The Spirit of <em>The Silence of the Lambs</em> Lives On

As The Silence of the Lambs opens, Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) is jogging through the woods at the FBI’s training academy at Quantico when she’s told to report immediately to her superior Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn). As she runs back, she passes a series of signs nailed to a tree: HURT, AGONY, PAIN, LOVE IT, PRIDE. Back in the building, she walks into an elevator and is instantly surrounded by men looming over her, a couple of them regarding her somewhat derisively. It’s one of the most iconic shots in a film filled with them, and it’s only a few seconds long.

Beginning with that elevator,look down at her. This is a horror film—the first of its genre to win the Oscar for Best Picture—and it has moments of extreme violence, most of them centered around its chief villain, Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), a cannibalistic serial killer. But so much of ’s quieter, more pervasive dread comes when someone’s space is being invaded—particularly Clarice’s.