The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

So today we're starting with Silence of the Lambs, which is fascinating because you may notice if you look at Thomas Harris's books, you have Red Dragon, then Silence of the Lambs, then Hannibal, and then Hannibal Rising, though Hannibal Rising is a prequel novel.

But Red Dragon came out first, but The Silence of the Lambs is the one that truly got the first film adaptation, at least in the United States.

Hannibal would later come out in 2001, and Red Dragon would be released in 2002.

And then

we have the redheaded stepchild of the series.

We have Hannibal Rising that came out in 2007.

The novels did not come out in these years.

I'm talking about the films for all of this, by the way.

But funnily enough, Manhunter actually came out in 1986, so it is truly the first one to be adapted into film, although it is often very much forgotten.

Manhunter is a film based on Red Dragon, but it's as if you took the content of Red Dragon and made it like an 80s cop action film.

There's not as much emphasis on the horror aspect of everything.

It's a lot goofier.

It's just not as serious.

Like when you read the novel Red Dragon and then you go to look to Manhunter, the film, you're like, wow, these are two very different vibes.

It does have some really cool 80s music all throughout, especially in the credits.

There's just like so much there's so much to enjoy about this movie, but it's just a very different experience overall.

So one day we will cover this in the same episode as Red Dragon, just kind of for fun to talk about the differences.

But if you know your Hannibal lore and you know the lore of Red Dragon, it focuses on Will Graham meeting with Hannibal Lecter as he's, you know, incarcerated, trying to get some information about the killer known as the Tooth Fairy, Dollar Hyde.

And we learn that Hannibal Lecter and Will Graham have some history.

because Hannibal Lecter basically almost killed Will Graham just a few years prior.

And you might be wondering why it's called Manhunter and not just Red Dragon.

Well, it was basically because the movie was going to be called Red Dragon at first, but one of the producers made the change to Manhunter because a film that had came out previously by the same producer, Year of the Dragon, failed miserably at the box office in 1985.

And this same producer also said that they didn't want there to be any confusion at the box office, that this would be a martial arts film for some reason, just having the word dragon in there.

They were worried that people would think it was a different type of film than what it actually was.

Which is funny because Brian Cox, who actually plays Hannibal Lecter in this film, and he does a really good job, he says that he found this new title change to just be bland, cheesy, did not like it at all.

So today we're starting with Silence of the Lambs, which is fascinating because you may notice if you look at Thomas Harris's books, you have Red Dragon, then Silence of the Lambs, then Hannibal, and then Hannibal Rising, though Hannibal Rising is a prequel novel.

But Red Dragon came out first, but The Silence of the Lambs is the one that truly got the first film adaptation, at least in the United States.

Hannibal would later come out in 2001, and Red Dragon would be released in 2002.

And then

we have the redheaded stepchild of the series.

We have Hannibal Rising that came out in 2007.

The novels did not come out in these years.

I'm talking about the films for all of this, by the way.

But funnily enough, Manhunter actually came out in 1986, so it is truly the first one to be adapted into film, although it is often very much forgotten.

Manhunter is a film based on Red Dragon, but it's as if you took the content of Red Dragon and made it like an 80s cop action film.

There's not as much emphasis on the horror aspect of everything.

It's a lot goofier.

It's just not as serious.

Like when you read the novel Red Dragon and then you go to look to Manhunter, the film, you're like, wow, these are two very different vibes.

It does have some really cool 80s music all throughout, especially in the credits.

There's just like so much there's so much to enjoy about this movie, but it's just a very different experience overall.

So one day we will cover this in the same episode as Red Dragon, just kind of for fun to talk about the differences.

But if you know your Hannibal lore and you know the lore of Red Dragon, it focuses on Will Graham meeting with Hannibal Lecter as he's, you know, incarcerated, trying to get some information about the killer known as the Tooth Fairy, Dollar Hyde.

And we learn that Hannibal Lecter and Will Graham have some history.

because Hannibal Lecter basically almost killed Will Graham just a few years prior.

And you might be wondering why it's called Manhunter and not just Red Dragon.

Well, it was basically because the movie was going to be called Red Dragon at first, but one of the producers made the change to Manhunter because a film that had came out previously by the same producer, Year of the Dragon, failed miserably at the box office in 1985.

And this same producer also said that they didn't want there to be any confusion at the box office, that this would be a martial arts film for some reason, just having the word dragon in there.

They were worried that people would think it was a different type of film than what it actually was.

Which is funny because Brian Cox, who actually plays Hannibal Lecter in this film, and he does a really good job, he says that he found this new title change to just be bland, cheesy, did not like it at all.