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COPYRIGHT 2001 Society for the Advancement of Education
It has always been a truism that a good movie hero needs a formidable villain as an adversary. The furthest edge of cinematic evil has invariably been the true psychopath, one whose acts have no rational explanation other than in his own twisted mind. Audiences have been thoroughly repulsed by these repugnant creatures throughout film history--until recently. Call it the Hannibal Lecter Syndrome, if you will, but movie psychopaths have begun to dominate the pictures they are in, rather than being simply the object of the chase. As Anthony Hopkins' Oscar for "The Silence of the Lambs" is ample evidence of, such roles are juicy attention-getters. A quintet of films recently out on DVD demonstrate this trend.
Manhunter (Anchor Bay Entertainment, 124 minutes, $39.98) introduced Hannibal Lecter to the screen in 1986, although for some reason he is billed here as Doctor Lecktor. In this prequel to "Silence" and "Hannibal," Lecter plays more of a consultive role, aiding (for his own reasons) the FBI agent who captured him and is now in pursuit of Francis Dolarhyde, mordantly...
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