One of my favourite films of all time - which makes me a little bit strange in my family's eyes! The film tells the story of you young FBI Cadet/Trainee Clarice Starling's (Jody Foster) first big case. She's thrown into the wolves den and asked to interview an infamous cannibalistic serial killer, Dr Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter (Anthony Hopkins). Little does she know that she was chosen for ulterior motives, nether the less, she manages to extract information by forming a close bond with Dr Lecter - something nobody previously has been able to do. The information she is trying to get should lead to the capture of another serial killer, Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine) who has previously cross paths with Dr Lecter. Currently terrorising the eastern states of the US, he's killed five victims and kidnapping the senator's daughter. Lots of psychological warfare is and will be used in order to get the required information and track down the killer before it's too late for the senators daughter.Based on a Thomas Harris book of the same name this is actually one of those rare things, a film which doesn't ruin the feeling left by the book. Directed by Jonathan Demme the film is dark and tense, and acts as a benchmark for thrillers and horrors - proving you don't have to go overboard on gore or graphic visuals to make something haunting and memorable.The casting is brilliant and believable but its Hopkins and Foster who really drive this film from start to finish. Hopkins in particular delivers a performance which is classy but scary at the same time and will forever live in cult memory. From the minute you first glimpse Lecter in his cell, watching the wide eyed Starling approach you sense that something isn't right with him - massive credit to Hopkins for this delivery, it's haunting and disturbed, a kin to a caged predator watching curiously to see what has just entered his cage and what he can do with it for fun. Ask somebody to quote a line from the film and 9 times out of 10 it's be a quote about fava beans and Chianti. The visuals are dark and dirty, Demme chose washed out, almost sepia, colours throughout the film and it really adds a lot of texture to the experience. It almost feels like you've got dirty by watching the dirtiness of what's happening in front of you. I loved this film and would happily watch it any time I happen to catch it repeated. This is rare example of film which tests my ability to rate it - I refuse to give out 10's but that self-imposed rule could have been broken for this masterpiece so easily. 9 out of 10.

Sweeping a feat at the Oscars that only two other films have ever accomplished, The Silence of the Lambs keeps you on the edge of your seat. Literally. Or hiding under a blanket and a bowl of popcorn. The characters instead of making an eye line between each other often talk straight into the camera where you automatically are put in an uneasy seat. The intensity is directed right at you. And the story becomes more immersive. A perfect once in a lifetime combination happened when you get spectacular acting, writing, and directing all in one 2 hour time block...it still gets my heart racing. If you haven't seen this movie, I recommend it to anyone seeking a mental thriller. Perhaps once deemed gory in the early 90's, but by today's standard the film sits pretty tame but again mentally thrilling. There's no "boo" in this film. But you still might be brimming with fear by the third act. Enjoy movie lovers.

The Silence of the Lambs is only the third movie to win all 5 major Oscars (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is another): Best Picture, Director, Actor (and Anthony Hopkins has some of the least screen time for a best actor winner), Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It is the only horror film to ever win Best Picture, and it made all sorts of money-- staying on top of the box office for like 5 weeks and already having made back its budget in the first. So the data coming in would say that I would probably write a review on how good Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster were, and how this is such a landmark horror film that would rival The Shining as being the best ever. But I'm not going to. I believe this movie has been highly overrated, and if you allow me to explain, perhaps you'll end agreeing with me too. When you think about this movie, the first thing you think of is either fava beans or Hannibal the Cannibal. But the star is Jodie Foster... What's her character's name again? Clarence, Karen, Carly? You know what, doesn't really matter. We'll save Jodie Foster for later because Anthony Hopkins is really what this movie is known for. And there's a lot of good to indeed say. His looking right at the camera as his character is introduced, his improv mocking of Foster's accent, his unblinking eyes and famous lines. Oscar Winner? Sure. It's all there. My criticism will be discussed later when we talk about the director. What I will say, however, is that Ted Levine is vitally underappreciated as Buffalo Bill. First, I'm glad to see Teddy in a role that isn't a sheriff or cop. Buffalo Bill's luring of women and skinning his victims already made him a viable villain, but it's his dancing in front of the mirror that takes the crown and serves as the creepiest thing in the film. Okay, I can't hold back any longer. Gotta talk about how this movie suffers. Over the course of filming, I have no issue with the directing. It's not too special, but it's not bad; the camerawork is a different story. It's inconsistent, sloppy, and moves around too much. It tries creating a style that just doesn't work for the film. The exception is Dr. Lecter's scenes. Everything works there, but it seems like the film basically was built around what happened there. Which brings me to the actual story and the editing. We start with Jodie proving herself in the FBI and toughing it out as a female there. It's brief, and some exposition is quickly thrown in to establish her character because, after all, we have to hurry up and get to Hannibal. Which still doesn't seem totally logical. They go to one of the most dangerous and cunning psychiatrists to help catch the notorious Buffalo Bill, and they send an FBI agent who hasn't even graduated? That doesn't add up for me. Fast forward a scene or 2 and we get introduced to Buffalo Bill. It's a disturbing scene, but now we know who everyone is looking for. So the small amount of film dedicated to detective work really hardly serves any purpose because, after all, let's just get back to Hannibal. However smart the Hannibal scenes may be, they're also predictable. And the music really is more nonchalant than anything, and when you mix it all together, you get a film that really isn't all that scary. It's a cop story with a good, not great, female lead and an unremarkable story, so it all dwindles down to Hannibal. And he's truly a pretty great movie psycho, but surround him in a film that is surrounded around him, and the result is just eh. The climax has predictable moments, but it was leading up to the tense finish I was hoping for the entire film. And then the decisive moment happened and it was so lame. The redeeming part is how the movie ended because despite my criticism from before, I thoroughly enjoyed the ending. So there is that. But if you want an actually scary film with a cool, strong heroine, go watch Alien, Zero Dark Thirty, or just something else. You can find this review and dozens of others at gillipediamoviereviews.blogspot.com

I definitely understand why this movie has received many awards as well as its actors. The movie does a really good job at drawing you in more and more when you watch it. I really like the way Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) is portrayed as the good guy in trying to help the FBI, and wanting you to like him even though he is a serial killer; it brought a sense of benevolence to him. I thought it was interesting how the movie started off with watching Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) running through the forest; the way it was filmed made it seem like something was going to happen to her as she was running and then the guy coming up behind her, it starts off the movie with making you watch carefully and letting you know there will be surprises. Also, another interesting point in the beginning was how they used Clarice an agent in training as the person to help find Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine) and trying to get information out of Hannibal. I really like the relationship between Hannibal and Clarice, it started out as Clarice being very afraid of Hannibal and as the movie went on they got closer and there was a sense of respect for each other. The way Hannibal was asking Clarice about her childhood was a really intriguing way of trying to help her solve the case. It made the timeline of the movie even more interesting; because, there was kind of two stories one inside the other the main story being the FBI trying to find Buffalo Bill and the small story being the relationship between Hannibal and Clarice. Overall I thought the movie was really good, I am not a big fan of horror movies but I liked the story this one had and the way it was all put together. It is definitely worthy of the awards it got and the actors.