The Silence of the Lambs – Hello Clarice

America, like much of you, this was my favorite book, and favorite movie, of the series.  Both of them are so well done, well written, and kept you on the edge of your seat tingly, that you can not love this movie (okay, you can not love this movie, but you will suffer my consternation)

  Next to Jaws (see a way earlier article, but worth the search), this is my second favorite horror movie.  I know, it was probably meant as a thriller, but to me, it’s the scariest type of horror movie, because it could actually happen. (You can see people coming, not sharks, so it wins out…and has Robert Shaw)  I stay on the edge of my seat every time, though I have seen this many times, probably too many.

  The book and the movie are definitely in sync, and not in a crappy boy band way.  The movie adds some spice to  an otherwise perfect movie.  It fills out some of the characters.  It explains some of the relationships better.  It lets you know just how important Barney is in the whole scheme of things. (very)

  We’ve all seen it.  Buffalo Bill has been a bad boy.  He’s been slicing and dicing large women from a variety of places, dumping the bodies, and Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn) sends Clarice Starling (Jody Foster) to see if she can get Dr. Lecter   He takes a shine to her, she reveals some things, he gives her a few hints about what he knows about Buffalo Bill, because he’s captured a senators daughter.

  Now there is the dance between the FBI, Dr. Lecter, and bureaucracy.  Behavior Science just wants to catch Buffalo Bill.  Dr. Lecter wants to escape Baltimore’s Hospital for the Criminally Insane (and also the inept Dr Childress), and the people higher than Jack Crawford want to parlay their non experience into credit for catching Buffalo Bill, and currying favor, even if the Senator is just a Junior Senator.  Oh, and the Senator just wants her daughter, and will make deals with whoever to make sure it is done.

  If any of you have ever worked for a corporation, you then know what a clusterfuck it can turn into.  And it does.  Childress acts like he knows everything about Lecter, cuts a deal with the Senator, makes up lies to tell Lecter to turn him against Starling (who rejected his advances), and Crawford, and in the process, Lecter escapes.

  Luckily, before all this, he had left some hints for Starling, gave her a little nudge, and it leads to an amazing climax.

  What the book accentuates, as well as the movie, is how calm the Dr. is.  It stresses how much smarter he is than most people.  It stresses how he is three steps ahead of everyone else.

  The book has the advantage in that it can describe that Dr. Lecter is not emotionless.  They don’t affect him in the same way emotions do you and I, but he does have them.  In the book, other psychiatrists try to label him a sociopath, or a psychopath, or a plethora of many other terms, but Jack Crawford just calls him a monster (it is used throughout all the books)

    After reading them, as a person, he is definitely unique.  He is very even tempered.  He has stored more knowledge, that he is able to go through at a speed we wish we had, and has access to it, allowing him to fit in wherever he is at.  He is slow, deliberate, and not prone for mistakes.  He was caught the first time because Will Graham’s mind works differently than most, and it allowed him to put together a few things that normal minds wouldn’t.  Dr. Lecter was caught by a fluke, and he knows it.

  Though he is locked up, he has the ability to go back in his head, study whatever he’d like, look at whatever art he enjoys, so he just gets smarter.  That, and endless time to read books and periodicals, (when not taken away for punishment) so when he gets out, he’s up to date, and also smarter than when he came in.

  There are people out there who are exactly like this.  They are smarter.  They are emotionless.  They are watching.  It is scary to me.  Luckily, most of them are on this side of the prison walls, and keep their bad side under control.  There are also those who don’t.  Prison is filled with high IQ guys who went sideways, and luckily slipped enough to get put in prison.

  The book is a really fast read.  It’s like eating the best dessert ever.  You want to go slow, and savor it…but it is just so god…damn…good, that you wolf it down.  Luckily, it holds up so well, that when you go back for a second serving, or a third, it is just as good, and you can go slow, and savor it. 

  I’ve read it three times.  I admit, I wolfed it down again, like the first time, but I did savor it the second.  It is definitely in the top 5 books I have ever read, and top 5 movies.

  I know you got nothing you didn’t know with this one, but if you haven’t seen this by now, it’s not your thing, and you aren’t going to see it.  As a movie, it’s a thriller, drama, and a horror movie all wrapped up in one.  As a book, it’s a fast paced delight, and it gives you some pretty good insight on how the government works together, and apart, and it’s more about who gets credit than what gets done.

  As usual, I am @jaycanchu on Twitter, IG, and Snapchat.  You will find nothing life changing, but you usually will see something entertaining or thought provoking every few days.  In between it’s cats , pies, and comics.

  Check out the #spoilerverse.  Go discover the other talented people who work together to make it something for everyone.  Get in touch with Overlord John, and he’ll draw you as a naked werewolf if the price is right.  Hell, I’ll draw you as a naked werewolf for $1 cheaper.  Times is tough during Coronatine!

My Sheep are Still Screaming
Mista J