MovieChat Forums > Manhunter (1986) Discussion > what was the significance of the 2 famil...

what was the significance of the 2 families having a dog/cat?

posted 10 years ago by rubberbiscuit
5 replies | jump to latest

so the killer knew the dog belonged to the one family and the cat to the other. How did that aid in his actions?

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Mickyfinn 10 years ago

Yes, its also part of the way that Graham identifies the Tooth Fairy. The Leed's dog didn't have a collar yet the TF knew it was the Leed's dog.

You just have to be resigned-
You're crashing by design

[–] rubberbiscuit 10 years ago

so the one family was noted to have brought their dog to the vet with a puncture wound. Wouldn't the act of stabbing a dog be very sloppy as to raising the alarm on the family? I mean someone stabbed their dog! Sounds like Dollarhyde was being very sloppy. If he wanted the dog out of the picture, he should have stabbed it and buried it, not leave it for the family to find.

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] Edward_de_Vere 10 years ago

One clever bit of the novel that didn't make it into the film (but should have) was Dollarhyde reading an article about the murders that mentions that he always kills the family pets first. Before he kills Lounds, he asks him "How does it feel being Graham's pet?"

To answer your question, I don't think that there's any psychological significance to Dollarhyde killing pets, he just gets them out of the way so that they won't make noise during his break-ins. Graham probably picked up on that.