Disturbing yet Entertaining

Rating: 8/10 (20 April 2014)

When it comes to horror films of the 90's, I can't think of many films as iconic as The Silence of the Lambs. While there were certainly other iconic horror films at the time such as The Sixth Sense and Scream, the one thing The Silence of the Lambs did that those films didn't, was win the Oscar for Best Picture. Not only that, but it also won for Best Actor for Anthony Hopkins, Best Actress for Jodie Foster, Best Adapted Screenplay for Ted Tally, and Best Director for Jonathan Demme. It also became the fourth highest-grossing film of 1991. So with all that, you expect something special, right? Well, is it? Let's take a look, shall we?
The plot follows a young FBI trainee by the name of Clarice Starling who is pulled from her training academy to interview Hannibal Lecter, a former psychiatrist and incarcerated cannibalistic serial killer to find another serial killer by the name of Buffalo Bill under the order of Jack Crawford. After some interrogation and investigation, Bill abducts Catherine Martin, one of the U.S. Senator's daughter. Leaving it up to Starling to find Bill by dealing with the darkest of all minds, Hannibal Lecter.
The appeal of Silence of the Lambs lies in its mix of realistic depictions of police investigation and serial killer antics while retaining a cinematic panache to keep things entertaining. The film depicts its police investigation very realistically with a great attention detail to the dead bodies and the way the main serial killer Buffalo Bill operates is actually pretty realistic. His motives are very opaque, never completely clear to the audience, just like how serial killers are to people in real-life. He's trying to make a dress with a woman's flesh throughout the film because he thinks he's a woman but you never get why he wants to kill people. You have to pay full attention to see what's behind his head. But at the same time, the film doesn't feel TOO realistic to the point where it's boring and dull to sit through, there's still a certain entertainment factor to this film. For one thing, the film is scary. While this isn't exactly the type of horror film you can have a good time with when you call over some friends while having a few beers, it still has plenty of good scares to keep you entertained from beginning to end(especially towards the end).
But I think the main reason why this did so well was because of the characters. While most horror films would feature the serial killer as the most interesting character of the film while the main character is as dull as a rock, this film did something a little different. Clarice Starling in this film is equally interesting as the serial killers themselves because she's not just some girl who just happen to become a target for the killer somehow but instead, she's ASSIGNED to find the serial killer herself and actually has a personality and she actually goes through an arc. She starts out haunted from her childhood memory of seeing lambs being slaughtered so she feels guilty about seeing such a thing happen but not doing anything about it considering her dad was a cop and hears sounds of lambs screaming in her dreams but she overcomes this towards the end when she saves the senator's daughter and kills Buffalo Bill. And thankfully, they got a great actress to play this part, Jodie Foster. Foster has a believable intelligence to her that helps you buy her matching wits with Hannibal Lecter. It's great that the filmmakers chose not to cast the most attractive actress but instead, the one that could act.
The rest of the characters are equally good. While Hannibal Lecter is certainly not a realistic portrait of a serial killer, he works well as this great, unstoppable force of evil that Clarice has to match wits with to find Buffalo Bill. Anthony Hopkins gives the performance of a lifetime here with all his creepy stares, sinister line deliveries, and wicked intelligence. Ted Levine is equally creepy and unsettling as Buffalo Bill, but in different ways. He feels a lot more like a realistic serial killer with his strange sexuality and cross-dressing habits. Scott Glenn is also convincing as the authoritative, determined Jack Crawford. Lastly, I want to mention Brooke Smith as Catherine Martin, the girl kidnapped by Buffalo Bill. I love how she starts out extremely terrified when she's captured just like anybody would but I like how her character actually tries to escape by threatening to kill Bill's dog if he doesn't let her out. Smith's fear and determination is very believable throughout the whole film.
Overall, The Silence of the Lambs is a chilling, disturbing film that also has some excellent performances to spare. Great film. 10/10