It was during the time when they were on the trail of one Ted Bundy. Thomas Harris, in the early 80's, were doing research and was fortunate enough to get involved with criminal profiling, which at that time had been an unproven and highly speculative science. Right, lets take a step back, to the research phase of this story. With a strong cast and story, this movie became an unlikely contender at the Academy Awards. In comes Anthony Hopkins, whose portrayal of the psychopathic genius is so convincing, it catapults him to one of the biggest super villains of all time, yet he is so charming that the audience can't help but like him.Īnd, of course, Buffalo Bill is played by Ted Levine, who is utterly convincing, even if you've seen him as the cop in MONK. You know she is intelligent, yet she knows that she has no chance against the superior intellect of Dr. Then you look at the cast - Jody Foster managed to play a vulnerable yet strong female (IMPORTANT) lead. But most movie freaks and geeks will agree with me that the story is probably one of the best adaptations from book to screen ever. By all means, Thomas Harris is a brilliant writer - if you've read any of the books you will know this.

There are a few things TSOTL had going for it that counted in its favor. To the best of my knowledge, it was a flop at the box office. However, there was an attempt at a screen adaptation of Red Dragon a few years before TSOTL, called MANHUNTER. It was also the second movie adaptation - wait just a damn moment, you might be saying to me, Red Dragon was the first book but it was made after the TSOTL movie was so successful. Today, most thrillers and police procedurals gets measured against it.įor this review, I will refer to TSOTL as the story, because I'm going to talk about the book, movie, facts, fiction and some of my own opinions. And believe me, my friends, important it was. Many years from now, historians will look back on this story and wonder why it was so important.

Harris silence of the lambs