10 Great Horror Movie Characters Ruined By Terrible Sequels
5. Hannibal - Clarice Starling
As the long-gestating direct sequel to The Silence of the Lambs, one of the most beloved and iconic horror films ever, Hannibal is easily one of the most anticipated horror films there's ever been. Unfortunately, it also became one of the most disappointing. It was inferior to its predecessor in every single way, and it ruined that movie's protagonist, Clarice Starling.
Frustratingly, Jodie Foster decided not to return to her most iconic role, so Julianne Moore was cast instead. On paper, Moore was a perfect choice and seemed like an ideal way to make the best of a bad situation. Funnily enough though, she fell weirdly flat in the role, perhaps because of the writing more than anything else.
Despite how fantastic Clarice was before, this time around she feels more like a garden-shed variety FBI agent and the movie also made the fatal mistake of keeping her and Hannibal Lecter apart for almost the entire thing when their relationship was the heart of the original film.
Thankfully, the movie didn't use the infamous ending of the source novel, where Hannibal and Clarice became lovers and ran away together, but it still let Clarice down overall. Maybe that's why Foster didn't come back.