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Movies / On DVD / Silence of the Lambs
Silence of the Lambs

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Silence of the Lambs (1991)

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Reviews Counted:52

Fresh:50

Rotten:2

Average Rating:8.5/10

Consensus: Director Jonathan Demme's smart, taut thriller teeters on the edge between psychological study and all-out horror, and benefits greatly from stellar performances by Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster.

Runtime: 2 hrs

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins will likely be forever associated with their roles in this bone-chilling masterpiece, based on the novel by Thomas Harris and directed by Jonathan Demme. FBI... Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins will likely be forever associated with their roles in this bone-chilling masterpiece, based on the novel by Thomas Harris and directed by Jonathan Demme. FBI trainee Clarice Starling (Foster) is sent by her supervisor (Scott Glenn) to interview ferociously intelligent serial killer Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lechter (Hopkins) at his cell in a Maryland mental hospital. The FBI hopes Lechter can provide insight into the mind of killer-at-large, Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine), whose current abductee happens to be the daughter of a senator. Intrigued by Clairice, Lechter demands information about her personal life and in exchange for clues, and the two begin to form a strangely intimate connection, with a girl's life hanging in the balance. Starling is gradually revealed as a woman struggling out of her own darkness, bound to aid the dysfunctional males around her on their own paths of transformation, liberation, and destruction. This is a film of brilliant and disturbing beauty that transcends its B-movie origins (though it does honor them with a cameo appearance by Roger Corman). Its enduring influence has led to a slew of similarly dark-toned serial killer films, and a sequel, HANNIBAL (2001). [More]

Starring: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine

Starring: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine, Buzz Kilman, Brooke Smith, Diane Baker, Kasi Lemmons, Charles Napier, Tracey Walter, Frankie Faison

Director: Jonathan Demme

Director: Jonathan Demme
Screenwriter: Ted Tally
Story: Thomas Harris
Composer: Howard Shore

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Silence of the Lambs

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Classy storytelling and unforgettable characterisation.

Full Review Source: Film4 | comment Comment
09/24/07
Film4
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Understandably, much has been made of Hopkins' hypnotic Lecter, but the laurels must go to Levine's killer, admirably devoid of camp overstatement, and to Foster, who evokes a vulnerable but pragmatic intelligence.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment 2 Comments
02/09/06
Geoff Andrew
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A first unmissable, then enduring, but always unmissable classic.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
02/01/06
Barry McIlheney
Barry McIlheney
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Very few movies have ever won the five top Oscars: Best Actor, Actress, Screenplay, Director, and Picture.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
04/17/01
Ben Falk
Ben Falk
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Screenwriters and directors can turn to this classic film for a primer on how to create incredible tension and horror far in excess of what we actually see onscreen.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
04/27/09
Brian Webster
Brian Webster
Apollo Guide

All of its most enduring aesthetic qualities and themes%u2014essentially what sets it apart from so many imitators and established it almost immediately as a canonical film%u2014are contained in its riveting first 20 minutes, which draw you in like a stee

Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk | comment Comment
03/18/09
James Kendrick
James Kendrick
Q Network Film Desk

It has maintained its reputation as a chilling drama after all these years...

Full Review Source: Screen It! | comment Comment
02/23/09
Rory L. Aronsky
Rory L. Aronsky
Screen It!
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Newsweek | comment Comment
10/18/08
David Ansen
David Ansen
Newsweek
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
10/18/08
Moira MacDonald
Moira MacDonald
Seattle Times

Main attraction: the intellectual tug-of-wills between Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins.

Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | comment Comment
10/07/08
TIME Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Demme has the control of a born master of suspense.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
10/31/07
Rob Gonsalves
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com

The juiciest part is Hopkins,' and he makes the most of it. Helped by some highly dramatic lighting, actor makes the role the personification of brilliant, hypnotic evil, and the screen jolts with electricity whenever he is on.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment 1 Comment
09/24/07
Todd McCarthy
Todd McCarthy
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A riveting, non-stop thriller of nerve-racking intensity.

comment Comment
06/04/07
Chuck O'Leary
Chuck O'Leary
FulvueDrive-in.com

The over-the-top story reeks of phoniness, grisly violence and exploitation.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
03/06/07
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Not since The Exorcist had a horror flick been this applauded! It was almost as if ... "horror" were its own legitimate genre!

Full Review Source: FEARnet | comment Comment
02/09/07
Scott Weinberg
Scott Weinberg
FEARnet

An accomplished, effective, grisly, and exceptionally sick slasher film that I can't with any conscience recommend, because the purposes to which it places its considerable ingenuity are ultimately rather foul.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment 31 Comments
02/05/07
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader

If you disregard the homophobic elements, you'll enjoy Demme's terrific thriller with brilliant acting from Hopkins, who makes a likable hero out of Hannibal, and Jodie Foster, as the alert agent who becomes his reluctant partner and romantic interest

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment 1 Comment
07/28/06
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

The film comes through with flying colors.

Full Review Source: JoBlo's Movie Emporium | comment Comment
05/06/06
JoBlo
JoBlo
JoBlo's Movie Emporium

It's a bona fide classic of its kind.

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
03/07/05
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

...the rare scary movie that allows its actors room to circle and brush lightly against on another, generating cool sparks.

Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | comment Comment
02/19/05
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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