10 Mind-Blowing Facts You Never Knew About Hannibal Lecter

Upon the release of Hannibal in 2001, the sequel to The Silence of the Lambs, the poster featured a striking feature of Lecter's visage, that of his glinting red eyes. Although the films and TV series have not deemed this to be a characteristic worth including as it might prove to be something of a distraction from the real life qualities and tone that they wished to convey, Harris writes "Dr. Lecter's eyes are maroon and they sometimes reflect the light in pinpoints of red. Sometimes the points of light seem to fly like sparks to his centre."

The comparisons between Lecter and Dracula, also described as having red eyes, are obvious; Lecter is described as having a widow's peak, dark slicked back hair, small white teeth and is of eastern European descent. Sounds familiar right?

In the TV series, Mads Mikkelsen spoke of playing Lecter as if he were the devil come to earth. Lecter is described as having almost super human strength, like that of an ant, plus a keenly developed sense of smell - all physical traits of a vampire.

While it's a shame that the red eyes never made it on screen, the books paint a perfect picture of the killer cannibal - a demon come to life.