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MOVIES / ON DVD / SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
Silence of the Lambs

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Silence of the Lambs (1991)

96%
100%
97%
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N/A
96 %
Reviews Counted: 49 Fresh: 47  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.
 

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 2 hrs

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 trainee Clarice Starling (Foster) is sent by her supervisor (Scott Glenn) to interview... 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]

Genre: Dramas

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

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

DVD Info

Release:

Jun 1, 2009

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • 2-Disc Set
  • Widescreen - 1.85

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 1.0 - Spanish
  • Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround - English
  • Subtitles - English, Spanish - Optional

Additional Release Material:

  • Additional Footage - "Anthony Hopkins Phone Message"
  • Alternate Scenes - Deleted Scenes
  • Behind the Scenes - 1. "Inside the Labyrinth: Making of The Silence of the Lambs"
  • 2. "The Silence of the Lambs: Page to Screen (2-Part Documentary)"
  • 3. "Scoring the Silence"
  • 4. "Original 1991 Making of"
  • Outtakes
  • Trailers - 1. Teaser Trailer
  • 2. Theatrical Trailer
  • 3. TV Spots

Text/Photo Galleries:

  • Stills/Photos

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 >> >|
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Ratings Image
5/5

Classy storytelling and unforgettable characterisation.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/24/07
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
N/A

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 | comment Comment
02/09/06
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
5/5

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

Full Review | comment Comment
02/01/06
Barry McIlheney
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
4/5

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

Full Review | comment Comment
04/17/01
Ben Falk
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
5/5

Demme has the control of a born master of suspense.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/31/07
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com
Ratings Image
N/A

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 | comment Comment
09/24/07
Todd McCarthy
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
9/10

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

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

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

Full Review | comment Comment
03/06/07
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Ratings Image
5/5

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

Full Review | comment Comment
02/09/07
Scott Weinberg
FEARnet
Ratings Image
N/A

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 | comment 16 Comments
02/05/07
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
Ratings Image
4/5

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 | comment Comment
07/28/06
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
Ratings Image
8/10

The film comes through with flying colors.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/06/06
JoBlo
JoBlo's Movie Emporium
Ratings Image
N/A

It's a bona fide classic of its kind.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/07/05
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ratings Image
A

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

Full Review | comment Comment
02/19/05
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Ratings Image
N/A

The Academy also rightly awarded Best Actress to Foster for being the heart and soul of the piece.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/08/04
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid
Ratings Image
4/4

the best serial-killer movie, ever!

Full Review | comment Comment
08/12/04
Stefan Birgir Stefansson
sbs.is
Ratings Image
4/5

No review available.

comment Comment
10/10/03
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Ratings Image
4/5

It's good, but it's not quite the classic it's touted as.

comment Comment
09/03/03
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Ratings Image
5/5

No review available.

comment Comment
09/01/03
Mike McGranaghan
Aisle Seat
Ratings Image
4/5

No review available.

comment Comment
08/20/03
Ryan Cracknell
Movie Views
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