It just gets better every time I see it.

Rating: 9/10 (15 July 2004)

I have seen this film so many times that I can quote just about any scene in it. I always have loved Anthony Hopkins, but also Jodie Foster as well. Put the two of them together and you have a surprise that shouldn't work, but does. They are as different as night and day. I honestly believe that's why I prefer this movie to the sequel. For me, not having her in it just took away 80% of its attitude.
I'd recommend this movie even 13 years later to any lover of suspense and even though the subject matter deals with many things that are less than appetizing or pleasant, maybe that's what appeals to me about it. It's not scared to make you believe these things happen. There really are people out there like Hannibal. He does think that way, and he is that horrid and beautifully sinister. It's like looking closely at a black widow spider. The beauty of its nature is so perverse that you almost hate to stop it, but you know that you must.
I have never seen a movie before that made me feel like this one did, and I'm not easily scared by movies. Maybe "scared" isn't the right term. Horrified. That's it. So horrified that I watched it about ten more times. Go figure. We humans are goofy.