Blu-Ray Review: ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ With Hannibal Lecter Finally Available in HD

Blu-Ray Rating: 4.5/5.0

CHICAGO – When the HD revolution was announced, most hardcore movie fans had an instant wish list of titles that they dreamed about seeing in the next generation of video and audio. If you polled an average group of people, “Star Wars [15],” “Aliens [16],” and “The Lord of the Rings [17]” would probably rank pretty high (and there’s no argument from me there), but one of the first movies I thought of was Jonathan Demme’s masterful “The Silence of the Lambs [13],” one of the best films of the last two decades and one of my first “dream titles” available on Blu-Ray.

Very few movies have been released on the home market in as many iterations as “Silence of the Lambs”. The film was released on DVD in 1997, 2001, 2004, and 2007 with a Criterion version in 1998 as well. And here’s the frustrating part - I don’t think we’ve seen the end of “Silence” on the home market. There will probably be another version with another new featurette in a few years. It’s never going to stop.

The Silence of the Lambs was released on Blu-Ray on March 3rd, 2009.
Photo credit: MGM Home Video

The biggest problem with all of the “Lambs” releases is that they often don’t share the same special features. The new Blu-Ray version of “Silence of the Lambs” transfers most of the bonuses from the excellent 2007 DVD Collector’s Edition but not all of them. The Criterion version, which is currently out-of-print, features a commentary track and documentary about serial killers, but the Blu-Ray comes with neither.

If you’re counting, that already means that you need to have three versions to have all of the special features related to Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling and HD transfer of the film itself. That’s ridiculous. Considering how much material can fit on a Blu-Ray disc, shouldn’t part of the HD revolution be giving fans every available special feature on one disc? I understand the Criterion version material being exclusive, but why is MGM picking and choosing special features from release to release. It’s annoying.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. If you haven’t seen “Silence of the Lambs” in years, just buy it. “Lambs” is one of those movies that looks nowhere near its two-decade-old age. If you look at films recent to Blu-Ray that were released in the years around it like “Ghost [18]” or “Pretty Woman [19],” they look so much more dated than the tale of Buffalo Bill. “Silence of the Lambs” is one of the most timeless films of its era. It hasn’t lost a beat and it’s a film I’ve watched and loved every couple years since its release…usually because there’s a new version to review.

It’s kind of disturbing to me, but I realize that there may be young readers out there unfamiliar with “Silence of the Lambs”. The film came out long enough ago that people who were born the year it came out are already driving around their college campus. Yes, that makes me feel old too.

If you’re of the era of “Saw” and Michael Bay horror movies, please go back to “Silence”. Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins won Oscars for this dissection of the mind of evil. Hopkins plays the legendary Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a cannibal who assists the FBI in finding a serial killer and “Silence” is a master class in the technical elements of film. Tak Fujimoto’s cinematography, Howard Shore’s score, Ted Tally’s dialogue - it all works together perfectly. The film won Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Director, and Screenplay - a five-trophy feat that hasn’t been duplicated since.

“Silence of the Lambs” is presented in 1080p with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio picture and an English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track, French 5.1 Dolby Digital track, and a Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital track.

Special features include “Breaking the Silence,” “Understanding the Madness,” “Inside the Labyrinth,” “The Silence of the Lambs: From Page to Screen,” “Scoring the Silence,” “Original 1991 Making Of Featurette,” Deleted Scenes, Anthony Hopkins Phone Message, Outtakes Reel, TV Spots, Teaser Trailer, and Original Theatrical Trailer.

[20]	By BRIAN TALLERICO [21] Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com [20]