So I've been on a bit of a Hannibal Lecter roll lately. I basically watched all five films since my favorite YouTuber James A. Janisse of Dead Meat did a Kill Count to all five movies featuring Hannibal The Cannibal. James recommends you watch the movies for yourself in order to gain your own opinion of the film before watching The Kill Count. It definitely helps my perspective of how I view films. Honestly, there are some horror films I regret not watching in theaters due to how great some of them are. So before I begin this review, a little bit of history needs to be explained regarding Hannibal Lecter and the many adaptations he's been in.

Now, Hannibal Lecter made his first official appearance in the 1981 novel Red Dragon, written by Thomas Harris. You may be surprised to know that Lecter is more of a supporting character in the story as it follows former FBI profiler Will Graham as he's forced out of retirement to find a brand new serial killer who's known as "The Tooth Fairy," an enigmatic killer that randomly invades family's homes and murders them in gruesome ways during sequential full moons. When Graham has trouble trying to understand the killer's motives, he consults the last killer he captured before his retirement, Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Lecter is there to give him advice on The Tooth Fairy, and they have history. Like I said, Dr. Lecter is more of a supporting character in the grand scheme of things, but he did leave a big impact on Will Graham, practically causing his retirement after Hannibal tried to murder him.

Red Dragon would then be adapted into a live action movie known as Manhunter. Released in 1986, the film was written and directed by Michael Mann and is the first official Hannibal movie. The reason it has such a generic sounding name is because the film's producer Dino De Laurentiis had produced an earlier film known as Year Of The Dragon which flopped at the box office, so to avoid another potential failure with the name dragon in the title, De Laurentiis had the title changed to Manhunter. In this movie, Hannibal's last name is spelled Lecktor, and he's portrayed by Scottish actor Brian Cox, best known for other roles such as Braveheart, X2, Troy, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, Succession, and An Adventure In Space And Time. Manhunter remains mostly faithful to the book it's based upon, but sadly, it bombed at the box office.

Two years later after Manhunter was released, Thomas Harris would write another book with Hannibal Lecter known as The Silence Of The Lambs, published in 1988. In that story, FBI agent Clarice Starling goes on a personal quest to find a serial killer known as Buffalo Bill who has been abducting women. However, in order to think like a serial killer, she must learn how the mind works in such a criminal, thus consulting Dr. Hannibal Lecter. The novel became so popular that it got a 1991 movie adaptation starring Sir Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal and Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling. What can I say about Silence Of The Lambs that hasn't already been said? The film is great. Even if it wasn't explicitly horror, I'd say it's a great crime thriller with an excellent script, great direction, great suspense, and great acting from everyone involved. There's a reason it won the big five at the Oscars [Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture]. I don't think I'd be able to do Silence Of The Lambs justice by talking about it, so let's move on.

After Silence Of The Lambs was released in 1991, Thomas Harris published a follow up story in 1999 known as Hannibal, which got a 2001 adaptation with Hopkins reprising his role as Lecter. Hopkins would reprise as Hannibal Lecter one last time in Red Dragon, a re-imagining of Manhunter and a more faithful adaptation of the Thomas Harris storyline. While both films weren't as great as Silence, Hannibal and Red Dragon were both financially successful at the box office. If you want my opinion, Hannibal [2001] is an unnecessary addition to the franchise, but Red Dragon is certainly an improvement over that. Both films were produced by Dino De Laurentiis, who held the rights to Hannibal Lecter. And after four adaptations, Dino wanted to do one more story with Hannibal The Cannibal. And in 2006, Thomas Harris wrote his final story about Lecter known as Hannibal Rising. In the novel, 12-year-old Hannibal loses his parents and his little sister, Mischa, in the final desperate days of World War II. He watches Mischa being taken away to be killed and eaten by a gang of local Nazi-sympathizing thugs, whom he will, in the course of the novel as he grows older, track down and coldly terminate. A movie adaptation was then released in 2007. Directed by Peter Webber, the film has late French actor Gaspard Ulliel portray the young Hannibal Lecter, and the villain's creator, Thomas Harris himself, wrote the screenplay. I actually remember seeing the poster at a Bellevue theater when I was a kid. To Ulliel's credit, he does give a mostly decent and creepy performance as Hannibal. I watched the film a few days ago, and I'll admit, there were some lines that Hannibal said that did give me the creeps. I'll admit, Ulliel almost did look like a young Anthony Hopkins. This is a picture of Anthony Hopkins when he was 20.

