10 Films Where Villains Are Introduced In Unique Ways
2. Hannibal Lecter - The Silence Of The Lambs
Silence of the Lambs remains the only horror movie in history to win the Best Picture Oscar, and Anthony Hopkins also won a well-deserved Best Actor Oscar for his instantly iconic portrayal of loquacious cannibal murderer Hannibal Lecter.
Hopkins steals every scene he's in, for sure, but never more so than in Lecter's introduction.
What's immediately special about the scene is that Lecter is already incarcerated when FBI agent Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) pays him a visit, yet that does little to quell how utterly, uniquely menacing Lecter is throughout.
As Clarice first walks past the other cells, we're led to expect a visibly deranged monster of a man, but Lecter is anything but - he's calm, composed, collected, and looks like any regular man you might encounter on the street.
But over the course of the conversation, Lecter becomes increasingly sinister and combative, until soon enough he's talking about eating a man's liver with fava beans and a nice Chianti.
If most serial killers are introduced to audiences by slaughtering an innocent victim, the Lecter reveal couldn't be more opposite - it's brilliantly understated yet still suffused with quiet, loaded menace.