In my opinion, The Silence of the Lambs is one of the greatest films ever made.

Rating: 10/10 (13 June 2001)

It's not very often that a first class cast and a fine director come together to bring life to an absolutely wonderful screenplay as they do in The Silence of the Lambs.
Ted Tally's script is a brilliant adaptation to a good book. It is unmatched in its use of characterization. The story is simple yet it works on a psychological level, thanks to the infamous Hannibal Lecter and his mind games with Clarice Starling.
Jonathan Demme's direction is good. His close-ups of various actors' faces are well done and well placed in the film. Demme effectively creates some very suspenseful moments, in the film, through his direction and his use of the first person point of view.
Anthony Hopkins delivers the greatest, most riveting performances ever, as the psychotic Dr. Hannibal `Cannibal' Lecter. Jodie Foster also delivers a brilliantly subtle performance as FBI trainee, Clarice Starling. Ted Levine does a wonderful job as the disturbed Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb. Scott Glenn gives a commendable performance as Jack Crawford
Howard Shore gives a wonderfully haunting musical score that adds a lot of atmosphere to the film.
Tak Fujimoto's cinematography is also first-rate. His use of lights, especially red lights to make the audience uneasy, is very effective.

The editing by Craig McKay is marvelous, particularly the intercutting between the exterior of the wrong house in Calumet City and the interior of the right house in Belvedere, Ohio.
All of these aspects make The Silence of the Lambs one of the greatest, if not the greatest film ever made.