No film scares me like this one can.

Rating: 9/10 (17 July 2001)

This is simply the scariest film of all time. Piece together some of the finest suspense-filled camera shots, a creeping, slithering score, some cut throat dialogue, and two of the greatest screen performances EVER, and you have the basis for The Silence Of The Lambs.
I know exactly why this film scares me so much. If it were not for this one ingredient, I would pass up this movie as just another psycho-thriller. But this movie scares me to my bare wits because of a character called Hannibal Lecter, and the virtuoso actor that is SIR Anthony Hopkins. It frightens me that there are people as sick and twisted as Hannibal Lecter in the world. It frightens me more that people as sick as him can be so intelligent and charming. And Hopkins makes me believe it. He makes me believe that Lecter could be real.
I don't want to get sidetracked into giving Hopkins all the praise, but every time he is on the screen in this film, my hair stands on end, my back starts to sweat and my hands start to shake. The first shot of Hannibal Lecter, stood erect and tall in his prison cell, waiting for Clarice, will flash in my mind for years to come whenever the movie is mentioned.
Foster is amazing too. Hopkins couldn't have been as good without an actress of her intelligence to gel with. She gives him just the right amount of respect while they share the screen, and this rubs off on her character. It is because of Foster that we are allowed to feel suffocated, frightened, almost ravaged by Lecter's intelligence, but equally intrigued by his knowleadgable and brilliant mind.
Ted Levine is excellent also. It's a difficult role that he takes on in this movie, yet he manages to be as sickening and disturbing as he needs to be. This is no easy task when you compare his screen time to that of Foster and Hopkins.
I can't buy this movie. Simply because I buy movies to watch them alone when I have nothing else to do, and I can't watch this film alone. I symathise with Lecter too much, and that's probably what scares me the most. He enjoys exploiting people that are less intelligent than he is, and unfortunately, I can relate to that. The fact that I don't feel the urge to eat them is my only comfort.
All in all, you will not find a more tense, intelligent, disturbing thriller than this. Having watched Hannibal recently, I realised just HOW good this film was. And what a waste Lecter is when he isn't using his mastermind to get what he wants, to play with people. It's a role that only one actor could truly 'get his teeth into', and in Silence Of The Lambs, Sir Anthony has never been better.
If you're going to watch this film, make sure there's someone with you to hold your hand. Because otherwise you WILL forget that this is a film, you WILL become Starling, and Lecter WILL be truly in YOUR head too. And that's when the lambs start screaming.....