I was only six, almost seven at the time of its release and (obviously) I never saw it until much later. Can anyone remember the audience reactions?
shareA theater close to me shows old movies every tuesday and I just watched this one tonight, it was awesome seeing it on the big screen.
Lose the Game!!!!!!!
I was 25 when The Silence of the Lambs came out, and I saw it in a packed theater. I remember deciding to see it because I was a fan of Jonathan Demme (from Something Wild) and curious to see an honest-to-goodness thriller that had just received a rave review from the Seattle Times, which was not all that common. There was no Rotten Tomatoes or IMDB at that time, and if I wanted insightful analysis I had to subscribe to Film Quarterly for about $60 per year (four issues!).
The audience was squirming pretty much throughout this movie, especially when--
-- Clarice investigates the self-storage facility and finds Buffalo Bill's first victim. Some great (dark) humor in Clarice's interaction with the proprietor of the storage place.
-- The autopsy of the girl who was found in the river.
-- Katharine's abduction.
-- Hannibal's escape. One spine-tingling moment after another!
-- FBI raids the wrong house, and Jaime Gumb opens the door to greet Clarice at the right one.
-- The basement/night vision pursuit. The tension was almost unbearable, I could barely peek through my fingers.
Anthony Hopkins' performance was mesmerizing. For only being on screen about 15-16 minutes the entire film, it felt like he was everywhere, and it took one hell of a performance by Ted Levine to not have the character of Jaime Gumb seem pale or unimportant by comparison.
The theater was buzzing after it was over, and it is easy to see how word of mouth kept its showings full for weeks and months after that.