And here's the late Gaspard Ulliel in the film.

There is a bit of a resemblance, I guess. And Ulliel did observe Hopkins's performance, trying to really emulate his mannerisms. It makes for a mostly decent performance. And given that this was his second English language film, I'm willing to cut Gaspard some slack.

Now, Hannibal Rising had such great potential. I mean, a story discussing Hannibal's Origins, yes please! And a screenplay written by his creator Thomas Harris? How could this not work? Well, the film was a box office bomb, grossing only $82.1 million on a budget of $75 million, and it received negative reviews from critics, although Ulliel's performance as Hannibal was praised. I mean seriously, when Hannibal was released in 2001, the film also got negative reviews and received a 39% on Rotten Tomatoes. And yet somehow, Hannibal Rising got even more negative reviews, scoring a 16% on RT! Talk about sinking lower. What the hell happened? Perhaps I can give my own personal perspective on why Hannibal Rising didn't work.

When I saw the film on Tubi, it felt dull and lifeless. The WW2 flashbacks made it feel like yet another generic WW2 movie that you or your grandparents have probably seen a million times on TV. The visuals feel like someone put something gray and greasy on the camera lens, contributing to the film's dullness. It didn't even feel emotionally engaging the way Manhunter and Silence did. It's one of the few movies I've ever seen that made me feel cold and indifferent. I couldn't find any reason to invest in the movie. Especially with Hannibal's infatuation with his step-aunt. What the fuck? Incest is not wincest. This dullness prevents it from being really scary. And by saying Hannibal became a cannibal because Nazi sympathizers killed his family and ate his sister, it kinda takes away the mystery of who Hannibal Lecter is. Not every character needs an explanation for why they are the way they are. Hannibal Rising felt passionless too. I think there are two types of movies out there when it comes to filmmaking, the passion project, and the lazy cash grab that's rushed. I recently saw Immaculate starring Sydney Sweeney, and this film was a passion project for her. She became a producer for the film and hired a crew to get the film made. And I can certainly tell that Immaculate was a project made with passion and love in its cinematography and other elements. I don't see any passion behind Hannibal Rising. And I'm not far off on [possibly] accusing this film of being a rushed and lazy cash grab. Apparently producer Dino De Laurentiis coerced Thomas Harris into making Rising as a novel and a movie, basically telling him, "I'm gonna do this with or without you." And so, to make sure he had enough creative control, Thomas wrote Hannibal Rising as a novel and a movie, which would explain why it was so rushed. And when your project is forced and rushed, of course there won't be much passion behind it.

And you know what the other reason Hannibal Rising didn't work? This is basically a follow-up to Silence Of The Lambs, considered one of the greatest horror films of all time. You try following up with a film that won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Brett Ratner came close to getting it right with Red Dragon, but Ridley Scott and others couldn't. Making Silence Of The Lambs, which featured a great script by Ted Tally and great direction by the late Jonathan Demme, was basically catching lightning in a bottle. It can't be replicated, no matter how hard you try. Hannibal and Hannibal Rising tried way too hard to follow in the foot steps of Silence Of The Lambs, and because of bad writing and greed on Dino's end, both films suffered because of it. That's why I think made Hannibal Rising didn't work. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. If I were to rank the Hannibal films, here's my ranking, 1 being top tier and 5 being low garbage tier.

1. The Silence Of The Lambs

2. Manhunter

3. Red Dragon

4. Hannibal [2001]

5. Hannibal Rising

If you unironically liked Hannibal Rising, more power to you. It means you found enjoyment with the film where I could not, and that's alright. Like what you like, and enjoy it. But that's my personal perspective on why Hannibal Rising didn't work. Thanks for reading, and be sure to read my other stories.

T.G.