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Silence of the Lambs, The
Orion Pictures Corporation


9.0

based on 17 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 45 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

Internet Movie Database

MPAA RATING: R

Starring Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster, Ted Levine, Scott Glenn, and Anthony Heald

In pursuit of one serial killer, ambitious FBI student Clarice Starling (Foster) is forced to enlist the aid of another notorious killer, the incarcerated ex-psychiatrist known as "Hannibal the Cannibal" Lecter (Hopkins).

GENRE(S):	Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Thomas Harris (novel) Ted Tally
DIRECTED BY:	Jonathan Demme
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: July 15, 1998 Video: August 3, 1999 Theatrical: February 13, 1991
RUNNING TIME:	118 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

Awarded Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor (Hopkins), Best Actress (Foster), & Best Director (Demme) at the 1992 Academy Awards.

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Variety Staff [not credited]

A mesmerizing thriller that will grip audiences from first scene to last.

100

San Francisco Chronicle Judy Stone

The interplay between Starling and Lector as they share an indefinable, dark understanding gives the film its unforgettable and unsettling power. [14 February 1991, Daily Notebook, p.E1]

100

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

The superbly crafted suspense thriller…slams you like a sudden blast of bone-chilling, pulse-pounding terror.

100

USA Today Susan Wloszczyna

A movie with this kind of haunting power comes along only once every decade or so. [20 February 1991, Life, p.11D]

100

Los Angeles Times Sheila Benson

Hopkins' insinuating performance puts him right up there with the screen's great bogymen. [13 February 1991, Calendar, p.F-1}

100

Washington Post Rita Kempley

Delicious with foreboding, a masterly suspense thriller that toys with our anticipation like a well-fed cat.

Mr. Showbiz Jean Oppenheimer

Though the film's subject matter is grisly, the electricity between Foster and Hopkins during their prison tête-à-têtes could power every maximum-security prison in this country.

The New York Times Vincent Canby

All sorts of macabre things have gone on, and are still going on just offscreen, in Jonahan Demme's swift, witty new suspence thriller.[14 February 1991]

TV Guide Staff [not credited]

Hopkins plays the cannibalistic doctor with a quiet, controlled erudition, lacing his performance with moments of black humor. His Lecter is a sort of satanic Sherlock Holmes whose spasms of violence are all the more terrifying because they erupt from beneath such an intelligent and refined mask.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

A smart, restrained entertainment, it doesn't splash around in blood and hysteria. It doesn't have to.

Austin Chronicle Steve Davis

At long, long last: the real thing.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

It has been a good long while since I have felt the presence of Evil so manifestly demonstrated as in the first appearance of Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Chilling and creepy, and there's no denying that the most celebrated aspect of the film -- the Clarice/Hannibal connection -- could not have been accomplished with greater skill.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

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.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

Demme's pacing is tight throughout, marred only by some low-angle close-ups of the cannibal that are right out of old Vincent Price thrillers. [Feb 18, 1991]

Chicago Tribune Gene Siskel

Billed as one of the most frightening, depraved films ever made. Would that it were so. Instead, this is a case of much ado about nothing. [15 February 1991, Friday, p.C]

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jay Scott

The plot is squeezed dry in this bloody Valentine from Hollywood and becomes annoyingly predictable. Thriller stumbles on its own success

The average user rating for this movie is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 45 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Tyler G. gave it a10:
One of the best movies I have ever seen, and I've seen a lot of movies. From the acting to the story this movie was a 10 in every category. Go buyh this DVD right now!

Kelly B. gave it a10:
Love it, love it, love it. Hopkins is amazing - some of the best acting every put on film. And Foster is breathtaking as Clarice. It gives me chills every time I watch it.

Jim D gave it a10:
This was the best movie I have ever seen.

Charlie N. gave it a10:
One of my favorite films of all time! Mind-blowing!

R Dalvi gave it an8:
Very suspenseful. however, it is not scary. Also, it does not have that much gruesome violent scenes as its sequel hannibal.

patrick gave it a10:
One of the scariest and one of the absolute best movies I've ever seen!

J. Ryan G. gave it an8:
If not one of our finest films, then a splendid example of good screenplay adaptation. Ted Tally's script, combined with the usually evenhanded director Jonathan Demme, create a seamless little movie where every scene fits into place and tone is maintained with incredible consistency. The result is a classy picture that could have been made in the 1940s with very few narrative alterations.

Silence of the Lambs, The Orion Pictures Corporation

Silence of the Lambs, The
Orion Pictures Corporation