Buffalo Bill, a psychopathic killer, has kidnapped a Governor's daughter and is torturing her. Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) is a young FBI trainee assigned to the case. Her only hope to catch Bill is to get Dr Hannibal Lecter (another psychopath, played by Anthony Hopkins) to tell her who/where Buffalo Bill is.

Hannibal escapes, by pulling off the face off a security guard, puts that face on top of his, then lays as dead until backup arrives. He then escapes in the ensuing commotion.

He phones Clarice at the end of the movie to tell her he will not come to get her. "The world is a much better place with you in it," he tells her.

"Horribly camp, thankfully the transvestites get it in the neck as usual."

"Something for those afraid of the dark. Brought out before we really knew much about nightvision goggles."

"An unlikely escape if you come to think about it, but still, at the time it had us screaming from the roof tops."

"Problem is, after this movie, Hopkins did a load of Grandfatherly roles, thus losing his evil genius, Donald Pleasance, touch. Watch the film today and it seems somewhat run of the mill. I couldn't help but think of Dr Evil - it made me laugh hysterically at times, is that bad?"

"Much copied, but this is the original, Oscar winning, blood and giblets masterpiece."

"The bit where that guy masturbates and then throws his naughty juice upon our hero, Starling? Thank goodness we didn't see his willy. There would have been a riot in our cinema."

"This was the first time I ever saw a man do the naked 'lady walk' on the big screen. (The squashing of ones testicles behind ones legs to make it look like you have no genitals!) A triumph of ladyboyedness! Bravisimo! It saved me a trip to Thailand."

Meat Feast Pizza with tomato sauce.

A missed opportunity for a Hannibal Lecter self defense video course... "Here's how to defend yourself from a man in a metal face guard and straight jacket tied to a upright trolley..." (Kick him in the balls). They could have made a punch bag too.

Starling has a dream that Lecter analyses. After her officer father is killed when she is 10 years old, Starling goes to live with relatives on a farm. Starling runs away from here because she sees her relations killing lambs - she is awoken by their screams. Lecter suggests the reason she is looking for a kidnapped girl is to silence those lambs screaming in her head, a nightmare she has to this day....

When this movie came out it had us all hiding our faces behind our hands (or were we really, subconsciously, holding our faces on? It is all a fear filled blur today, I am afraid!)

I have never been able to watch a drag act in quite the same way since, and, were the lights to go out mid-performance, I feel quite sure I would scream myself to unconsciousness.

A horribly claustrophobically vicious movie, although the nose biting scenes are, thankfully, not shown in detail. Not a movie you might like to watch over and over unless you have a predilection for the deeply distressing, in which case hopefully you are watching this in some sort of secure establishment..

Today, with modern technology as advanced as it is, we can confidently sleep restfully in the knowledge that these people are safely behind bars and are being watched by security cameras 24/7, unless they haven't been caught yet, which, of course, is another matter entirely (behind you!)

Cell phones, too, make some of the scenes less threatening, and why does Starling have to do everything on her own? She really is a spine chilling tease... Still, one of those movies in popular consciousness you have to see to understand popular jokes, in particular Dr Evil.

EEeeuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuccccccccccccchhhhhhhhhhhh!

Cats are great fans of Hannibal Lecter; they may introduce new killing techniques to their prey after seeing this movie. Probably best not to wear your furry mouse house slippers for at least a month after they see this movie at risk of flying fur and bad moods all round.

Dogs will run, whimpering, away, especially yappy type fluffy dogs, as seen in this movie. This is in spite of a brief moment of excitement at the start of the movie which holds out the prospect of a nice long run in the forest.

Small, easily crushable, singing birds way become traumatized.