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Reviews
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Psychological Slasher
This film is as close as something like THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE will ever get to grabbing an Academy Award. Anthony Hopkins, a long-time workaday actor, suddenly found himself 'discovered' and was rocketed to near superstar status when he walked away with an Oscar for his work as Hannibal Lector. And deservedly so. His Lector is one of the most skin-crawling, unnervingly chilling villains in screen history. It's not a far stretch to suggest that the plethora of roles he nabbed following his work in SotL would never have happened were it not for this film. Director Jonathan Demme, who has a long career of music videos, TV work, mainstream films and a surprising number of documentaries, truly made a name for himself with this piece. It takes a certain flair to turn such grisly stuff into acceptable product for the masses, and not lose the jagged edge in the process. Jodie Foster, in an excellent turn as emotionally damaged FBI agent Clarice Starling, had a brief re-ignition of her acting career thanks to this picture. Everything about the film clicks. It's amazingly well done, and even though the subject matter is understandably off-putting, it's hard not to be drawn in to the grim proceedings.