"Silence of the Lambs" was the first movie I ever bought for myself back when VHS was king. Some consider "Manhunter" to be the best serial killer movie made, but this Jon Demme outing gets my vote. It's spooky, in a darkness-of-human-nature kind of way, disturbing, and fascinating. I guess you could say Hannibal Lecter is not that far removed from Jason, Freddy, or Mike Myers, but Hannibal is more realistic and therefore more frightening.

When a killer leaves a trail of mutilated bodies but precious few clues for the FBI to follow the investigators resort to seeking insight from the most brilliant serial killer mind in captivity, Hannibal “the Cannibal” Lecter. Clarice, a young rookie agent, is recruited to gain Lecter's confidence, but he is not one to help out with altruistic motives; he wants inside Clarice's head while achieving his own ends. Clarice finds herself entwined with two hyper-intelligent psychopaths who love to play games with others’ lives which releases inner demons to torment her mind. She will have to battle the external and internal evils if she is to save Buffalo Bill's latest victim from a gory fate.

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 Hannibal’s 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 actually 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. I could see that not being a positive for all viewers, though. If you prefer everything laid out before you clearly and concisely you may not enjoy the story as much as I do.

Two movies cover the events prior to Silence of the Lambs: 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 Silence of the Lambs again I realized that’s exactly what we have here. The plot is thick and solid, the emotion and mood carefully crafted, the cinematography and sound expertly handled. Silence of the Lambs 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 this movie's greatest rival).

The acting is great all around. Anthony Hopkins is iconic as Hannibal and is no doubt the main reason we eventually got more movies about the character. I don’t think he ever quite nailed the role as well as he did here. Jodie Foster is great as Clarice though some people are put off by her attempt at a Southern accent. It never bothered me personally. Ted Levine as Buffalo Bill is scary and perfectly psychotic. He really doesn’t get enough credit. One of the most fascinating bits in the DVD extras is hearing about Ted’s research for the role and how it affected him.

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.