The Silence of the Lambs is a great horror movie directed by Jonathan Demme. The first thing that I want to analyze in this movie is the different ways that Demme creates suspense and mystery throughout his movie. The first way he created suspense in this movie was done at the beginning and again in the middle with the same effects during both sequences. At the start of the movie the viewer is left on the edge of their seat as we watch the main character, Clarice, walk through several security gates to speak with the crazy canabal killer locked away in a mental institute. Throughout this entire scene, Demme shows only Clarice's actions and a few other security guards but doesn't show the face of the killer until the very end. This type of suspense is repeated later in the middle of the movie when they find the body of a girl that was murdered and thrown into a river. When they finally open up the bag to examine the dead girl, we see close ups on all the characters standing around the body's faces but Demme again doesn't show us what they are all looking at until the very end. In my opinion this technique that he used to created mystery and suspense worked very well and made me really want to find out what these people were looking at.
Another time in this movie where I felt Demme did an amazing job of keeping the viewer on the edge of their seat was during the final scenes when Clarice is walking through the house in the dark with the second crazy killer right behind her with night vision on. This scene is quite hard to explain if you haven't seen the movie (why we are doing this assignment in groups I'm guessing) but it really shows just how vulnerable Clarice is as the second serial killer, Bill, waves his hand around her face in the dark without her even knowing it. You get a sense of the fear that must be going through Clarice's mind during this entire scene and the complete control that Bill has over her. In my mind this scene was the most suspenseful and interesting part of the entire movie.
The last thing I want to comment on is the great ending that I felt Demme put in to conclude this film. While it's kind of obvious that he's setting it up for a sequel, the ending really makes me think, and is one of those things that can give someone nightmares during their sleep. It's hard to explain why this ending is so great without completely ruining it for anyone who hasn't seen the film, so I won't, but if you have seen this movie I think you can relate. Overall I really enjoyed watching this movie and can't wait to see what happens in the next one.
