hand
involves the abduction of several young women in the Tennessee area. The killer
– known in the area as Buffalo Bill – has a disturbing MO, and is so far
eluding the search at every turn. The FBI theorize that an institutionalized
psychologist may be able to help them with creating a profile and tracking down
the killer before his latest victim suffers a horrible death. But the
psychologist has an MO of his own – eating people – and is known as Dr Hannibal
“The Cannibal” Lecter (Anthony Hopkins).
Agent
Starling visits him in a psychiatric prison, and a relationship begins to take
shape. Hannibal will help, but in return he wants to know everything about
Clarice – her past, her dreams, and her nightmares. Starling goes on a journey into the mind of a
killer, and is forever changed, while behind glass walls and iron bars,
Hannibal Lecter plans his great escape.
The Serial
Killer genre of films was prevalent before the 1990’s, but hadn’t really found
it’s legs. As the 80’s was populated by horror franchises featuring Boogeymen
like Freddy, Jason and Pinhead, there wasn’t much room for a serial killer
grounded in reality. It took mining the world of books to dig up Silence of the
Lambs (written by Thomas Harris) to create this gem of a movie. Based on the
second book of the Hannibal Lecter character, the series had been adapted
for the screen before with the movie “Manhunter” based on the novel Red Dragon.
Lecter was portrayed by actor Brian Cox in that film, but it didn’t take the
box office by storm. It was the casting of Anthony Hopkins in the key role of
Hannibal Lecter that made all the difference.
If serial
killer films didn’t have a huge following before the 90’s, the 90’s can thank
Silence of the Lambs for setting the genre on fire. With its resounding success
as a novel and a film, the movie is one of only a few to take out the Top 5
awards at the annual Oscars – Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best
Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay. It terrified audiences with its disturbing
subject matter, and thrilled us with its captivating performances. Hopkins was
so deliciously evil as Lecter, he became one of cinemas most iconic horror
characters, and would go on to play the role two more times with “Hannibal” in
2000, and another adaptation of “Red Dragon” in 2002. Jodie Foster also made
her mark on the 90’s with her award-winning performance, and enjoyed a decade
of steady success and box office hits. If it weren’t for this movie, and all
the ways it impacted cinema, there would certainly be no “Seven”, “Copycat”,
“Kiss the Girls” and pretty much every other serial killer film of the 90’s and
beyond.
If you
haven’t done yourself the favour and watched Silence of the Lambs, you are
truly missing out on a landmark film. Even if it was made and set in the 90’s,
it is not bound to any era, and still scares and shocks to this day. It paved
the way for actors to immerse themselves in roles so deeply, they made us believe
we were watching a real monster on screen, and not just a skilled performer. It
continues to stand as the best work Hopkins and Foster have ever done, and
sends a chill down the spine every time Hannibal so eloquently describes the
time a census-taker once tried to test him; “I ate his liver, with some fava
beans, and a nice Chianti” followed by a hissing sound like a snake was trying
to leap out of his body. Terrifying stuff.
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