Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #83294 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-04-01
• Format: NTSC
• Original language: French
• Running time: 118 minutes

Amazon.com Essential Video
Based on Thomas Harris's novel, this terrifying film by Jonathan Demme really only contains a couple of genuinely shocking moments (one involving an autopsy, the other a prison break). The rest of the film is a splatter-free visual and psychological descent into the hell of madness, redeemed astonishingly by an unlikely connection between a monster and a haunted young woman. Anthony Hopkins is extraordinary as the cannibalistic psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter, virtually entombed in a subterranean prison for the criminally insane. At the behest of the FBI, agent-in-training Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) approaches Lecter, requesting his insights into the identity and methods of a serial killer named Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine). In exchange, Lecter demands the right to penetrate Starling's most painful memories, creating a bizarre but palpable intimacy that liberates them both under separate but equally horrific circumstances. Demme, a filmmaker with a uniquely populist vision (Melvin and Howard, Something Wild), also spent his early years making pulp for Roger Corman (Caged Heat), and he hasn't forgotten the significance of tone, atmosphere, and the unsettling nature of a crudely effective close-up. Much of the film, in fact, consists of actors staring straight into the camera (usually from Clarice's point of view), making every bridge between one set of eyes to another seem terribly dangerous. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

You will not be SILENCED by this blu-ray

This blu-ray is well worth the extra money. Clear, sharp picture with amazing sound quality (especially on surround sound). Excellent special features, too. This Academy Award winning movie is a must have for any horror/thriller fan!!

Great Film
This award-winning 1991 film was adapted by Ted Tally from the 1988 novel by Thomas Harris. The film is a faithful adaptation of the novel, except for some minor changes. Personally, I prefer the film because of its dramatic scenes as well the characters, especially the infamous Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

I agree with the reviewers here. This film is one of the best thrillers of the 20th century.

Try making a sound ....The Lambs Can Never be Silenced.
This is a great movie to watch in the dark. "The Silence of the Lambs." Jonathan Demme's tense thriller combines excellent actors and a wonderfully adapted screenplay to make, what seems to be one of the best, if not the best, thrillers of all time.

This film has three accounts and everyone knows the story. FBI trainee Starling is assigned to glean information from incarcerated serial killer, Dr Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) concerning the whereabouts of another serial killer on the loose, Buffalo Bill. A former patient of Lecters, he's killed and skinned several women. Starling and Lecter's interrogation sessions become a slowly spreading invasion within the background of Starling's emotionally fragile psyche. All the while Buffalo Bill has himself a new victim, and Lecter is already planning his escape.

First I will praise the film's merits. Yes it does have excellent performances. The scenes between Starling and Lecter are electrifying. They're the high-point of the whole film. And Demme does superb things with his camera. I like the way he shoots many of Clarice's scenes from her POV, like when she descends several staircases and goes through several doors at the asylum until she finally meets Dr Lecter. This movie is like no other. It combines tenses scenes with a cast like no other. Anthony Hopkins was born to be Hannibal, and why Michelle Pfeiffer was originally suggested for the role of Clarice over Jodie Foster is bizarre, but because Jodie Foster got the role, it doesn't really matter. When it comes to violence this film is very intense. There are some graphically violent scenes; however the worst violence in the film is the mental violence. Hannibal's ability to destroy someone mentally is incredibly disturbing, and the films motives are pretty full on. However this contributes to the films overall feel of horror, which is why "The Silence of the Lambs" is one of the most mentally frightening films of all time.