June 25, 1989
THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
Screenplay by Ted Tally, based on novel by Thomas Harris
Synopsis by Brian Aldrich
There is a serial killer on the loose nicknamed "Buffalo Bill" because he skins parts of his female victims. He also tortures them for a few days before killing them. He also picks large women.
CLARICE STARLING, mid-20's, very pretty, is an FBI trainee. SPECIAL AGENT RAY CAMPBELL, 53, thickly built, is a section chief in charge of the case. He assigns Clarice to the case. She is to question another serial killer about the case. He is DR. GIDEON QUINN, a genius and a psychopath who is nicknamed "the cannibal" because he liked to eat parts of his victims. He is still very dangerous and is confined in maximum security at the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Campbell thinks he can help them with the case and also that Clarice is the proper person to get to Dr. Quinn. She meets Quinn. He is not fooled by her and realizes Campbell is behind her questions. He gives her a lead that results in her finding the body of another of his victims, a male victim, stored away in a storage space. Meanwhile, "Buffalo Bill" kidnaps CATHERINE, the chunky daughter of a SENATOR RUTH MARTIN.
Another dead woman's body is found. Clarice and Campbell find a bug cocoon is the corpse's mouth. They go back to the corpse found in the storage space and find a cocoon in his mouth as well. This figures a connection between Quinn and "Buffalo Bill." Clarice continues her conversations with Quinn who trades his insight for her personal life story. She confesses a childhood tragedy when she witnessed lambs screaming before the slaughter. Quinn tells her that the suspect is an unsatisfied transsexual who is trying to build himself a perfect woman out of the skins of his victims. The bug cocoon turns out to be the cocoon of the Death's-head Moth. Clarice and Campbell start to search for transsexuals who were refused operations and for customs entry information regarding the moths. Using the Senator's name, Clarice and Campbell offer Quinn a transfer to a better prison if he helps them find the killer before he kills Catherine. Jealous psychiatrist, PRENTISS informs the Senator and Quinn of the deception. Clarice and Campbell are suspended. Prentiss offers Quinn a better deal. Quinn takes it, is transferred to a better prison, and sends them on a blind lead. He escapes from prison, leaving a trail of death behind him. Clarice goes to talk to the friends and relatives of the first victim. She finds out that the girl was into sowing. Searching a lead, Clarice unknowingly knocks on the door of the killer, MR. GUMB, who has Catherine trapped in the basement and is about to kill her and sow her skin into the hide of his "perfect" woman. They have a shootout in the dark with Gumb wearing infra-red glasses and she kills him. Catherine is rescued. Clarice graduates from FBI academy. Campbell is reinstated. Quinn gives a congratulatory phone call to Clarice advising her that while the lambs are silent for now, she will always have to struggle to silence them.
Summary Criticism: An inventive and suspenseful mystery with villains who are well-rounded and heroes who are thin, but sympathetic.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991) - wiki
The Silence of the Lambs (1991) - imdb
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