10 Reasons Hannibal Was The Best Show On TV

Brian Reitzell’s score is a key component of Hannibal’s dish. Not concerned with the grandiloquence of a Danny Elfman or a Hans Zimmer—who have both provided music for previous instalments of the Hannibal Lecter story (Red Dragon and Hannibal [2001] respectively)—Reitzell instead opts for something concealed and ambient, invoking a nightmarish tone more fitting of this altogether more foreboding interpretation.

This is true of the title music as well, which forgoes an actual piece of music for a few singular, discordant stabs as the blood swells to form a liquid image of Lecter’s face on screen. Reitzell, an accomplished drummer who often works on Sofia Coppola's films, does his best work here on Hannibal, his score becoming an appetite stimulator—an aperitif, if you will—for Hannibal's main meal.