20 Anxiety-Inducing Moments That'll Terrify You Senseless
13. The Silence Of The Lambs - Buffalo Bill's Lair
Most scenes in Jonathan Demme's Oscar-winning classic are frightening in one way or another, but it's arguable that The Silence of the Lambs saves its scariest moments for the end, as FBI trainee Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) finally tracks down the elusive serial killer Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine).
Once Clarice realizes who he is, Bill escapes into his labyrinthine basement, and the inexperienced, terrified agent pursues him... but he's gone. She searches room after room, but Bill's nowhere to be found, and the tension builds up to heart-pounding effect. Everyone knows he's going to jump out, but when?
In such a sweltering sequence, the eventual appearance of the villain would often come as a relief; not here. When Buffalo Bill does re-emerge, he's switched all the lights off and plunged Clarice into darkness, while he approaches her wearing night-vision goggles.
It's a killer climax that reaffirms The Silence of the Lambs as a thriller for the ages, and it also shows that director Jonathan Demme was a master of the thriller. It's a shame he rarely returned to this genre for the remainder of his career.