Overview
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).
Awards:
1991 - Academy Awards - Best Picture - Winner
1991 - Academy Awards - Best Actress - Winner
1991 - Academy Awards - Best Actor - Winner
1991 - Academy Awards - Best Director - Winner
1991 - Academy Awards - Best Adapted Screenplay - Winner
Main Cast & Crew:
Jonathan Demme - Director
Jodie Foster
Anthony Hopkins
Scott Glenn
Ted Levine
Anthony Heald
Kasi Lemmons
Brooke Smith
Frankie Faison
Charles Napier
Roger Corman
Details
- Format: Blu-ray (Digital Theater System, AC-3, Dolby, Dubbed, Widescreen)
- Run Time: 118
- Color Format: Color
- UPC: 027616071514
- Genre: HORROR / SCI-FI / FANTASY
- Rating: R (MPAA) ((Un-Rated))
- Release Date: March 2009
Movie Reviews
Notes:
Theatrical release: February 13, 1991.
Filmed on location in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Washington, DC.
Shooting began on November 15, 1989, and wrapped on March 1, 1990.
Estimated budget: $19 million.
THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS is number 65 on the American Film Institute's list of America's 100 Greatest Movies.
To perfect the voice of Hannibal, Anthony Hopkins based his speech on the dry voice of the Hal 9000 computer from 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.
Hopkins won the Best Actor Oscar despite being in the film for no more than 30 minutes, the shortest screen appearance for any Best Actor winner.
THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS actually features the second screen appearance of Hannibal Lecter. Played by Brian Cox, the character first appears in Michael Mann's MANHUNTER, which is based on the Thomas Harris novel RED DRAGON.
Roger Corman plays FBI Director Hayden Burke in the film.
Demme regular Charles Napier plays Boyle.
Chris Isaak appears briefly as a SWAT commander.
Try to catch how many times Anthony Hopkins blinks in various scenes....
The sequel, HANNIBAL, opened on February 9, 2001. Ridley Scott took over the direction, and Julianne Moore played Clarice Starling instead of Jodie Foster. Hopkins again played Hannibal, deliciously.
Reviews:
"...Superbly crafted....THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS slams you like a sudden blast of bone-chilling, pulse-pounding terror..." - 03/07/1991 Rolling Stone, p.87-8
"...A sombre masterpiece....The film creates a world drained of light, counterpointed by a sinister and unsettling score..." - 06/01/1991 Sight and Sound, p.62-3
"...[A] superbly crafted, unsettling movie....Demme pumps up the tension to a deafening din..." -- 4 out of 4 stars - 02/14/1991 USA Today, p.1D
"LAMBS remains a great film. A groundbreaking film." -- Grade: A - 02/02/2007 Entertainment Weekly, p.111
"...Hopkins' performance may be the film's bravura showpiece, but Foster's goes the whole distance, steadfast, controlled, heartbreakingly insightful, a fine addition to her gallery of characterizations..." - 02/13/1991 Los Angeles Times, p.F1
"Hopkins's portrayal of the world's most urbane serial killer is a wonder of both actorly invention and villainous instinct." - 04/01/2004 Premiere, p.70
4 stars out of 5 -- "[S]till the definitive upmarket serial killer thriller, achieving the almost unprecedented feat of winning all five major Oscar categories..." - 03/01/2006 Uncut, p.134
5 stars out of 5 -- "[A] rare horror that transcends the genre and has arguably become a modern classic." - 03/01/2007 Ultimate DVD, p.114
5 stars out of 5 -- "One of Demme’s great skills is his sense of balance; set pieces are alternately propelled by ratcheting tension and slow, mounting dread, while his exquisite match cuts between parallel storylines keep the pace nimble." - 11/05/2017 The Guardian
"LAMBS is still the freakiest best picture ever, with an unnerving Anthony Hopkins as cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter..." - 04/08/2021 USA Today
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