Summary

Rating: 10/10 (24 January 2008)

(To Readers: I am forced to write this article for an English writing
assessment, I personally liked the FilM VERY MUCH!!!)
In recent years, Hong Kong became flooded by countless numbers of horror movies involving bloody and violent scene. If you are a fan of this, you might be in favor of this film directed by Jonathan Demme.
I personally liked horror (or more precisely , thriller movies, such as Stanely Kubrick's THE SHINING) films, which aim at producing a thrilling atmosphere, but not actually showing one. THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS is an excellent example of the kind of thrillers showing shocking scenes. The plot was fine and suspending. However, it was screwed up by the over-emphasis Hannibal Lecter's violence (the scene of the guard being disemboweled and hung on the wall was notorious for causing discomfort).
Another aspect we can take a look at is about the preproduction of the movie Maybe due to the over-emphasis of violence in the script written by Ted Tally, Gene Hackman an actor who was originally invited to become the director of the film, turned downed the invitation in the end. Even in looking for actors playing the roles of CLARICE STARLING and HANNIBAL LECTER has been a great difficulty for the production. Four actresses (including Michelle Pfeiffer, Kim Basinger, Emma Thompson and Meg Ryan) rejected the invitation due to 'the subject matter', as Michelle Pfeiffer said. Sean Connery was originally offered the role of Hannible, but in the end, he refused. Thus we can see from the responses of the actors and actresses that have refused to play a role in the movie, that it is focusing too much on violence.
In addition, some main features such as Hannibal's 'maroon eyes' and his 'six-fingered left hand', were missing in the movie. With such advanced technology nowadays, these special features can be made real without any difficulties.
Although I really did not enjoy the movie (probably the unforgettable bloody scene have created a bad image for me), I would recommend this movie to those who enjoy bloody thrillers, as the violent scenes will leave you nightmares lasting at least a month.