10 Terrifying Horror Movie Phone Calls You'll Never Forget

3. The Silence Of The Lambs

Ring Ringu
Orion Pictures

Hannibal Lecter is far from your regular mindless killing machine. Whereas Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees stalk and slice their way through a roster of disposable teens, Leatherface erratically screams into the night's sky, and Freddy Krueger quips his way through all manner of carnage, Hannibal is a different prospect entirely.

The thinking man's killer, Lecter is a multi-faceted murderer operating on a supreme level of intellect. Still, this doesn't stop him from being a terrifying proposition - and if anything, the smarts and methodology of Hannibal only serves to enhance the fear he conjures up.

Where the phone call comes into play here is in The Silence of the Lamb's closing moments.

It's here that Jodie Foster's Clarice Starling receives an ominous call from Sir Anthony Hopkins' Lecter. In typical Hannibal style, the call is eerily warm and social, yet with an underbelly of devious intentions as Hannibal Lecter informs Clarice that he's "having an old friend for dinner."

Far from the outrageous threats or the supernatural chicanery seen elsewhere in this list, it's the calm and composed delivery of Hannibal Lecter that truly makes this call one of the most jarring and ultimately iconic in movie history, period.

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Senior Writer
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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.