Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3300 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-05-19
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 115 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Released to box-office indifference in 1986, Manhunter introduced Hannibal Lecter and established the rules of the modern race-to-find-the-serial-killer thriller five years before The Silence of the Lambs packed cinemas everywhere. This was Michael Mann's third feature, reuniting William L Petersen and Dennis Farina from his debut Thief (1981) as FBI agents hunting the killer dubbed "The Tooth Fairy". Petersen's Will Graham is the man who put "Lecktor" (as it is spelt here) behind bars, and, as in Silence of the Lambs, he is forced to consult the Doctor, played here with understated malevolence by Brian Cox.

Manhunter is an exceptionally well-photographed film: Mann's regular cinematographer Dante Spinotti creates sparse, elegantly framed, often monochromatically lit compositions essential to the shifting psychological moods. The performances are very good, and the typically 1980s, Vangelis-esque electronic score effectively sustains tension. Once the killer is introduced the scenes with Joan Allen have a genuinely unsettling, almost surreal quality, although there is at least one serious plot flaw--how does "The Red Dragon" get his letter to Lecter? Manhunter never packs the sheer excitement of Silence of the Lambs, nevertheless, it is a powerful and compelling thriller which remains far superior to the Anthony Hopkins-starring Hannibal (2001) and Red Dragon (2002). --Gary S Dalkin

DVD Description
DVD Special Features:

Disc One:

• Theatrical version of Manhunter
  
• x 2 documentaries - The Manhunter Look and Inside Manhunter
  
• Trailer
  
• Photo Gallery
  
• English subtitles

Disc Two:

• Michael Mann approved new hi-def colour
  
• Corrected version of the film, with the Director's Cut missing scenes inserted
  
• Commentary with Michael Mann
  
• English subtitles

Special Features
English
Region 2

Customer Reviews

Great movie on good DVD
This film is the on-screen-birth of Dr. Hannibal Lecktor (as he's written in this movie!). The DVD not only offers the theatrical cut but includes the director's version, too. As a matter of fact, the two versions have not only differences in cuts and lengths (for more informations look through the net) but the director's cut is a bit darker (see this two sites with comparisons of the two film versions:
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/1637/dclinkskfrechts1yi2.jpg and
http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/2995/dclinkskfrechts3bw4.jpg)

To the film itself:
I had to watch it few times, before I got warm with it. Maybe I expected more Lecter or something like that. But the more I watched, the more I started to like. Right now I maybe watched the movie about five times and I'm deeply impressed by the amazing connection of sound and pictures. May it be the song 'Coelocanth' during the 'meeting' with the tiger or 'Heartbeat' during the end credits. Besides, the colours in the film are awesome. The blue at Graham's house. The white and purple room of Lecktor. The green in Dollarhydes house. In the documentaries on DVD 1 (Manhunter Look and Inside Manhunter) some effects are portraied by camera operator Dante Spinotti.

All in all, this DVD version is a worthy DVD for this film and I'm a bit sad that Kinowelt didn't release the director's cut in my home country Germany until now.

Hunt this man down...
Quietly forgotten in the whirlwind hype surrounding the more mainstream versions of Thomas Harris' character Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs, etc) - this severely under appreciated gem juggles elegance and style, character development and excellent plotting to conjure up the most satisfying of all the Lecter adaptations to date.

Release in 1986 to middling reviews, director Michael Mann's third feature (following on from his TV success with 'Miami Vice' and big screen endeavors 'The Keep' and 'Thief') is a triumph of both style and substance. Shot with a mid 80s gloss, Mann transfers Harris' novel to the big screen with panache and manages to wring many a scare out of the source material. The movie stars William L. Peterson as Will Graham, an ex-FBI agent who is forced out of retirement to track down a serial killer, suitably named 'The Tooth Fairy' (played beautifully by Tom Noonan). His only hope is to seek council with a killer he successfully captured years before . . . Hannibal Lecter (here spelt 'Lektor'). This sets in motion a chain of events that will lead Graham to question his own talents and sanity all the way up to a dynamite climax in which graham comes face to face with The Tooth Fairy himself.

