Saturday 19 October 2013

30 Days of Horror | Day 19

A Horror Movie That Gives You Nightmares
The Silence of the Lambs

My job caught up with me this last weekend and so today will become a blogging marathon, with four posts to back date.

I struggled with choosing a film for this post as I really can't recall many films that have left me with nightmares after watching them. As I've said previously in this series I grew up watching a great deal of films that youngsters probably shouldn't be exposed too, but the earliest film that I remember really disturbing me was The Silence of the Lambs.

As I've gotten older and have seen the film more I have come to appreciate it as a brilliant crime thriller, but when I first watched this film I was at an age where my attention span was not too great. The disturbing relationship that develops between Clarice Starling and Dr Hannibal Lecter has turned Anthony Hopkins character into one of the most iconic characters of 90s cinema, but when I was younger it was Ted Levine's more obvious performance as Buffalo Bill that had the strongest effect on me.

American murderer Ed Gein has been the inspiration for three of cinema's most memorable and terrifying killers in Buffalo Bill, Leatherface and Norman Bates, and while Leatherface still scares me the most I can clearly recall how frightening I found the scenes in which Levine's character mocks and tortures his captor. The scene that I most vividly remember creeping me out was the final night-vision confrontation between Clarice and Bill in which he stalks her through the darkness, although 'It rubs the lotion on It's skin' still makes me squirm every time I hear it.


1 comment :

  1. Ted Levine doesn't get enough credit for giving one of the most disturbing performances of all time. For me, the greatest (and most disturbing scene) was when Buffalo Bill danced to the song 'Goodbye Horses' with his genitals tucked between his legs... gives me mad chills.

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