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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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96 %
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Reviews Counted: 49

Fresh: 47

Rotten:2

Average Rating: 8.4/10

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 trainee Clarice Starling (Foster) is sent by... 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]

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Release:

Jul 21, 1998

[DVD Details]
 
 

DVD Features:

  • Region 0
  • Snap Case
  • Letterboxed - 1.85
  • Single Side - Single Layer

Audio:

  • Dolby Surround - English

Reviews for Silence of the Lambs

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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N/R

Click to read the article

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

Click to read the article

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

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
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Demme has the control of a born master of suspense.

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

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
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
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Classy storytelling and unforgettable characterisation.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
09/24/07
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
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A riveting, non-stop thriller of nerve-racking intensity.

comment Comment
06/04/07
Chuck O'Leary
FulvueDrive-in.com
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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
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Ratings Image

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
FEARnet
Ratings Image

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 18 Comments
02/05/07
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
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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
EmanuelLevy.Com
Ratings Image

The film comes through with flying colors.

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

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 Comment
02/09/06
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
Ratings Image

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

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
02/01/06
Barry McIlheney
Empire Magazine
Ratings Image

It's a bona fide classic of its kind.

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
03/07/05
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

...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
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Ratings Image

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

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

the best serial-killer movie, ever!

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

No review available.

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

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)
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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Latest News for Silence of the Lambs

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