Thriller Opening: Horror thrillers

The Silence of the Lambs

The Silence of the Lambs is a 1991 American thriller film concepts of both horror and crime genres in one. It was directed by Jonathan Demme and stars Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scot Glenn and Ted Levine. The film was released on February 14, 1991 and received many awards. When the film was released it got criticized by members of the gay community.

The plot of the film:

Clarice Starling is given the task to interview a former psychiatrist and imprisoned cannibalistic serial killer called Hannibal Lecter by Jack Crawford, Believing Lecter’s insight might be useful in the search of a serial killer nicknamed ‘Buffalo Bill’ who skins his female victims corpses.

The film takes the audience on the journey of Starling to the Balyimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, where she is led by Dr. Frederick Chilton to Lecter’s private quarters where she learns a lot from Lecter and is given information on how to find Buffalo Bill through a patient of Lecter. Hannibal Lecter then compromises to help Starling with her hunt for Buffalo Bill as he has recently abducted the U.S Senator’s daughter if Lecter is allowed to be tranfered away from the hospital as he dislikes Chilton his doctor at the hospital.

During the search Lecter begins a game of quid pro quo where he clues and insights about Buffalo Bill in return for events from Starling’s childhood which was something that she was advised not to do by the hospital. Chilton secretly records the conversation between Starling and Lecter and reveals Starling’s deal as a sham befor offering to transfer Lecter in exchange for a deal of Chilton’s own making. Lecter agrees to this and is flown to Memphis where he reveals personal information on Buffalo bill to federal agents.

As the search begins Starling visits Lecter at his special cell in Tennesse courthouse and confronts him with her thoughts of the name which Lecter gave her which was a riddle. Lecter then refuses Starling’s pass for the truth as she believes everything he stated was false and forces her to recount her traumatic childhood.

She tells him how she was a orphan, relocated to a relative’s farm, discovered a lamb slaughterhouse and failed in an attempt to rescue one the lambs. Lecter then gives her the case files on Buffalo bill, after their conversation is interrupted by Chilton and the police who escorts Starling from building. Later that evening Lecter manages to escape from his cell, killing his two guards in the process and disappears.

Starling analyzes Lecter’s notes to the case files and realizes that Buffalo Bill’s first victim knew him personally befor he killed her. Starling travels to the victims hometown and discovers that Buffalo Bill was a tailor, with dresses and templates identical to the patches of skin removed each of his victims. She telephones Crawford to inform him that Buffalo Bill is trying to fashion a womans suit of real skin but Crawford is already making an arrest on a man named James Gumb who came up in Lecter’s notes with a hospital’s archives having once applied for sex-change operation.

Starling continues interviewing friends of Buffalo Bill’s first victims while Crawford leads an FBI tactical team to Gumb’s address in Illinois. Starling is led to the house of Jack Gordon who she realizes is actually Jame Gumb. She follows him into his basement where she discovers the recently abducted Senator’s daughter alive but traumatized and trapped. After turning off the basement lights, Gumb creeps up on Starling in the dark with ngiht vision goggles but gives his position away when he cocks his revolver and then is shot to death by Starling.

Later at the FBI Academy graduation party, Starling receives a phone call from Lecter, who is at an airport in Bimini where he assures her that he does not plan to pursue her and asks her to show him some courtesy, which she says she cannot do. Lecter then hangs up the phone saying he’s ‘having an old friend for dinner’ and begins following newly arrived Chilton, who is fleeing since Lecter is now free and getting his revenge.

The cast in the film:

Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling
Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Hannibal Lecter
Scott Glenn as Jack Crawford
Ted Levine as Jame Gumb, "Buffalo Bill"
Anthony Heald as Frederick Chilton
Brooke Smith as Catherine Martin
Kasi Lemmons as Ardelia Mapp
Frankie Faison as Barney Matthews
Diane Baker as Sen. Ruth Martin
Charles Napier as Lt. Boyle
Danny Darst as Sgt. Tate
Alex Coleman as Sgt. Jim Pembry
Dan Butler as Roden
Paul Lazar as Pilcher
Ron Vawter as Paul Krendler
Roger Corman as FBI Director Hayden Burke
Chris Isaak as SWAT Commander
Harry Northup as Mr Bimmel
Masha Skorobogatov as Young Clarice Starling

Response from the critics:

Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster gained great acclaim with their portrayals of Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling, even though Hopkins' screen time in the entire film is just over 16 minutes. Their respective portrayals won both of them Academy Awards in 1992.

The Silence of the Lambs was a sleeper hit that only gradually gained widespread success. The film ultimately received widespread critical acclaim; Rotten Tomatoes records that The Silence of the Lambs received a 96% positive response from critics. Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster also received honor for their performances. Roger Ebert specifically mentioned the "terrifying qualities" of Hannibal Lecter, and has since recognized the film as a "horror masterpiece," alongside such classics as Nosferatu, Psycho, and Halloween.

Silence of the Lambs received many awards and honors:

Academy Awards