Why are Americans so obsessed with serial killers? I don't know. This film is really a testament to that mystery. The Silence of the Lambs was a huge hit and garnered several academy awards as well as other awards. And it deserves it. The film is practically flawless. Great performances by Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopikins. I can still hear Hannibal's voice in my head and so many lines that will never be forgotten. The directing was unrivaled. The pacing of the film is great. It jumps from quick to slow with memorable cuts to one event or the other. In the final sequence where Buffalo Bill uses the night goggles and follows Starling I wondered how they did it. It was a bone chilling scene. When he reaches out and almost touches her I wanted to scream out loud to let her know he was there. I had to remind myself that it was just a film.
The screenplay was just as nerve racking. I'm not a big fan of horror films. And Silence veers into horror territory and the macabre. Especially when the viewer is shown Buffalo Bill's layer. I couldn't get over how weird he was. The montage used to show him getting into his psychotic states prior to killing was so creepy. Just a shot of his eye, his peieced nipple, his little tattoos. It all created a portrait of a monster.
The adaptation from script to screen stayed true to the script. There were just a few omissions of minor scenes and minor dialogue. I haven't read the book, so I can't speak about how it was adapted from the novel into the screenplay. I found nothing wrong with the script. The descriptions and word choice was flawless. The use of details was very good.
My screenwriting mentor told me that I didn't have enough detail in my script. Perhaps I should follow John Tally's example. The use of little details follows the whole story. It is in fact how the whole story evolves and Buffalo Bill is caught. Not only the use of the moth to track down the killer, but also the flashbacks which populate the story and explain why Starling is such a good agent. That little detail of the moth; how it is lodged in the victims, and eventually after good detective work Starling sees it at Buffalo Bill's house and knows he is the killer. That is the big, little detail that is used. Hitchcock called it the "mcguffin" the thing that seems meaningless, but turns out to be crucial to the story.
The script also etches in a lot little subplots that make it eminently watchable. Like the struggle of Starling to be accepted on equal footing with males in the story. And her story of her childhood. Through the story we get Lecter's personality on the screen. I was eerily fascinated with Lecter in the final scene between him and Starling. His whole face with his dark, hollow eyes, filled the entire screen while he penetrated Starling's childhood, and the reason she keeps fighting to solve crimes. After that the story flows into action sequences which reveal where Buffalo Bill is and the escape of Lecter from imprisonment. It moves fast and never gets dull. Even the second time I watched.
The last great technique used in the film is the false lead. On the second, or rather the third time I saw it, it wasn't as potent. Still it was an incredibly entertaining sequence. The fast cross cutting between locations. One where we thought Buffalo Bill was. And the other where he really is. It's a great use to build suspencs. The scenes cut together; the FBI agent with flowers ringing the door bell, to Buffalo Bill's basement, and finally to reveal it is Starling who is at the right place rather than Crawford. I can't even thing of another film that uses a false lead to turn the audience in one direction while at the same time leading to the correct location so well.
The Silence of the Lambs reminds me of Psycho. I've seen Hitchcock's masterpiece three or four times. And every time it is just as creepy, just as frightening. Silence of the Lambs is that kind of film. I've seen it at least three times and it is still just as creepy and thrilling as the first time I saw it. Especially the ending. I've read somewhere that a film can be bad except for the ending. If you give the audience a good ending, then all is not lost. The Silence of the Lambs is a great film from start to finish. It will stand out in film history as a genre defining film. I don't know how many other films or TV shows it has influenced, but I'm sure it is countless. It will not be forgotten easily.
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