Peterson is well cast as Graham. Brooding and awkward, yet heroic in equal measure - he fills the screen whenever he is in shot. His performance totally eclipses Edward Norton's interpretation of the character in Brett Ratners' pointless remake 'Red Dragon'. Dennis Farina essays the role of Jack Crawford, and although I prefer Scott Glen in 'Silence', he too is excellent in the part. His and Peterson's exchanges in the movie give it its intensity and power the movie along. As always, Mann directs with style to spare and (for me, anyway) gives his best movie - even bettering the mid 90s star fest 'Heat'. Brian Cox essays the role of Lektor this time around, and although not as entertaining as Anthony Hopkins interpretation, he does a sterling job and keeps the character in check with a subtle nuance.

The score too is excellent - granted, very mid 80s, but Mann's choices of music to accompany the visuals is inspired and really lifts the imagery. Talking of imagery, Dante Spinotti's cinematography is excellent and really alternates the picture between high gloss slick drama to gritty, urban thriller. The police procedural elements are very well handled and the sense of urgency that is highlighted give the movie its heart and the lighting and style echo each and every beat of the story. All in all, an impressive film that deserves to be seen.

The DVD too is impressive. With an excellent high calibre transfer and short documentaries to unravel the behind the scenes story. All in all, a worthy DVD of an excellent movie. Recommended.

Freddie Lounds is the real villain here
Director Michael Mann wouldn't find global recognition until 1992's Last of the Mohicans, but this 1986 detective thriller, based on Thomas Harris's novel Red Dragon, is still well-loved and has now found new life in the form of this Special Edition.

William Peterson plays Will Graham, a jaded detective charged with hunting down the "Tooth Fairy" (Tom Noonan), a killer who preys by the light of the full moon. To track the killer, Graham must "recover the mindset", and so he consults his arch nemesis Hannibal Lecktor (renamed 'Lecter' in later adaptations).

Peterson's Graham may seem bland and one-dimensional compared to Jodie Foster's Clarice Starling, but it's worth remembering where each character begins. Silent and repressive, Graham is pared-down memory of his former self; the shadow of Lecktor looms so heavily upon him he's no longer sure whose thoughts he's thinking. The scene in the supermarket in which Graham reveals the truth of his past to his son (David Seaman) is played out like a confession: in a triumphant surge of music, Graham is purged. Starling, by comparison, is a rookie - she has no previous. She's nervous and talkative. And, crucially, Lecktor/Lecter loves her, and so we get the full pysch report. Is she a more interesting character? Probably.

But it matters little. Lecktor is the star of the show. Here, Brian Cox plays the old cannibal with classic restraint. Hopkins' version was a pantomime monster, skulking in his dark, dank dungeon. Cox's villain is shrouded in heavenly white; his menace is achieved through poise and understatement. The simplicity of his ambience alludes to the purity of his horrifying intent.

Manhunter is a far from perfect film. Graham is the product of a bad TV movie: the jaded cop with the beautiful wife and the penthouse by the sea, and a the private jet waiting on the runway. And the film has dated badly, there's no two ways about it - the Tangerine Dream-esque music in particular frequently lurches from atmospheric to incongruous in the space of adjacent scenes. But then, one could argue, Mann has since established himself as a pure pop director. At least Manhunter feels like a product of its time, rather than a product of a diseased mind like Mann's own Miami Vice.

Excellent support comes from Joan Allen as the blind lady who breaks the Tooth Fairy's heart, as well as Stephen Lang as the irredeemably repugnant Freddie Lounds. Fast-paced, with an exciting and intricate forensics-based plot to follow, as well as a satisfying, stylish climax, Manhunter is well worth purchasing.