When I realized I hadn’t yet reviewed this classic from the early 90s, I was shocked. I’ve viewed this movie probably twenty times at least, and it’s a touchstone for so many horror fans, including myself. With fantastic performances by Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster (I’ll never NOT watch something she’s in!), Ted Levine, Brooke Smith, and Anthony Heald, this Serial Killer vs. FBI Profiler 101 class-in-action checks all the boxes and more.
When FBI cadet Clarice Starling is called upon by her Behavioral Science mentor Jack Crawford to interview the cannibalistic serial killer/psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter–who is being held in a prison’s dungeon-like cell–the ultimate hope is of gaining insight into the currently uncatchable serial killer Buffalo Bill, a previous patient of Dr. Lecter’s who is abducting, starving, then skinning his victims. The creepy prison warden, Dr. Chilton, is angry the FBI won’t share their research on Dr. Lecter, but allows Clarice to talk with Dr. Lecter as long as she follows a strict set of rules. However, Dr. Lecter refuses to help Clarice unless she also shares information with him: personal information about her past, which she does even though she knows it’s against the rules. Meanwhile, a new victim has been snatched, a senator’s daughter named Catherine, and is being held in an underground well-like structure by Buffalo Bill.
As the clock ticks quickly foward, Clarice receives clues from Dr. Lecter which she must follow and reveals to him her early memories, Catherine pleads for her life and plots an escape, a clue is found on a previous victim, the serial killer’s motivations are slowly revealed, Dr. Chilton tries to take command of the hunt for the serial killer with deeply unexpected consequences, Dr. Lecter’s true psychoses are shown, and Clarice must face her fears while using her knowledge and skills in a final showdown in order to survive.
Top Scare: Basement
Hearbeats: 4 1/4 out of 5
Gore Factor: 3 out of 5
Scare Factor: 3 3/4 out of 5
Recommended for: 16 and up due to nudity, gore, themes