10 Horror Movie Villains You Didn't Know Were Based On Real-Life Monsters
6. The Silence Of The Lambs' Buffalo Bill And Hannibal Lecter
It’s hard to know where to begin with Silence of the Lambs. The Oscar-winning horror movie follows an FBI cadet, who enlists the help of a cannibal killer to find another serial killer, Buffalo Bill.
Clarice Starling, an FBI trainee, interviews cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter, who holds the key to solving a current case. In pursuit of a sociopathic serial killer, Buffalo Bill, Lecter offers to profile the psychopath in exchange for better prison accommodations. Lecter sends Clarice on a game of cat-and-mouse as the FBI agent hunts for Buffalo Bill, who has been killing young women and skinning them in order to make a “woman suit."
Parallels between Buffalo Bill and Ed Gein (remember him?) are immediately apparent with the whole “let’s make clothing out of human skin” thing. A film consultant from the FBI also noted the similarities between Buffalo Bill and serial killer de jour Ted Bundy, as they used similar rouses to capture and kill unsuspecting women. Let’s not forget Gary Heidnik, whose 1980s murder spree also included trapping victims in basement pits.
What you may not know is Hannibal Lecter, the aforementioned cannibal killer offering the FBI a helping hand is also based on a real person. Thomas Harris, author of the book-turned-movie The Silence of the Lambs, found his inspiration in Dr. Treviño, a Mexican prison inmate. Dr. Treviño, a notably charismatic doctor with "a certain elegance about him,” was serving time for the murder of his lover, Jesús Castillo Rangel, whom he stabbed, bled dry, and methodically chopped into pieces.