HALLOWEEN HORROR DAYS ~ DAY 21: SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)

In the 1980's cinema was dominated by horror films. These movies span nearly all of the horror sub-genres from monsters movies to horror comedies to true crime. But one sub-genre seemed to take a hold with audiences in the 80's more than any other: Slashers. FRIDAY THE 13TH, HALLOWEEN II, THE PROWLER, and many many others. Strangely audiences began rooting for the badguys as if Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers were super heroes or their favorite pro wrestlers. This wasn't a new phenomenon as audiences back in the day loved the Frankenstein Monster, Dracula, and the Wolf-Man. What was strange about this though was the fact that these new horror icons weren't always as sympathetic as Frankenstein's Monster. No these new horror heroes were in some cases unrepentant psychopaths worthy of the term "Monster."

As the 1980's drew to a close the landscape of horror films changed. What was popular began to grow unpopular. And the MPAA had very little tolerance for horror films. What was once fresh and exciting became stale and uninspired. It became clear that what worked in the 80's wouldn't work in the 90's. Then in 1991 the horror genre received an injection of new life in the film SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. Directed by Jonathan Demme and based off a book by Thomas Harris, this film reinvented horror for the new decade, displaying visceral realism and getting away from the more over-the-top sensationalism of popular 80's horror films. But yet it cleverly maintained a horror figure to root for like the horror heroes of 80's, a character named HANNIBAL LECTER.

THE PLOT

Clarice Starling is an up and coming FBI Agent. She is near the end of her tenure at the academy on her way to graduate. One of her old professors, FBI Agent Jack Crawford, calls her in to help with a serial killer investigation. 5 girls have been murdered and skinned by a killer referred to as Buffalo Bill. In order to attain a psyche profile of Bill, Crawford sends Clarice to interview serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Dr. Lecter, once a prolific psychiatrist, now an incarcerated cannibal killer, is taken with Clarice. He agrees to help Clarice find Buffalo Bill if she in turn opens up to him. "Quid pro quo, Clarice."

Another girl goes missing, this time the daughter of a prominent senator. It quickly becomes national news and the pressure on the FBI to find Buffalo Bill intensifies. Clarice is forced to play Lecter's game, letting him into her mind, risking it all in hopes of Hannibal giving them the information that they need. Lecter is transported to an unsecure facility where he gives up two sets of information, a name and description to the FBI higher ups and another set of clues secretly to Clarice. Starling follows her information while her superiors follow theirs. The FBI finds nothing while Clarice suddenly finds herself in the den of a killer. While everyone is distracted by the search for Buffalo Bill, Hannibal Lecter makes an attempt to escape.

THE GOOD

Anthony Hopkins. He's only in the movie for 25 minutes but it is some of the most unforgettable 25 minutes of film you'll ever see. Anthony is no stranger to horror films, AUDREY ROSE (1977) and MAGIC (1978) to name a few. He brings a level of derangement rarely seen in horror performances. From the very moment you first see Hannibal Lecter you are afraid of him, and all he's doing is standing there. Then he speaks. Everything about Hopkins's performance is frightening and enthralling. In Hannibal Lecter we get a truly realistic and terrifying figure as well as a new horror icon the likes of Leatherface and Dracula. He's barely featured in the film and ends up stealing the show. Buffalo Bill is the central villain in the film but he is easily overshadowed by Lecter.

The violence. Director Jonathan Demme lures us into a false sense of security only to unleash all the brutality and horror onto us at the end. A lot of the violence described in the film is through dialog as opposed to imagery, characters recalling murder scenes or looking at pictures which we the audience never see but are told a description of. It sets up a false line to which the audience feels the movie won't cross. I'm sure some of it was due to the harsh scrutiny of the MPAA but I also feel it was done for the purpose I mentioned above. You think you know the limit that this film will go and then you get to the "Hannibal Escapes" sequence and the movie blows way across the line and subsequently blows your mind! Charles Napier's hanging corpse is so striking you can't help but pause in shock. And then when Hannibal removes Officer Pembry's skinned face from over his own is the gruesome icing on the cake!

Faux True Crime. A logical step forward from the popular "Slasher" sub-genre. Silence of the Lambs executes this story with such perfection that for the duration of the 1990's we would see horror films shift in this direction. Where Slasher films dominated the genre in the 80's thanks to Friday the 13th, Crime Thrillers became the horror films of choice. SEVEN, BASIC INSTINCT, KISS THE GIRLS, and many many others like these came out by the dozens. These films defined the horror genre of the 90's and had it not been movie's like SCREAM and I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER the genre would've continued on down this new path.

THE BAD

Is this a horror film? This change in horror films from gore fests to crime thriller can be viewed in several ways. At this point in cinema history the MPAA was at the height of their crusade against horror films. They cracked down the hardest on this genre. What passed for an R rating in 1989 would barely make it as PG-13 today erring on the lighter side. They destroyed many a film during this period. It forced filmmakers to go other routes, either releasing their films unrated which usually spelled financial demise or go another route altogether. If the MPAA had zero tolerance for horror films then why not disguise a horror film as a crime thriller.

This however didn't come without a price. Blurring the lines of the genres, as horror films often do, led to other films that strayed even further. Eventually many of these crime thrillers strayed too far from the source, far enough to the point where you could no longer call them horror films. Kiss the Girls and Basic Instinct, both crime thrillers, I would not consider horror films. Yet the movie Seven I believe is very much a horror film. Jason, Freddy, Leatherface, and Michael Myers all tried to make comebacks in the 90's and all failed miserably (much to my chagrin). If not for the success of Wes Craven's movie Scream the good old reliable horror film formula from the 80's may have died out.

THE VERDICT

At a time when horror films were being figuratively staked through the heart by the puritanical MPAA Silence of the Lambs came along and saved the genre from certain death. It was done so well that it spawned countless imitators throughout the decade, much like Friday the 13th had done in the 1980's. Anthony Hopkins displays his finest acting of all and creates another horror icon that stands alongside the horror monster greats. All the actors deliver wonderful performances. Some may argue that the tide of crime thrillers that came as a result of Silence's success in fact hurt the horror genre and even Silence itself can't be called a true horror film. My answer to that comes in the form a man whose very name is synonymous with all things horror, ROGER CORMAN. Mr. Corman plays FBI Director Hayden Burke in the film. If there was ever any doubt to where this movie stands, and if Anthony Hopkins wasn't proof enough, the answer lies with the master of horror himself, Mr. Roger Corman.

Overall Ranking: 8 out of 10

Nude-O-Meter: 4 out of 10