Suddenly I’m craving fava beans

“Silence of the Lambs” was the first movie I ever bought for myself… strange the things I remember… Some consider “Manhunter” to be the best serial killer movie, but SOTL gets my vote. It's spooky, in a darkness-of-human-nature kind of way, disturbing, and fascinating. I guess you could say Hannibal is not that far removed from Jason, Freddy, or Mike Myers, but Hannibal is more realistic and therefore more frightening.

Someone is killing women and mutilating their bodies. The FBI is hopelessly lost. Their one hope is the knowledge and insight of the most chilling killer currently in captivity, Hannibal Lecter. The problem is Hannibal has no interest in cooperating. Clarice, an FBI trainee, is sent in to pick Hannibal’s brain. It sounds like a rather simple and straight-forward assignment until Clarice finds herself immersed in the psychology of two of the most twisted minds on the planet. What makes them even more dangerous is that they are both highly intelligent. Hannibal, in fact, is genius level and loves to play games with others’ lives.

Clarice finds that as she faces these physical demons the ones inside her mind are freed to attack her internally. When Buffalo Bill takes a new victim Clarice must decide if she can remain sane enough to stand toe to toe with her internal demons and brave enough to deal with the external ones.

One thing that makes this story so much better than others is that such emphasis is put on the psychology. The killer doesn’t mindlessly slaughter people like a slasher film, he has purpose and a goal. This is scary because for all his inhuman actions he is not some undead monster nor influenced by chemicals or supernatural forces. He’s a twisted human being and maybe your quiet next door neighbor.

The movie follows the book impressively well. There are changes, of course, but they are typically minor adjustments like taking away Jack Crawford’s personal problems so that the focus remains on Clarice and the killers. We do lose the background on Buffalo Bill which is unfortunate. One major change is the nature of Hannibal. In the book he’s more along the lines of using tricks to make people think he’s smarter than he actually is. Not that he’s not still brilliant, but it’s more of an ego-boosting exercise. For instance he reveals something about an element of Buffalo Bill’s life which greatly impresses Clarice. Crawford later reveals that this is a standard deduction with the evidence given stealing a great deal of Hannibals’ thunder. The movie version is much more along the lines of an evil god amusing himself at the expense of mortals.

The movie doesn’t explain the details of the evidence as clearly as the book. I think this is one reason I liked it initially. The viewer has to contemplate the evidence and pay attention to subtle clues given in order to keep up with the logic of the investigation. Why is the victim’s closet important? Why is Crawford in the helicopter going to where he is going? What is the significance of what we see in the killer’s bathtub? I had to watch it more than once in order to unravel everything, and I enjoyed having to think about it.

Two movies cover the events prior to SOTL: “Red Dragon” and “Manhunter.” I’ve reviewed both. One comment I made was that if someone could combine the story content of “Manhunter” with the production quality of “Red Dragon” they would have a tremendous movie on their hands. Watching SOTL again I realized that’s exactly what we have here. The plot is thick and solid, the emotion and mood carefully laid out, the cinematography and sound expertly crafted. SOTL contains the best of both worlds. It doesn’t rely on the shock value the way “Hannibal” does (not to mention the story is just plain better), it gets the plot points across better than “Red Dragon” (without feeling as forced I might add), and it looks and sounds prettier than “Manhunter” (which could have otherwise been SOTL’s greatest rival).

The acting is great all around. Anthony Hopkins is iconic here. I don’t think he ever quite nailed the role as well as he did here. Jodi Foster is great. Ted Levine is scary and perfectly psychotic. He really doesn’t get enough credit. One of the most fascinating bits in the extra features is hearing Ted’s research for the role and how it affected him. Scott Glenn is great, too, although his role is more straight-forward than the others.

From beginning to end this is a chilling and well crafted movie. If you haven’t seen it but enjoy Seven, Saw, or any of the other thrillers that begin with the letter “S,” not to mention the other Hannibal Lecter movies you should check this one out.

Content:
This is a mature show. There’s a little bit of nudity, but it’s not normal stuff; it’s naked corpses, and a guy standing in front of a camera with his wedding tackle tucked between his legs, not at all sexual stuff. There’s no sex, but there is sexual content, some of it graphic. The acts of committing violence are not graphic, but the aftermaths are: partially skinned and decomposed corpses, eviscerated victims, and people with mauled faces. Much of the dialogue is disturbing and is graphic in describing murder, mutilation, and cannibalism. It’s more disturbing than shocking which is one reason I like it more than “Hannibal.”

DVD:
The release of “Silence of the Lambs” on DVD has been a sore spot with me for a while. First there was the Criterion Collection release. It included a commentary by the director, stars, screenwriter, and an FBI agent which I have heard is quite good. There are a few deleted scenes, storyboards, an FBI manual, and some statements from real-life serial killers. Supposedly video quality is lacking in this one. For some reason this edition went out of print very quickly which wouldn’t have mattered that much if the features had carried over to the future releases.

It was replaced with the Special Edition which has a widescreen and a pan & scan version. It contains more deleted scenes (I’m assuming that the few from the Criterion are part of this set, but I can’t say for sure), some outtakes, a photo gallery, and a couple of behind the scenes features including a newer one and an original one. This would have been great if only they had included the commentary and other features.

It was then released in a box set along with “Manhunter” and “Hannibal.” I’ve not seen anything to suggest that this version has any special features at all, but I haven’t seen it myself.

Finally, there is the Collector’s Edition. I really thought this would combine all of the features of the previous releases, but the commentary and other Criterion features remain absent. It does appear to contain all the features of the Special Edition as well as a few new ones, although I’m basing that statement off lists I’ve read and second-hand info; I haven’t seen the Special Edition for myself.

