13 Best Movies From Otherwise Terrible Franchises
8. The Silence Of The Lambs - The Hannibal Lecter Franchise
Other Films: Hannibal, Red Dragon and Hannibal Rising.
The Silence of the Lambs, which is still the only horror film to win Best Picture, remains a heart-in-mouth thrill ride today and easily one of the finest horror films of the 1990s.
Admittedly, time is perhaps diluting its impact a little bit and it only becomes a masterpiece during the scenes involving Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter, but it still packs a considerable punch and it's certainly a hell of a lot better than the other three Hannibal Lecter films, which failed to ever live up to this one at all.
Hannibal and Hannibal Rising are terrible films and Red Dragon, although it's a perfectly decent thriller in its own right, is overall forgettable. Anthony Hopkins himself remained as brilliant as ever, but the writing certainly took a nose-dive in those other films.
To be honest, it's arguable that the best thing in the Hannibal Lecter franchise is the awesome TV show, which starred Mads Mikkelsen as Lecter. Unfortunately, that was cancelled after three seasons thanks to low ratings.