The scariest moments in any scary moves are beats of silence. So much of building suspense on-screen is reliant on the music that accompanies it, just look at any and every Alfred Hitchcock of John Carpenter movie. So when a film goes silent, you know it’s on because even the soundtrack is holding its breath.
Jonathan Demme’s SILENCE OF THE LAMB is a benchmark of horror because it is the most successful non-supernatural film of the genre and the only horror film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture (for those of you currently thinking, “That’s movie’s not horror, it’s a thriller,” I say think again: any film where two separate characters wears the skin of others if definitely horror, and that’s cannibalism aside). And as its title suggests, the film’s purest moments of terror are found in the moments when nothing is said.
In the latest edit from Candice Drouet, all the silent scenes of SILENCE OF THE LAMB have been lumped together into the tensest and most potent two minutes you’ll experience this week. It’s a testament to the power of the story and its performers to fill wordless moments with dread, as well as to Demme’s effective storytelling powers, and a reminder just why SILENCE OF THE LAMBS remains, even today, one of the most frightening cinematic experiences ever crafted.
Silence In The Silence Of The Lambs / Candice Drouet from Really Dim on Vimeo.
Related Topics: Horror, One Perfect Shot, Video