The packaging for the Collector’s Edition is nice. I’ve never understood why some releases put their DVD cases in cardboard sleeves with the exact same images on it. The box on this one, which you’ve most likely seen by now, is green with subtle patterns and a glossy image of the classic face covered by a moth. The plastic DVD case is a close-up of the face which is more appealing from an aesthetic point of view than a repeat of the box art.

Even more pleasing is that the DVD images and insert appearance follows the style of the outer box but does not actually repeat it or the DVD case. Many releases have gotten away from printed materials, but this one takes advantage of them to provide some non-digital extras.

On the back side of the insert is a chapters list. The inside contains two pages of production notes providing an interesting read.

In one of the most unusual extra features for a movie I’ve ever seen there are 5 recipe cards. One side is a beautifully designed invitation to dinner from Dr. Lecter. The other side contains a full recipe. The recipes center around fava beans and lamb. Don’t get too excited, these are not simple or common dishes, but if you’re up for some lamb’s tongue you’ll know how to make it.

Lastly in this group is a “Hannibal Rising” promo. The reason it deserves mentioning is because it contains a web site address and a code that unlocks a video containing preview shots and behind the scenes interviews. You’ll need Quicktime to view it. Unfortunately it doesn’t appear that you can download it or play it in full-screen. It did serve to heighten my interest in the movie, which, of course, was the intention.

On to the video content. Some annoying warnings and a bunch of company logos precede the movie. The reason they’re annoying is that some play before the interface and some play after starting the movie so you have to deal with two separate groups of them.

Speaking of the interface there is some well-done animation with music and dialogue. It’s as pleasing to the eye as the packaging. Video is a very nice 1.85 anamorphic widescreen. I haven’t seen any indication that this release is available in pan & scan (AKA “full screen”) so if you want that you’ll have to hunt down the Special Edition P&S version.

Audio is 5.1 surround with Spanish 2.0 surround, and mono French. English and Spanish captions are available, also.

There are a whopping 22 deleted scenes with a play all option. Some of them actually contain multiple shots so there are technically closer to 30 or so. Some of it is crap that was obviously cut out for a reason, some very short and pointless, but much of it is interesting. There are a number of scenes following the book that were cut out for reasons of pace and length. These are particularly interesting as they jump from page to screen.

Some of them expand on the logic as the investigators follow the clues to Buffalo Bill. Demme evidently chose to let the viewer figure this stuff out and therefore cut it. It’s really good information if you have questions about how they got from point A to point B in their logic.

The Johns Hopkins transsexual operation angle was cut out almost completely. Lecter does mention it in the movie, but there were other scenes shot to follow up. Originally this puts Crawford hot on Buffalo Bill’s tail as Clarice investigates elsewhere.

One scene ties the garage scene more closely to the current events. Another looks at Billy’s psychology and history. The significance of the victim Clarice singles out as a more important lead than the others is explained in greater detail which also gives greater significance to some of Lecter’s comments. There are some great additional moments with Clarice and Lecter as well as other characters.

Some people don’t watch a lot of special features, but if you enjoy the movie I highly recommend watching the deleted scenes.

The outtakes real is fun but not as great as some I’ve seen. It’s disappointingly short, but not so much that it kills the enjoyment. The best part is Anthony Hopkins goofing off.

There are hours of behind the scenes features. They sometimes hit on the same information, but I found them all interesting and worth watching. The first is a kind of general making of feature. It looks in depth at the history of the movie, themes, casting, reactions, makeup on the cadavers, costumes and more.

Bravo (a cable channel) has a series called “Page to Screen.” It hosted by Peter Gallagher if there are any fans of his reading this. There are two episodes here with a play all feature. These are nicely done and start out looking at the literary origins of the story: the author, story, history which covers “Red Dragon,” and real-life criminal influences. It then talks to a number of people including Gene Hackman who backed out of the movie.

Jonathan Demme and Jodi Foster take part in a 3 part series (totaling about an hour, with a play all option). They talk about their memories, emotional attachments, and personal drives.

Howard Shore talks for about 15 minutes about the score. He touches on moods and themes and working them into the music. It could have used more isolated music instead of just film clips.

And lastly is the original making of feature. It looks at various aspects but mostly influences and methods. It’s shorter than the others at less than 10 minutes.

Anthony Hopkins treats us to a phone answering machine message. It’s short but amusing.

There are 11 TV promos. They’re very short. I think it’s interesting to see promos from various eras. These are the kind that I really remember, and they provide a contrast to those done in the 70’s and 80’s. There’s a play all for the set. Have you ever paid attention to the skull image on the moths? It’s actually composed of women’s bodies. Nothing on the DVD draws attention to that or provides the opportunity to examine it except briefly in the “Bookwing Flap Teaser.”

2 trailers are included: a theatrical and a teaser.

5 movie previews follow that.

The galleries are well done. There are a pretty good number of images, and they are large, stretched to the edges of the screen. 8 galleries look at the main characters, the director, special effects which is really more bugs and corpse makeup, and other such moments.


Final thoughts:
This is a terrific thriller for anyone looking for one to watch. Intelligent, gripping, and beautifully done it’s well worth seeing. Obviously the Collector’s Edition is an attempt to cash in on the release of “Hannibal Rising.” I’m irritated to know that in order to enjoy all the features available for this movie I will have to buy the movie twice. Maybe I’ll luck out and find the Criterion release on clearance somewhere. It bothers me enough that I would drop the rating a star if I didn’t find the movie itself so exceptional. In addition there are a number of well-done extras on the Collector’s Edition, enough that I’ll go ahead and give it 5*.