The Silence of the Lambs

US (1991): Mystery/Thriller

Based on Thomas Harris's novel, this terrifying film by Jonathan Demme really only contains a couple of genuinely shocking moments (one involving an autopsy, the other a prison break). The rest of the film is a splatter-free visual and psychological descent into the hell of madness, redeemed astonishingly by an unlikely connection between a monster and a haunted young woman. Anthony Hopkins is extraordinary as the cannibalistic psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter, virtually entombed in a subterranean prison for the criminally insane. At the behest of the FBI, agent-in-training Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) approaches Lecter, requesting his insights into the identity and methods of a serial killer named Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine). In exchange, Lecter demands the right to penetrate Starling's most painful memories, creating a bizarre but palpable intimacy that liberates them both under separate but equally horrific circumstances. Demme, a filmmaker with a uniquely populist vision, also spent his early years making pulp for Roger Corman, and he hasn't forgotten the significance of tone, atmosphere, and the unsettling nature of a crudely effective close-up. Much of the film, in fact, consists of actors staring straight into the camera (usually from Clarice's point of view), making every bridge between one set of eyes to another seem terribly dangerous. (Tom Keogh, Amazon.com)

Released to home video in November, 1991, The Silence of the Lambs became the first Best Picture winner to be released for home viewing before the Academy Awards^® ceremonies. Lambs was the first film since 1975's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest to capture the top five Oscars^®: Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Director and Screenplay. The only other film to accomplish this feat is Frank Capra's It Happened One Night (1934).

 View a trailer for this film from VideoDetective.com.

7 nominations, 5 Awards