Here we have a horror film so classy, it won the Oscar for Best Picture. Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster each deliver career-defining performances as Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling, the central characters in author Thomas Harris’ perverse contemporary retelling of Beauty and the Beast. The screenplay balances their provocative banter with a well-constructed mystery surrounding the identity and whereabouts of a serial killer named Buffalo Bill. Ted Levine gives a excellent, unnerving performances as Bill, a man who kidnaps hefty gals and keeps them in a pit. It’s from that vantage point you hear the film’s infamous (and now campy line): “It rubs the lotion on its skin or it gets the hose again.”
