After the film's closing credits, it's Verger's bulging eyeball that continues to haunt you. Late in the film, before Lecter lifts his maiden, much like Frankenstein carried his terrified bride, you realize there's little bloodletting throughout Hannibal 's manhunt drama. In most scenes, Hannibal is more police drama than gory thriller. Still, the film has its share of Grand Guignol moments. A man's bowels splatter across the Florence pavement.
Pigs tear the flesh off a man's face.
An elaborate dinner party turns into a cryptlike tale of shock horror. Based on these bloody jolts, Hannibal is the squishiest movie since Brian De Palma's heyday. Finally, during these gory moments, Hannibal embraces its status as a drive-in movie. Hannibal is a cultish maniac, and Starling is his lovely bride. In a movie that should be called The Bride of Hannibal, physical violence is mandated.