Film Review

Rating: 10/10 (1 November 2009)

In the movie, Silence of the Lambs, the FBI is trying to catch serial killers and learn how his mind works. The FBI sends a trainee, Agent Clarice Starling, who is played by Jodi Foster, to interview the infamous, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, who is played by Anthony Hopkins. Lecter is a cannibalistic psychiatrist. The FBI's beliefs are it takes one to know one, speaking of Lecter, knowing how the serial killer mind works, in order to catch Buffalo Bill. Buffalo Bill is murdering women across the country. The theme develops as Lecter agrees to help only if Starling will feed his morbid curiosity about her own personal life. The director uses memory flashbacks to illustrate Starling's demons. As Lecter forces her to face her own demons in life, she begins to realize how diabolical Lecter is and how bad evil can be. Lecter gets in her mind, in her thoughts, and the evil is so strong she does not think she can stop it. Along with Lecter getting into Starling's thoughts, she gets into his mind as well. Lecter has a chance to kill her and doesn't and he even calls her in the end to congratulate her on graduating from school to become an FBI agent. Being one of the scariest movies ever put into film Silence of the Lambs, keeps you on the edge of your seat for the duration of the film. Unlike many scary movies there is little gore and shock value instances, there is more of the thought of real evil, things that really go bump in the night. The director, Jonathan Demee, uses several things to keep the viewer interested in the movie, to keep you wandering when something is going to occur. The movie keeps its intensiveness because of the lighting, off camera sound effects, and the design of the sets. Some specific examples start right from the beginning such as the music as Sterling walks to the cell of Lecter is intense making the viewer feel like something is going to happen as she walks. The laughing and yelling of the prisons as she walks away put off a nervous feeling making the viewer feel like they are there. The lighting in the prison is dark and dreary; the brick walls make it seem lonely and cold. There is rust on the heater making it seem unattended to. Lecter's dialogue is very well developed with his eyes so intense, so cold, evil, again keeping your full attention to the movie, making references to the way he ate his victims. The camera angels in close when there are conversations with Hannibal, The lighting is above him to put shadows on his face making him appear more evil. These types of preludes to the way the movie is going to unfold continue throughout the movie, making sure the viewer is on edge, scared, and nervous throughout the duration of the movie like the intense music during the abduction of the women. This movie reminds me a lot of the movie "Kiss the Girls" with Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd, in it. The theme is similar as to serial killers abducting woman and a psychologist helping the police find the man who did it. In Kiss the Girls, Ashley Judd is the psychologist and she gets abducted, once she escapes she helps the police with the search, in turn finding another series of abductions further away with a similar signature. Both movies are suspenseful thrillers, although the director in Silence of the Lambs is much more successful in making the movie horrifying than the director of Kiss the Girls. He makes you scared, clenching to your seat, and makes you feel as though you are their.