You can still hear the lambs screaming long after this films done!

After the Shining, I was kind of on a horror frenzy. I could not watch enough of them. This film was the climax of my obsession. After it, I've never seen a horror film as good. Saw excused.

The film begins rather unexitingly, where we see Agent Clarice Starling training. Starling is an F.B.I student, and a good one, who wants to treat psychotic criminals. Her boss asks for her help. A new killer, Buffalo Bill is going around killing large women and skining them. He wants her to interview Hannibal Lecter (Hannibal the Cannibal) to get a sense of why Bill is doing what he's doing.

Hannibal is played stunningly by the magnificent Anthony Hopkins in a star making role. From the first moment you here him politely ask Clarice to "come closer" you know he will scare the c-p out of you. Clarice talks to Hannibal and is simotaneously disgusted and facinated by him. He offers her subtle hints on how she can catch Bill, dangling the ultimate prize before her eyes, a psychological profile of a pyschopath by another psycho.

The suspense ups another ante when the daughter of a well known, wealthy Senator is kidnapped by Bill. Hannibal now offers to help her only if she'll tell her "things" about herself. She agree's and Hannibal goes to Washington to help in the investigation. There, Clarice confronts him and demands to know how to catch Bill. He orders her to tell him why she "ran away when she was young" The answer, though simple, is one of the most chilling moments in horror history.

The acting in this film is quite good, but naturally it is Hopkins who steals the stage. He won an Academy award for his role, and this is one time the Academy was dead on. As far as I know, it is the only time a person won Best Actor for a role in a horror film. Jodie Foster also performs very well as Clarice Starling, and she made me believe she genuinely was afraid of Hannibal.

The only bad character is Buffalo Bill. He is a little to over the top and "cowboyish". Though he may be disturbing, you feel more inclined to laugh at him than scream in terror. Still, you feel glad when he's dead.

The score is good, if not great, but it helps add to the tension. The real tension, is when the score doesn't play. The final confrontation in the basement of Bill's house made me suffer at least five cardiac arrests. It was so much scarier when there was no score warning you when Bill was about to jump out.

This is a very famous film and it deserves to be. Hopkins steals the stage, and you should watch it for nothing else than his performance.