This is it, a genre masterpiece and one of the most frightening films of all time. The only horror film to win a Best Picture Oscar, "The Silence of the Lambs" cleverly adapted Harris’ literary sensation, making the nerve-shredding intensity of the novel more palpable but no less intense. (In particular, the final fifteen minutes or so, after that great reveal, is some of the most white-knuckle filmmaking ever.) Much of "The Silence of the Lambs’" success has to do with the casting, with Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins giving performances that give rich nuance to what could have been flat archetypes. (While Hopkins returned to the role a few times since, nothing can top his Oscar-winning turn here.) But it’s the late, great Jonathan Demme‘s direction, which is as sensitive as it is sensational, that truly elevates the film.
Demme’s stylistic tics, like having the actors frequently look directly into the camera, creates an immediacy and an intimacy that mirrors the psychological shading of Harris’ text. You can tell that he did his time on indie character pieces and not big budget spectacles, and his emphasis is clearly on the truth of the material, even when it’s at its most oversized and operatic. "Lambs" is a movie that is just as powerful and profound as it was when it was released in 1991.
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