Valentine’s Day. A day where traditionally couples wine and dine, buy flowers and overpriced chocolates. Maybe even catch a romantic movie. So it was a leftfield move to release an horrific movie featuring a jailed cannibalistic psychiatrist aiding a rookie FBI agent to track down a transitioning serial killer. That movie was of course Silence of the Lambs featuring an iconic and oft impersonated character of Hannibal Lector in a star making performance by one of the world’s most respected actors, Anthony Hopkins.
Adapted from author Thomas Harris’ novel of the same name, a former journalist he turned to writing novels his first being ‘Black Sunday’ that was also made into a film starring Bruce Dern in 1975. It would be six years before he wrote his next book Red Dragon featuring what would become one of the classic villains of the big screen that would first be played by Brian Cox in director Michael Mann’s 1986 film, ‘Manhunter’ which bombed at the box office. Producer Dino De Laurentiis soon passed on optioning the follow up novel.
Published in 1988 The Silence of the Lambs was published where FBI agent Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster, The Accused) races against time to stop a serial killer, nicknamed “Buffalo Bill” (Ted Levine – Heat), before he kills again. To solve the case, she risks her own sanity by consulting with malevolent psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins, Nixon). A master manipulator, the sinister Dr Lecter offers crucial information that may be key to unlocking the killer’s identity – but at a price. Clarice must open primal events from her past to Lecter’s menacing curiosity and confront the trauma that fuels her search for justice.
It was Jodie Foster who went to buy the rights to the book only to find that Gene Hackman had beaten her to it and who had intended the role of Hannibal to be his and he would direct the film too. First time screenwriter Tad Tally persuaded Hackman to let him write a draft but Hackman, having taken so stick for appearing in the controversial Mississippi Burning pulled out of the project altogether after his daughter read the draft and horrified at its content, persuaded her father to abandon the project.
But the studio were keen to proceed with the project and turned to director Jonathan Demme an unlikely choice but he did have predilection for featuring strong female characters in his films. But he was not keen on Foster playing the lead instead preferring either Melanie Griffith or Geena Davis but both passed as did De Niro and Dustin Hoffman and even Jeremy Irons for Hannibal. The studio heads set their sights in Anthony Hopkins, a respected actor but had never really cracked Hollywood and had returned to the UK and theatre. The studio thought the role would be a good counterpoint to his kindly Dr in The Elephant Man. Hopkins read it and soon realised the role had the potential to be a game changer for him.
Demme also got to cast his regulars notably Scott Glen as the FBI profiler and researched his role with real life agents. He soon came to regret it when exposed to graphic crime scene photos and most harrowing of all an audio tape of a pair of killer rapists with a victim. Glen later admitted that ‘as a result of the experience I lost a certain degree of innocence. To this day I find myself having unpleasant dreams about the things I found out’. Ted Levine would play Buffalo Bill the serial killer that Foster’s character was hunting.
Shot in Pittsburgh for four months on a budget of only $19m under a tight schedule with Hopkins revelling in the role and relishing THAT line about a nice chianti with a lip smacking slurp. And yet that slurp that sent shivers down audiences spines was actually a joke that he put in for director Demme who loved it so much that …well the rest is history.
So why was it released on Valentines Day? The answer is to do with Kevin Costner. The film’s original release date had been Autumn 1990 but the studio had Costner’s directorial debut Dances with Wolves set for Autumn and their expectations for it were high especially for Oscars and horror films, The Exorcist aside, traditionally were never Oscar contenders. Added to this was that there were simply not enough screens in the US to accommodate a wide release for both films at the same time. So Lambs was shunted into the new year specifically February 14th in the US traditionally something of a dead month for new releases but Demme liked the idea of a horror film released on a day of love. It had little competition and the film opened at No1 with the word spreading quickly that this was a great film. So good was the audience reaction that it stayed at the number one spot for five weeks becoming the fourth biggest grossing film of the year behind Terminator 2, Beauty and the Beast and ironically Kevin Costner’s version of Robin Hood.
With its cinema release having drawn to a close in the US it found its way onto VHS but as it began to roll out its release globally it began to pick up international awards and the films impetus driven by Hopkins performance stuck in the psyche of audiences throughout the summer and into the Autumn and to the Academy’s Christmas Day cut off point for Oscar consideration. It was that most rare of movies and was so well regarded that it gained seven nominations and for only the third time in the Academy’s history it won the Big Five awards: Best Film Actor, Actress, Director and Screenplay. And yet despite the films huge critical and commercial success (it earned $272m worldwide) the studio, Orion, went bankrupt.
Now over thirty years since its first release the Silence of the Lambs still retains its impact and this Limited Edition 4K UHD is a reminder of just why with an array of bonus features that includes:
- 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray
presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
• Newly restored original lossless 2.0 stereo soundtrack
• Optional lossless 5.1 soundtrack
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Brand new audio commentary by critics Elizabeth Purchell & Caden Mark Gardner
• Audio commentary by critic Tim Lucas
• Through Her Eyes – brand new visual essay on the theme of transformation by critic Justine Peres Smith
• Healing Humanity – brand new visual essay exploring point of view and personalization by critic Willow Catelyn Maclay
• Breaking the Silence – archival picture-in-picture interviews and trivia track
• 2002 episode of the Bravo television series Page to Screen focusing on The Silence of the Lambs
• Scoring the Silence – 2004 archival interview with composer Howard Shore
• Jonathan Demme & Jodie Foster – three-part archival 2005 documentary by Laurent Bouzereau
• Understanding the Madness – 2008 archival featurette featuring various FBI alumni discussing the profiling of serial killers
• 1991 “Making Of” Featurette
• 22 deleted scenes
• 7 additional deleted scenes, sourced from a VHS workprint
• Outtakes
• Anthony Hopkins phone message
• Theatrical trailer
• Teaser trailer
• 11 TV spots
• Image gallery
• Limited edition packaging with reversible sleeve featuring two original choices of artwork
• Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Alexandra West, Josh Nelson, Sam Moore and Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
• Double-sided fold-out poster, featuring two original choices of artwork
• Six double-sided, postcard-sized lobby card reproduction art cards
Demme passed away in 2017 and Hopkins has expressed regret at doing sequels to the film with Foster ducking out of Ridley Scott’s sequel Hannibal. Unfortunately there’s no commentary track from them which would have been a stunning extra. Instead we have a critics commentary which is never ideal as you want the people who were there on the set or directly involved in the film. And that is the same for new features on this disc. What is best is the archival features that includes a great three part documentary as well as deleted scenes & outtakes and a fun phone message by Hopkins.
The film reinvigerated the serial killer genre and many of which paled in comparison with only David Finchers’ Seven’ in the same league. The Silence of the Lambs remains a highpoint in the genre with a career defining performance by an already great actor in a film that still leaves an indelible impression and remains a highly influential, landmark classic of mystery, suspense and psychological horror.
related feature : Jonathan Demme – OBITUARY
related feature : How to be Ted Bundy | Luke Kirby talks about his role as the killer in ‘No Man of God’
here’s The Silence of the Lambs trailer……
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