Its hard to believe now, but there was a time when not every crime novel or TV show was about serial killers. Thomas Harris began that trend with his novel Red Dragon, and if The Silence Of The Lambs isnt quite as good, you have to admit he was pretty well served by the film adaptation. The first movie since One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest to bag all the top Oscars (Actor, Actress, Director, Film, Screenplay), Silence is, like all trendsetting movies, both the best and worst thing that ever happened to the genre. While it raised the bar for what a horror film could be (whod have thought you could win an Oscar for biting a guys face off?), it also paved the way for Hannibal (2000), Red Dragon and Hannibal Rising. Which, frankly, is unforgivable.
Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'
