Director: Jonathan Demme
Writer: Ted Tally, adapted from the novel by Thomas Harris
This film is something alright. Before watching it, I was apprehensive. I'm not a fan of horror films at all. However, I soon discovered that isn't your usual jump-scare horror film. What's horrifying about this film is that this happens. There are serial killers out there who skin their victims. It gets scarier when you learn that the serial killer here Buffalo Bill is a composite of three infamous American serial killers. As exhilarating as it is harrowing, this film is a slasher film in which the woman is the hero not the victim, the pursuer not the pursued. It says something about our fetishistic obsession with serial killers that this film has been ranked by over a million IMDB users. This fetish is still there in society today.
The film opens with Clarice Starling (a superb Jodie Foster) training to receive her FBI badge. She is put on a case by her boss Jack Crawford (a stern but rounded Scott Glenn): find out who this serial killer Buffalo Bill (a creepy-as-hell Ted Levine) really is. To do so, her boss suggests she consult incarcerated serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins, we'll come to him later). From here, Clarice probes Lecter's mind and he probes hers as she seeks information. Then we meet Bill while Lecter goes off to do his own thing (I won't spoil it because it's just too genius for spoiling). The plotting of this film is unique and masterful, teasing out little nuggets of information like a proper investigation. For a film as thrilling as this one, it is also remarkably faithful to procedure. It's unique nature also comes from the fact that our main villain, Bill, isn't introduced to us visually for roughly an hour. The whole time we're engulfed by Clarice and Lecter. Ted Tally the screenwriter and Thomas Harris the original novelist must receive credit for this.
This film is a masterpiece in tension. Its direction from Jonathan Demme is superb, leading the actors into this story and getting them to deliver with such gusto that you'd be forgiven for thinking this were a documentary. The cinematography, the editing, the music, all the nitty-gritty bits of film-making are excellently displayed here. A perfect example of this is the scene towards the end where Clarice is in Bill's house in utter darkness and he puts on night-vision goggles. He reaches out to touch her and she has no idea. This scene is gripping, masterful and I'm running out of adjectives to describe its effect on my heart rate. Truly brilliant. Now for Anthony Hopkins.
In the last review on this page, I argued that Heath Ledger's incarnation of "The Joker" from The Dark Knight was the greatest villain in cinematic history. Here, however, he has a rival. Sort of. You see, I'm torn whether or not to call Lecter a villain. On the one hand yes there's the whole cannibalism thing in his past and his actions in the scene in Memphis are nothing short of disgusting (watch the film to get this reference). However, on the other hand he leads Clarice straight to the killer, giving her vital information and helping the hero, or heroine here, catch the villain. Surely a villain is someone who only does bad, who, in the vain of The Joker, wishes to create chaos for chaos' sake. I found it ironic that in the scene in the bedroom of the first victim, music from The Magic Flute is playing. That's an opera by Mozart where an evil queen tricks a young prince into fighting a rival king, only to find out that the rival king is the virtuous one and the evil queen is, well, evil. It's this level of detail and symbolism that elevates the film. We're never certain who the villain is. Is there more than one? Are we all villains? By posing these questions, this film makes a statement greater than any horror film.
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| His stare, similar to Ledger's Joker from The Dark Knight, plants itself deep within our soul and spooks us to our core. |
Lecter here doesn't blink which is incredibly creepy. He stares malignantly at Clarice and at the camera, at us. He even invites Clarice to look at herself, egging her on to be introspective, as if the clues to the identity of Bill lie within her. This raises a question of morality and the goodness within us. Do we all have a hidden side to us that has evil thoughts lurking, and only some people put these thoughts into practice? Anthony Hopkins called Lecter a "compassionate man, trapped inside an insane mind". I agree completely with this. His all-white costume when he's transferred to Memphis is just inherently spooky and leaves everyone feeling just a teeny bit uncomfortable. Lecter is the most likable cannibal there is, but also incredibly creepy too. I never thought I'd be saying that.
Horror films are usually cheap. They rely on jump-scares and dark setting and mysterious characters to spook us. This film doesn't do that. It scares us because it's true, because it's human. It is like The Shining (1980) in this respect. It doesn't rely on boring clichéd tricks to make us feel scared. That's why people should watch this film instead of awful zombie flicks or stupid vampire films. I don't even like horror films and I liked this. 9/10 for me.
By Cathal McGuinness.
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