12 Incredible Horror Movies With No Jump Scares

Most viewers might consider The Silence Of The Lambs to be more of a crime thriller than a horror film, but its boogeymen beg to differ. They may not rack up the same body counts as slasher villains such as Freddy and Jason, but Hannibal Lector and Buffalo Bill are nonetheless among the most memorable monsters put to film. Their most frightening moments are largely unique to the adaptation, although Hannibal's gory use of a guard's face near the end of the film is directly from the Thomas Harris novel.

Adding to the chilling nature of the film is the fact that both of the featured monsters are based on entirely real people. Hannibal Lector is inspired by Dr. Alfredo Ballí Treviño, a Mexican surgeon who dismembered his victims. Buffalo Bill's character is influenced by several real killers, with his desire to make a woman suit inspired primarily by Ed Gein. The story of one serial killer helping to find another is further reminiscent of Ted Bundy's role in profiling the Green River Killer.

The characters and their likeness to real-life monsters aren't the film's only effective horror elements. Watching Clarice through the lenses of Buffalo Bill's night-vision goggles as she stumbles through the darkness is more than just suspenseful. The thought of someone lurking behind you, able to reach out and almost touch you without your awareness of their presence, is a very real anxiety among those who fear the dark.

A few might still disagree that The Silence Of The Lambs deserves to be called a horror film, but the evidence is there. This is a film about a terrifying world in which monsters with human faces stalk the pitch-black basements of suburbia. Some viewers won't help but notice that the world to which they're bearing witness is all too similar to our own.