Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12795 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-08-21
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 118 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
Based on Thomas Harris's novel, this terrifying film by Jonathan Demme really only contains a couple of genuinely shocking moments (one involving an autopsy, the other a prison break). The rest of the film is a splatter-free visual and psychological descent into the hell of madness, redeemed astonishingly by an unlikely connection between a monster and a haunted young woman. Anthony Hopkins is extraordinary as the cannibalistic psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter, virtually entombed in a subterranean prison for the criminally insane. At the behest of the FBI, agent-in-training Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) approaches Lecter, requesting his insights into the identity and methods of a serial killer named Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine). In exchange, Lecter demands the right to penetrate Starling's most painful memories, creating a bizarre but palpable intimacy that liberates them both under separate but equally horrific circumstances. Demme, a filmmaker with a uniquely populist vision (Melvin and Howard, Something Wild), also spent his early years making pulp for Roger Corman (Caged Heat), and he hasn't forgotten the significance of tone, atmosphere, and the unsettling nature of a crudely effective close-up. Much of the film, in fact, consists of actors staring straight into the camera (usually from Clarice's point of view), making every bridge between one set of eyes to another seem terribly dangerous. --Tom Keogh

Amazon.com essential video
Based on Thomas Harris's novel, this terrifying film by Jonathan Demme really only contains a couple of genuinely shocking moments (one involving an autopsy, the other a prison break). The rest of the film is a splatter-free visual and psychological descent into the hell of madness, redeemed astonishingly by an unlikely connection between a monster and a haunted young woman. Anthony Hopkins is extraordinary as the cannibalistic psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter, virtually entombed in a subterranean prison for the criminally insane. At the behest of the FBI, agent-in-training Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) approaches Lecter, requesting his insights into the identity and methods of a serial killer named Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine). In exchange, Lecter demands the right to penetrate Starling's most painful memories, creating a bizarre but palpable intimacy that liberates them both under separate but equally horrific circumstances. Demme, a filmmaker with a uniquely populist vision (Melvin and Howard, Something Wild), also spent his early years making pulp for Roger Corman (Caged Heat), and he hasn't forgotten the significance of tone, atmosphere, and the unsettling nature of a crudely effective close-up. Much of the film, in fact, consists of actors staring straight into the camera (usually from Clarice's point of view), making every bridge between one set of eyes to another seem terribly dangerous. --Tom Keogh

From The New Yorker
Adapted from a novel by Thomas Harris, Jonathan Demme's thriller is artful pulp-tabloid material treated with intelligence and care and a weird kind of sensitivity. The heroine, Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster), is an earnest F.B.I. trainee who is selected to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), a psychiatrist who is also a famous mass murderer; her superiors hope that Lecter's twisted expertise can somehow be used to help them catch a serial killer known as Buffalo Bill, who flays his victims. In the course of the movie, these conversations between the trainee and the psychiatrist turn into edgy, complex transactions in which she reveals pieces of her inner life in return for his hints on how to find the killer. Hopkins plays the monster with a fine, cold relish: he gives the character a mesmeric animal stillness, the terrifying opacity of a cobra. And the impact of his performance is heightened by its contrast with everything surrounding it: the scrupulous realism of Demme's style, the mundane details of police procedure, and, in particular, the emotional transparence of the heroine. Demme keeps our attention on Starling and her shifting reactions to the world, and his most striking achievement in this picture is his direction of Jodie Foster. The suspense of this manhunt isn't of the straight-ahead kind we're used to: it's reflective, oscillating between approach and avoidance-it has an unnerving intimacy. Also with Scott Glenn, Ted Levine (as Buffalo Bill), Anthony Heald, and Brooke Smith. The screenplay, which is extremely faithful to the novel, is by Ted Tally. -Terrence Rafferty
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

A great new Collector's Edition
If you really love "The Silence of the Lambs", then this is the best edition you could find (though, nowadays it's also the only one you can find).

