10 Smartest Villain Plans In Horror Movies
2. Hannibal Lecter - The Silence Of The Lambs
The Plan: Pose as a mutilated cop to escape custody.
While Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter exhibits endless examples of devious cunning throughout his long-time run as cinema's most famous cannibal, perhaps the most iconic instance of his ruthless intelligence stands far and above the rest for its sheer memorability and shock factor.
Any self respecting film buff will instantly know that this writer is referring to the endlessly parodied and imitated scene in which Hannibal disguises himself as a critically wounded guard to escape FBI custody. Using a pen stolen from Doctor Chilton to break loose from his handcuffs, Lecter murders the agents on duty but he is just getting started.
Police break in to discover Hannibal gone and one surviving guard in critical condition, before a stand off in the elevator commences between police and what they believe to be the deranged doctor - severely wounded. As the aforementioned survivor of Lecter's attack is carted away to hospital, the police make the heart stopping discovery that Lecter isn't injured - he isn't even in the elevator.
Meanwhile, the gruesomely mutilated guard suddenly sits up in the ambulance. Calmly removing his oxygen mask, Lecter triumphantly peels the bloody remains of the dead man's face - nauseatingly removed and draped over his own - before gleefully setting about the inhabitants of the ambulance and fleeing the scene.
The quintessential case study in what makes Hopkins' cannibal such a timeless villain.