The Movie: I hadn't seen this movie in many years, although I did see the sequel Hannibal the theater. Unfortunately, the version that Netflix sent me is the older Criterion Collection version, not the newer Special Edition that was released in 2001 by MGM.

I guess I would classify this movie as a "thriller"... I can't really call it a suspense movie because it's not like there's something that you're waiting for to happen... but however you want to classify this movie, it does what it does quite well. Like Agent Starling (played by Jodie Foster), you are intrigued by Hannibal Lecter (played by Anthony Hopkins), who I guess you could say is a really, really bad man who helps out the good guys, in his own demented way.

I think the true gauge of this movie's value in American cinema and pop culture is the sheer number of times various parts of The Silence of the Lambs has been parodied! It's a perfect example of how a "psychological thriller" is supposed to be made, aspects of which have since been mimicked in countless movies.

The DVD: As I mentioned earlier, this is the original Criterion release of this movie on DVD, not the new MGM special edition. The letterboxed 1.85:1 transfer was downright dismal. Compression artifacts abounded. In some of my other reviews of talked about occasional stepped gradients... they were everywhere in this movie, along with choppy motion artifacts, poor contrast, and poor color saturation. It just looked horrible. The audio was acceptable, however.

Special features included commentary, deleted scenes, storyboards, an FBI crime classification manual, and "Voices of Death", quotes from real serial killers on various aspects of life. I'd like to some day check out the newer version by MGM which has a new anamorphic transfer, more "newly discovered" deleted scenes, and a 5.1 sound mix... I hope they do this movie justice as I feel that this Criterion Collection version that I reviewed is not becoming of such a prolific film.