Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6025 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-03-05
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Box set, PAL, Dolby
• Original language: English, Hungarian
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 114 minutes

Synopsis
Jonathan Demme directed this genre-bending thriller in which Jodie Foster portrays Clarice Starling, an ambitious FBI student who is on the verge of graduation when her superior enlists her help to track down a serial killer. When a senator's daughter turns up missing, the feds determine the most likely suspect is Buffalo Bill, who is murdering women and doing something terrible with their skin. But to find him, Starling is forced to enlist the aid of another notorious serial killer--the terminally incarcerated ex-psychiatrist known as Hannibal the Cannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins). Hannibal is the only one who truly understands the killer's mind and motive. He agrees to help Clarice, but in exchange, she has to tell him her deepest secrets. Slowly she wins Hannibal over as he discovers that unlike most heroes, she is more moved by vulnerability than she is attracted to power. Clarice's relentless search for the killer and Hannibal's unorthodox analysis are chilling. The screenplay is based on the best-selling novel by Thomas Harris.

Customer Reviews

How all thrillers should be.
You've heard of this film, it's been so parodied and referenced over the years since it's release that it's become firmly embedded in the public consciousness. The reason for this? It's absolutely fantastic. It's one of the few films I haven't a bad word to say about, it's pretty damn near perfect.
The story follows a young FBI trainee Clarice Starling (Foster) who's sent to interview an imprisoned serial killer, the now world-famous Hannibal Lecter (Hopkins). The interview coincides with the continuing activity of another very different killer, Buffalo Bill, and of course the two plot lines quickly become one as Lecter offers to use his undoubted psychological genius to aid the police in exchange for improving his circumstances of imprisonment.
Hopkins as Lecter is only on screen for about twenty minutes totaled up and yet he gives such a stunning performance that his presence is felt throughout the film. He is at once charismatic, dangerous, electrifying, creepy, hypnotic, menacing and deeply disturbing. The first time he stares into the camera you feel like he's staring into your very soul, and for Starling he is. He's behind glass and yet Hopkins manages to instill such a sense of danger to him that he seems infinitely more terrifying than Buffalo Bill - where Bill is deranged, confused and emotionally volatile, Lecter is cold, intelligent, darkly empathetic, and completely detached from that most basic drive that prevents us killing. That Lecter clearly has his own strict moral code based on manners and politeness makes him even more frightening.
Foster as Starling delivers a career best performance, perfectly realizing the character as both strong but vulnerable, sensitive but determined, by no means the 2D female lead the film would have produced in almost any other actress. We feel for Starling, we want her to succeed, we feel afraid for her as she becomes dangerously close to Lecter. Foster really has to drive this film, Hopkins makes us afraid but Foster has to make us care, which she achieves easily. Her performance is often overlooked in this film because of Hopkins, but they both won Oscars for their roles and both were well deserved, two of the greatest performances on film to date.
The directing by Jonathan Demme is superb, forcing his audience into every scene by keeping face-on to the dialog and way too close to the action for comfort so we feel like we're there without the need for shaky-hand-held-documentary-style work that works well in some films (e.g. the Bourne Franchise) but would have ruined this. This film is not rugged, it's precise. It's not about random violence, it's about calculated horror.
In conclusion this is an incredible film with stunning performances, intense atmosphere, perfectly calculated directing, and one of the best constructed and driven plots in cinema history. Buy it now, it doesn't matter which edition, just get your hands on this film and prepare to be blown away. Good? It's Perfect.

A GREAT THRILLER
'The Silence of the Lambs' is one of the best movies made in the nineties. Most memorable is probably Anthony Hopkins' performance as mass murderer Hannibal Lecter, also known as Hannibal the Cannibal. The first time we see his character is one of the creepiest moments I have seen in modern movies, which is almost strange since his character is in a prison cell at that time.

He is visited by Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster), another famous name in the movies. She, a young woman who is still at the academy to become an FBI-agent, is send by FBI-man Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn) who is on the case of Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine), another mass murderer who skins his young female victims. Crawford thinks Lecter can help with the case and uses Starling to manipulate the smart Lecter, who was a psychiatrist who ate his victims. Doctor Lecter decides to help Starling, sort of, but she has to tell personal things to him, not that smart with a psycho psychiatrist. Slowly she comes closer to catch Buffalo Bill, although the head of the institution where Lecter is held, Dr. Chilton (Anthony Heald), is responsible for some unexpected events I will not reveal, although you probably can guess the main event since there is a sequel with the name 'Hannibal'.

This movie is not only good because it has suspense, although it is one of the most suspenseful movies I know. The movie is more than a thriller. It gives us an interesting view of a woman in world filled with men, it shows a psychological study on a killer and an agent, is has memorable characters, terrific performances and it is perfectly directed by Jonathan Demme. Hopkins is the most memorable since his character is so interesting and creepy at the same time. Foster is as good as Hopkins, and probably Heald as well, but their characters are a little more usual.

When you talk about movies with suspense, like 'Psycho' or 'The Exorcist', you can not forget 'The Silence of the Lambs'. It is not a strange thing that this movie won the five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Director, both Best Actor and Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay).

greatest movie ever
If someone has not seen it yet, I really recommend. Fantastic role of Anthony Hopkins, great plot, surprising ending. Movie keeps you excited from the beginning till the end. When you see it, also see the 'Hannibal' and 'Red Dragon', they are continuation of 'Silence of the Lambs'. Really great movies!