I have seen every DVD release of this film, though sadly I wasn't old enough to see it when it first came out. Nevertheless, MGM and 20th Century Fox have really outdone themselves:

1. Criterion

The Criterion Collection has always been a trusted source of films for me, and their initial release of this film was decent but lacking with special features, plus the video quality was somewhat scratchy. Still, couldn't beat that commentary track.

2. 2001 MGM

The MGM Speical Edition was pretty nice to promote the theatrical release of Hannibal, with a slew of documentaries and interviews that gave a lot of information of the Silence. No commentary track, but a nice new 5.1 surround mix and a much needed clean-up of the faded picture made the greens rich and the reds blood red.

3. 2007 MGM/20th Century Fox

This new 2-disc set offers the same anamorphic 1.85:1 transfer as was the 2001 release and it still has all of the same documentaries, but this release adds some more features that give even more information about how the film was made and the contoversy afterward. That, and the package art is absolutely delicious. Speaking of which, just behind the inside cover booklet is a tasty treat that invokes both sick humor and helpful tips about "cooking"

Bottom line, if you've never seen this film before then I highly recommend it...that is if you have a strong stomach. It's a brilliant story about good and evil and how dark some people can really be. If you already have all of the previous releases, check this one out too, it's worth the double-dipping into your wallet. The best reason to get this are the added bonus features, but if you really love this film like I do then you'll find it's a great addition to your DVD library.

Mediocre blu-ray for a five-star film... if you have this already on DVD, don't bother
Terrific movie is worth owning for any horror/suspense fan, and is a five-star film to be sure, but this Blu-Ray disc is sure to disappoint, as it looks strikingly similar to a finely upconverted DVD, albeit one with more film grain.

Some are attributing this to the MPEG-2 encoding, but really the problem lies with the film master source, which just isn't that great. Another contributing factor is the cinematography and lighting of the film, which just doesn't lend itself all that well to hi-def. The underwhelming DTS-HD 5.1 audio fares no better, again probably due to the limitations of the original audio source; the overall sound is flat with the rear channels and sub-woofer barely used, if at all. To top things off, this Blu-Ray release doesn't even include all of the extras found on the 2007 DVD release (or the non-anamorphic widescreen Criterion DVD release, for that matter)! Of course, the Blu-Ray edition does currently offer the best visual and audio presentation of this film, but the difference is minute, at best.

The fact is, unless you are an obsessive-compulsive Hi-Def completist and have money to burn, there really is no compelling reason to upgrade to the Blu-Ray edition if you already own this on DVD.... and even if you DON'T own "Silence of The Lambs" on DVD, I STILL say go for either the two-disc 2007 Collector's Edition DVD (which shares the same master as the blu-ray but offers more extras) or the 2001 Special Edition DVD.

The 2001 "Special Edition" DVD release, which outside of a slight difference in hue (the 2001 transfer has a slightly greener hue, while the 2007 transfer has a slightly redder hue), contains an anamorphic transfer virtually indistinguishable from the later DVD release, is in 5.1 Dolby Digital and has plenty of extras, including an hour long making-of doc; it can be had brand new right here on Amazon.com anywhere from 3 to 5 dollars. Both editions contain comparable audio and visuals that perfectly represent the original look of the film, and both editions look perfectly fine upconverted (never mind the naysayers who hate DVD upconversions, as there are some of us who can settle for "good enough" with certain films and save our hard-earned cash for far worthier hi-def material).

DVD Features
Okay, Silence of the Lambs, a great movie blah blah blah. This review is about the features and lack thereof on the criterion release.

First the commentary is very good. They mix five different people onto one track. Personally I would prefer a few independant tracks as was done on (for example) the Contact DVD but it's still is an interesting commentary. The deleted Scenes are interesting and is a feature I would like to see more of on DVDs. The image quality is great; I can't imagine anyone having any complaints about that. Finally, the Documentary material on the disk is interesting but don't get too excited about it - it's nothing you couldn't find on the internet with about 15 seconds worth of effort.

Now about the two features the disk is lacking which I think are serious short comings: No Subtitles and no Trailer. That a criterion release is missing these two features REALLY surprises me since they usually put a lot of effort into making a quality release. I hope this was just an oversight on Criterion's part and they won't make the same mistake in the future.