"The Silence of the Lambs" Review [Dplante Films]

“The Silence of the Lambs,” Directed by Jonathan Demme and written by Ted Tally, is a horror thriller based off of the book of the same name. It centers around FBI agent in training, Clarice Starling, as she is tasked into gaining information about a serial killer dubbed “Buffalo Bill” for his trademark of stealing the skin off of his victims.

Unlike most of my reviews, I am actually writing this after a few years of already having seen this film. Honestly, I just wanted it to be on my List of Bias :].  The reason that I never reviewed it was because there wasn't much about this film that hasn't already been said, and to be honest, that's still pretty true. But nevertheless I can offer my own two cents on what I think about this film. 

Well let's start with the feel of the film. Everyone knows that when you watch this film you feel like you're left in an oven to slowly heat up untill you pop. It's the epitome of suspense and horror. But what I think makes this film even more unique is that it takes these really larger-er than life characters, and by that I mean they would be considered campy even by horror film standards, and yet somehow as we watch we accept them as real. I mean, Buffalo Bill has a house that has a massive crater underneath it that he somehow built, Hannibal Lector is practically a superhuman. Nobody would EVER accept these characters outside of this film, yet after watching this film I am afraid to turn my back! Why is that? Well for one, it is due to the themes of the film. This film is a feminist film, where our main character is forced to confront the pressures of all of the males she faces (which she does because she's a bad ass). Now typically, having this fear of rape throughout the film would only effect the woman audience, but in this case Clarice plays a masculine role. Personally, I feel that helps the male audience to sympathise with her somewhat, making her a little more of a stand in for the entire audience. Now that the entire audience can feel the pressures being exhibited throughout the film, the viewer now vulnerable.
And when you are in fear of something, they will most certainly feel real even if they are ridiculous. 

Another thing that helps with that and one of my other praises with the film is its props. It explicitly shows macabre props of dead bodies, autopsies. This realism adds to the brutal reality of the film and also the vulnerability we discussed. 

I don't think I even need to say anything about this but the acting is spotless. We see some of the most legendary performances here of all time, most notably Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lector. 

i mean, come on. He's just terrifying. Then of course Jodie Foster as Clarice is fantastic. 

So I mean, this film is a classic of the genre. Hell, my mom loves this film, she's the one who got me to see it! Just go watch it, it's scary, its good, it's AMAZING!

Check out my list of bias to see how this flick stacks up, and also check out my links below!

-Dan from Dplante Films

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