Screenwriters and directors can turn to this classic film for a primer on how to create incredible tension and horror far in excess of what we actually see onscreen.
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04/27/09
Silence of the Lambs (1991)
96
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:52
Fresh:50
Rotten:2
Average Rating:8.5/10
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.
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... [More]
Starring: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine
Director: Jonathan Demme
Reviews for Silence of the Lambs
All of its most enduring aesthetic qualities and themes%u2014essentially what sets it apart from so many imitators and established it almost immediately as a canonical film%u2014are contained in its riveting first 20 minutes, which draw you in like a stee
03/18/09
It has maintained its reputation as a chilling drama after all these years...
02/23/09
Click to read the article
10/18/08
Click to read the article
10/18/08
Main attraction: the intellectual tug-of-wills between Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins.
10/07/08
Demme has the control of a born master of suspense.
10/31/07
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.
09/24/07
Top CriticClassy storytelling and unforgettable characterisation.
09/24/07
A riveting, non-stop thriller of nerve-racking intensity.
06/04/07
The over-the-top story reeks of phoniness, grisly violence and exploitation.
03/06/07
Not since The Exorcist had a horror flick been this applauded! It was almost as if ... "horror" were its own legitimate genre!
02/09/07
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.
02/05/07
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
07/28/06
The film comes through with flying colors.
05/06/06
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.
02/09/06
A first unmissable, then enduring, but always unmissable classic.
02/01/06
Top CriticIt's a bona fide classic of its kind.
03/07/05
...the rare scary movie that allows its actors room to circle and brush lightly against on another, generating cool sparks.
02/19/05
The Academy also rightly awarded Best Actress to Foster for being the heart and soul of the piece.
11/08/04
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