Hannibal Lecter

5 movies, 2 books in this series

Before he became a pop culture icon, he was simply Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Brilliant psychiatrist. Cultured gentleman. Cannibalistic serial killer.

In this Now Playing Podcast retrospective, we trace the evolution of cinema's most infamous dinner guest, beginning with Manhunter, continuing through the Oscar-winning The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, Red Dragon, and ending with Hannibal Rising. Along the way, we compare the performances of Brian Cox, Anthony Hopkins, and Gaspard Ulliel, examine how each film adapts Thomas Harris's novels, and decide which entries are deliciously twisted and which should have stayed off the menu.

Just remember. If someone offers you liver and fava beans, you may want to decline.

Movie Reviews

Now Playing Approved

The Silence of the Lambs

We covet what we hear, so listen now!

Reviewed Oct 11, 2011
Clarice Starling is a top student at the FBI's training academy. Jack Crawford wants Clarice to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist who is also a violent psychopath, serving life behind bars for various acts of murder and cannibalism. Crawford believes that Lecter may have insight into a case and that Starling, as an attractive young woman, may be just the bait to draw him out. Genres: Crime, Drama, Thriller

Hannibal Rising

You are what you eat!

Reviewed Oct 31, 2011
The story of the early, murderous roots of the cannibalistic killer, Hannibal Lecter – from his hard-scrabble Lithuanian childhood, where he witnesses the repulsive lengths to which hungry soldiers will go to satiate themselves, through his sojourn in France, where as a medical student he hones his appetite for the kill and learnt sword skills from his Japanese girlfriend, who happened to have similar fate Genres: Crime, Horror, Thriller

Book Reviews

Red Dragon by Thomas Harris

Love at first bite

Reviewed Oct 4, 2011
Red Dragon is a novel by American author Thomas Harris, first published in 1981. The plot follows former FBI profiler Will Graham, who comes out of retirement to find and apprehend an enigmatic serial-killer nicknamed "The Tooth Fairy". The novel introduced the character Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial-killer, whom Graham reluctantly turns to for advice and with whom he has a dark past. The title refers to the figure from William Blake's painting The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun. Genres: cannibalism, Novel, offender profiling, psychiatrists, serial killers

The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris

Time for the main course of the Lecter books!

Reviewed Oct 10, 2011
The Silence of the Lambs is a psychological horror novel by Thomas Harris. First published in 1988, it is the sequel to Harris's 1981 novel Red Dragon. Both novels feature the cannibalistic serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter, this time pitted against FBI Special Agent Clarice Starling. The novel won the 1988 Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel. The novel also won the 1989 Anthony Award for Best Novel. It was nominated for the 1989 World Fantasy Award. ---------- Also contained in: - ( Genres: autopsy, black witch moth, lambs, offender profiling, pupa