Other Titles • The Silence of the Lambs • Das Schweigen der Lämmer (1991)
Synopses for The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
1.
Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins will likely be forever associated with their roles in this bone-chilling masterpiece, based on the novel by Thomas Harris and directed by Jonathan Demme. FBI trainee Clarice Starling (Foster) is sent by her supervisor (Scott Glenn) to interview ferociously intelligent serial killer Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lechter (Hopkins) at his cell in a Maryland mental hospital. The FBI hopes Lechter can provide insight into the mind of killer-at-large, Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine), whose current abductee happens to be the daughter of a senator. Intrigued by Clairice, Lechter demands information about her personal life and in exchange for clues, and the two begin to form a strangely intimate connection, with a girl's life hanging in the balance. Starling is gradually revealed as a woman struggling out of her own darkness, bound to aid the dysfunctional males around her on their own paths of transformation, liberation, and destruction. This is a film of brilliant and disturbing beauty that transcends its B-movie origins (though it does honor them with a cameo appearance by Roger Corman). Its enduring influence has led to a slew of similarly dark-toned serial killer films, and a sequel, HANNIBAL (2001).
(7 votes)
2.
FBI agent Clarice Starling is sent to interview imprisoned killer Dr. Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter. She hopes he might reveal information about another crazed killer known only as "Buffalo Bill," who is abducting young women, starving them, and then killing them. Lecter's brilliant mind is intrigued by the beautiful Starling, and he begins giving her mystifying clues which could be helpful or merely a game. The terror builds as "Buffalo Bill" grabs another victim and the countdown to death begins again. Finding the madman means Starling must get inside Lecter's mind. To stop the killer, she must enter a terrifying race against death.
(6 votes)
3.
Seven Deleted Scenes!
From Thomas Harris' novel, director Jonathan Demme explodes and reconstructs a classic genre, laying a foundation of emotional and political commitment beneath a perfectly constructed psychological thriller. Fourteen years after her controversial role in TAXI DRIVER, Jodie Foster finally makes the transformation from helpless victim to rescuing hero in this dark, gender-bending fairy tale on an American obsession: serial murder. As Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lecter, Anthony Hopkins is the archetypal antihero-cultured, quick-witted, uncontainable--a portrait of all the sharpest human faculties gone diabolically wrong. Winner of five 1991 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Screenplay Adaptation for Ted Tally.
(6 votes)
4.
Prepare yourself for the most exciting, mesmerising and terrifying two hours of your life!
This title is out of print. The rights are now owned by MGM. There will be a special edition coming out later in the year for this title.
(5 votes)
5.
The Hannibal Lecter Series
Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins deliver sensational, Oscar-winning performances in this "shockingly powerful thriller" (New York) that garnered five Academy Awards, including Best Picture!
(5 votes)
6.
Based on Thomas Harris's novel, Jonathan Demme's terrifying adaptation of Silence of the Lambs contains only a couple of genuinely shocking moments (one involving an autopsy, the other a prison break). The rest of the film is a splatter-free visual and psychological descent into the hell of madness, redeemed astonishingly by an unlikely connection between a monster and a haunted young woman.
Anthony Hopkins is extraordinary as the cannibalistic psychiatrist Dr Hannibal Lecter, virtually entombed in a subterranean prison for the criminally insane. At the behest of the FBI, agent-in-training Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) approaches Lecter, requesting his insights into the identity and methods of a serial killer named Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine). In exchange, Lecter demands the right to penetrate Starling's most painful memories, creating a bizarre but palpable intimacy that liberates them both under separate but equally horrific circumstances.
Demme, a filmmaker with a uniquely populist vision (Melvin and Howard, Something Wild), also spent his early years making pulp for Roger Corman (Caged Heat) and he hasn't forgotten the significance of tone, atmosphere and the unsettling nature of a crudely effective close-up. Much of the film, in fact, consists of actors staring straight into the camera (usually from Clarice's point of view), making every bridge between one set of eyes to another seem terribly dangerous. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com
On the DVD: On disc one, the film itself looks clinically sharp in a faultless widescreen (1.85:1) anamorphic transfer, while the Dolby 5.1 soundtrack makes the most of the chilling sound effects and Howard Shore's masterfully understated score. Unlike the Region 1 Criterion Collection, however, there is no audio commentary at all. On the second disc, the all-new hour-long "making-of" documentary features contributions from the screenwriter, producer, composer, costume designer, make-up effects people and even the moth wrangler ("There were no moths harmed in the filming!") as well as Ted Levine (Buffalo Bill) and Anthony Hopkins, who talks at length about creating Lecter. Conspicuous by their absence are Jonathan Demme and Jodie Foster. Aside from the usual trailers and stills gallery there are 21 deleted scenes, many of which are not whole scenes but deleted excerpts, a promotional featurette made in 1991 and an outtakes reel that proves the cast really did have fun making this scary picture. For those who want to scare all their friends, there's also an answerphone message from Anthony Hopkins "in character". --Mark Walker
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