It’s been awhile, but my love of the Hannibal TV series has me curious enough for a re-watch. Let’s see how this film holds up…

Story: A prequel story to The Silence of the Lambs (that came out before that blockbuster) that has detective Will Graham (CSI‘s William Petersen) coming out of retirement to track another serial killer. But he’ll need to ask for help from his most infamous catch; Dr. Hannibal “Lecktor”. Let the bloody games begin!

Scares: Maybe a few when it originally hit theaters, but now this feels like a movie-of-the-week procedural. Gripping and tautly thrilling at times, but not “boo!” scary.

Splat factor: strangely, not much at all. Maybe because Lecter “Lecktor” is behind bars?

Closing scene “shocker”: Nope. Roll credits!

Remake, Sequel or OG (Original Ghoul): The first film adaptation of Thomas Harris’ Red Dragon, aka “The Book Before Silence of the Lambs“.

Trick or Treat?: Horribly underrated when it first hit screens, this film has steadily picked up a following thanks to Silence, the Hannibal and CSI fanbase, and the ability to stream at will on Netflix. More a thriller than horror, it still picks up its fair share of genre fans who wanna be completists. They’re onto something.

Watching Hannibal brings a deeper layer to this stylish film. So do the performances by now well known actors like Joan Allen (the Bourne series) as Dollarhyde’s would be girlfriend, Dennis Farina (The Sopranos) as Jack Crawford, and of course Petersen. My god though, Petersen is just a bebe!

The techno 80s soundtrack – like Devo and Enya had a baby – sounds silly now, and is likely thanks to Mann’s Miami Vice leanings back then. It shook me out of the action more than once. Many love the atmospheric look of the film, and there’s definitely plenty of intriguing film angles and POV shots. But with stuff like True Detective, Bones (hello gore!) and of course TV’s Hannibal, it’s more of the start of a promising Lecter sub-genre than truly horrifying on its own. Still, if you really want to see how someone else handled the not-so-good doctor? You definitely need to catch this. Hint: Brian Cox nails Lecter’s ennui-soaked evil.

Score:

4 out of 5 pumpkins.