Great serial killer horror film, it didn't win all those Oscars for nothing did it?

Rating: 8/10 (9 April 2005)

The Silence of the Lambs begins with FBI agent in training Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) being summoned to Jack Crawford's (Scott Glenn) office who happens to be the FBI's director of behavioural science. Clarice is told by Crawford that he wants her to travel to the Baltimore state hospital & interview the notorious serial killer Dr. Hannibal 'the cannibal' Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) to possibly help identify a current serial killer nick-named 'Buffalo Bill' (Ted Levine) who has kidnapped, murdered & skinned several young girls. Clarice meets up with the slimy Dr. Frederick Chilton (Anthony Heald) who runs the hospital & has responsibility for Lecter, he tells her some basic rules & then she's ready. Clarice's meeting with Lecter goes O.K. & he gives her a few cryptic clues which leads her to a severed head in a jar, 'Buffalo Bills' first victim. Meanwhile 'Buffalo Bill' himself has abducted a young girl named Catherine Martin (Brooke Smith) who is the daughter of a powerful Washington Senator Ruth Martin (Diane Baker). Lecter sees an opportunity to leave his miserable existence in his cramped brick cell behind & tries to strike a deal with the Senator in exchange for 'Buffalo Bills' name. As politics & greed begin to surface Lecter sets his plans in motion while Clarice who is now on the investigating team is determined to track 'Buffalo Bill' down, save Catherine before he kills her & put a stop to his grisly crimes for good.
Directed by Jonathan Demme (who also has a small cameo at the end apparently) I thought Silence of the Lambs was a solid horror film, & by the way if you listen to the documentary on the DVD everyone involved in the production refers to it as a horror film & nothing else! The script by Ted Tally based on the novel by Thomas Harris is a little slow & deliberate on occasion but for the most part it's very interesting & gripping. There isn't much in the way of on-screen blood or gore, in fact very little, but it's still quite a powerful film with Anthony Hopkins performance as Hannibal Lecter the obvious standout, although having said that he has very little on-screen time with about 15 or so minutes in total which is the shortest amount of time ever to win a best actor Oscar. I liked how Silence of the Lambs ended & in particular how things turned out for Lecter. Everyone else is good as well but I personally didn't really like Jodie Foster that much as she just got on my nerves after a while & I couldn't see her as a tough chick kind of character! Horror film directors (another indication that Silence of the Lambs was indeed intended to be a horror film before it became a big success & we all know horror films can't be successful so now it's called a thriller) Roger Corman & George A. Romero both have cameos. Technically Silence of the Lambs is competent but not outstanding, the music is O.K., the photography a little flat & the production design bland but with such a strong story I guess these things don't matter so much. There are some truly great moments throughout, too. Overall I liked it for sure but I did find it a little slow going during certain places & Jodie Foster just didn't do it for me as Agent Starling for some reason I can't quite explain, Silence of the Lambs is a great horror film but I couldn't see myself sitting through it again anytime soon & it's maybe not quite as good as all those Oscars would suggest you to believe. Definitely worth watching & deserving of my 8 out of 10 star rating but I do have certain reservations about it & believe it to be a little overrated.