☆★☆★☆★☆★
Roger Ebert awarded three and a half stars and praised Hopkins while noting flaws; Gene Siskel gave a negative review that the panel rejects.
In the discussion (2)
- Ebert is reported as giving three and a half stars, praising the palpable evil of Hopkins’s first appearance and the film’s suspense and restraint despite flaws.
- Siskel is reported as disliking the film and preferring to see Clarice on another case.
The panel preserves a wide, sometimes uncertain list: Hackman and Connery for Lecter/Crawford, Pfeiffer and others for Clarice, Ed Harris for Crawford, and numerous alleged Lecter auditions.
In the discussion (7)
- Gene Hackman reportedly partnered to adapt the novel and considered directing and playing Lecter or Crawford before withdrawing.
- Paul Verhoeven reportedly turned the film down and later expressed regret.
- Jonathan Demme reportedly wanted Sean Connery for Lecter, but Connery declined.
- Michelle Pfeiffer declined Clarice; the panel prefers Foster because Pfeiffer’s overt glamour would shift the character’s closed, professional center.
- Meg Ryan reportedly rejected the material as too gruesome, and Molly Ringwald auditioned but was considered too young.
- Ed Harris reportedly declined Jack Crawford because the role was not interesting enough.
- Reported Lecter possibilities include Daniel Day-Lewis, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Derek Jacobi, and Forest Whitaker; the panel openly doubts some unsourced casting lists while noting Whitaker publicly discussed auditioning.
No performance recast is proposed; the panel instead objects that a Baltimore-set story was filmed largely in Pittsburgh.
In the discussion (1)
- The category is explicitly framed as “director or city,” and the sole change discussed is restoring Baltimore as the principal filming location.
Research covers Lecter’s hockey-mask maker, Gumb’s house sale, serial-killer inspirations, Brooke Smith’s preparation, Francis Bacon imagery, and the Bahamas finale.
In the discussion (6)
- Lecter’s mask was reportedly made by New Jersey hockey-goalie mask maker Ed Cubberly.
- The Gumb house in Perryopolis, Pennsylvania reportedly listed for $300,000 in 2015 and sold for $195,000 in 2016.
- Gumb’s skin suit is linked to Ed Gein and the basement pit to Gary Heidnik.
- Brooke Smith reportedly gained 25 pounds and became friendly with Ted Levine during production; a prop worker later sent her the lotion bottle with a Gumb note.
- Boyle’s staged body was reportedly inspired by Francis Bacon.
- Lecter’s final scene was filmed on North Bimini Island in the Bahamas.
The panel challenges Chilton’s pen, Catherine’s food, missed moth evidence, Lecter’s elaborate escape, profiling by personal acquaintance, Precious’s capture, Miggs’s death, Lecter’s wine pairing and moral code, and Gumb’s target selection.
In the discussion (11)
- Chilton imposes exhaustive safety rules and then leaves a sharp pen with Lecter.
- Gumb is supposedly starving Catherine to loosen her skin, yet she has enough food and bone to lure Precious.
- Investigators miss cocoons in multiple throats and fail to infer a skin suit from systematically removed body areas.
- The most dangerous prisoner receives only two guards and no visible camera surveillance.
- Lecter fits perfectly into a guard’s clothes, removes his face cleanly, raises and stages the second body, and fools medical professionals while healthy.
- Lecter’s apparent profiling insight is weakened because he already knew Gumb as a patient.
- Catherine’s off-screen bucket capture of a small, skittish dog is treated as mechanically improbable.
- Miggs cannot physically swallow his own tongue without first severing it.
- Chianti is criticized as the wrong wine for liver and fava beans.
- Lecter’s disgust at Miggs’s sexual assault seems inconsistent with his own cannibalism, though the panel frames it as a strict code against rudeness.
- The panel asks whether Gumb knowingly chose a senator’s daughter for notoriety or failed to recognize her.
Questions range from Miggs’s name and Lecter’s cannibalism to Gumb’s music, victim pets, Chilton’s fate, personnel consequences, Precious’s custody, and whether Gumb invented Pinterest.
In the discussion (10)
- Is Miggs a first name, surname, nickname, shortening of Miguel, or a single mononym?
- If Lecter is a genius, why does he eat people, and are we sure cannibalism is bad?
- How did Gumb develop discerning taste in Q Lazzarus and the Fall while living his isolated life?
- Did all of Gumb’s victims own cats?
- How would Lecter season and serve Dr. Chilton?
- How quickly were the moth experts fired for workplace misconduct?
- What could Lecter have said to make Miggs kill himself?
- Did Senator Martin win reelection after rescuing her daughter?
- Did Catherine keep Precious, or did animal services place the dog elsewhere?
- Did Gumb’s wall of design inspirations effectively invent Pinterest?
Manhunter receives two preferences; Zodiac is the other proposed pairing.
In the discussion (2)
- Manhunter is proposed and immediately seconded.
- Zodiac is proposed as the alternative, acknowledged as an exceptionally dark combined viewing.
Roger Ebert's review