'The Silence Of The Lambs' & 'Manhunter'

When you read about The Silence of the Lambs -- winner of the big four Academy Awards -- you never, ever hear about Michael Mann's Manhunter despite the fact that it was made just five years before. This is especially odd since Manhunter is the prequel to The Silence of the Lambs.

Manhunter was based on the novel Red Dragon and stars the guy from CSI was a seemingly-retired FBI agent Will Graham brought back into the game by our friend Jack Crawford to investigate the murders of two families by a serial killer, The Tooth Fairy. He asks the incarcerated Hannibal Lecter (portrayed by Brian Cox ... who is not given nearly enough time on camera) for help to catch him. Pretty much, we're inundated with the guy from CSI attempting to act. In addition to a pretty dumb ending.

The Silence of the Lambs famously stars Anthony Hopkins as Lecter, who helps Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling, a FBI recruit, to catch another serial killer. This film is substantially better. Better acted, better done and clearly one of the best crime-dramas ever made.

In 2002, they would remake Manhunter calling it by its original name, Red Dragon. It stars Ralph Fiennes as the serial killer, Ed Norton as the FBI agent and Hopkins, again, as Lecter.

I've never seen it, but to get the bitter taste of of Manhunter out of my system, I might have to check it out.