Hannibal Rising: Why is Hollywood Destroying One of the All-Time Great Monsters?

Way back in the day, Thomas Harris wrote some fairly good thrillers like Black Sunday and Red Dragon which both were turned into films. Black Sunday became a 1977 John Frankenheimer flick starring Robert Shaw and Bruce Dern. Red Dragon became Manhunter, was one of director Michael Mann's (Collateral, Miami Vice, Last of the Mohicans) first feature films, and starred CSI's William Petersen as well as featuring an impressive turn by Brian Cox as Dr. Hannibal Lecktor.

Manhunter was a stylish, creepy, ahead of its time flop and when Harris wrote a follow-up called Silence of the Lambs, producer Dino De Laurentiis wanted no part of the sequel and virtually gave away the rights to Orion Pictures. In 1990, Orion wanted to focus on promoting the Oscar chances of its Western epic Dances with Wolves and pushed Silence from a late 1990 release to January of '91. Silence went on to Oscar buzz of its own and carried it through the entire year, winning the big five awards: Best Picture, Director(Johnathan Demme), Actor(Anthony Hopkins as a respelled Hannibal LECTER), Actress(Jodie Foster), and adapted screenplay(Ted Tally.)

Harris decided to cash in and wrote a third, more directly linked sequel called simply Hannibal. Now, the first two only featured Lecter in a brief supporting role. This is the point where things begin to go wrong...Hopkins' 16 minutes of brilliant acting in Silence created a villain unseen in films before or since. His portrayal was monstrous, evil, and understated. Lecter was voted the number one movie villain by the American Film Institute. So, why not make him the center ring attraction of the next thriller? How about this...because the books and films based on them weren't about Lecter!!! Will Graham from Red Dragon and Silence's Clarice Starling are the main characters and heroes of the stories. Putting the evil Lecter in a more prominent role with the likable Hopkins as the star puts the audience in the position of rooting for him. Plus, in the book and film Hannibal, we're given even more reason to cheer for Lecter when Harris creates even more despicable characters who are out to get both Lecter and Clarice.

Following the huge success of Silence, producer De Laurentiis comes back into the picture. As Gomer Pyle would say, "Surprise, Surprise, Surprise...". Dino hitches his wagon to the Hannibal Lecter gravy train, seeing that he made one of the biggest, bone-headed mistakes in Hollywood history by passing on Silence, and we now have a franchise. Hannibal is followed by a new version of Red Dragon and both a relatively successful. But, what happens when Hopkins starts getting a bit too old to play Lecter...well, let's follow the path rejuvenated by Batman Begins and tell Lecter's origin story.

Now for the meat of this column, because this is the biggest, most bone-headed mistake since...well, since Dino gave away the rights to Silence. An origin for a hero like Batman or James Bond makes sense because we want to see that character succeed. Why would someone root for a purely evil killer like Lecter? Well, because they gave him a reason for being evil as well as a cannibal. Let me repeat that for you using all caps to accentuate my outrage...THEY GAVE HIM A REASON FOR BEING EVIL!!! Are you kidding me? "It's okay that he's a serial killer and eats his victims. The Nazis killed his family." Remember the scene in Silence where Lecter describes what he did to the census taker? When I first saw it, I thought that this guy was deranged and genuinely evil. Now, I know it's all a product of a horribly bad adolescence.

Why do we need an explanation for why someone is evil? They've done the same thing with Leatherface and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre prequel to the remake(which is strange in and of itself.) Rob Zombie is reportedly planning to do the same with his remake of John Carpenter's Halloween. Michael Myers and Hannibal Lecter are evil. There doesn't need to be an explanation. It is what it is. We don't need to identify with the villains, monsters, and bad guys. That's what heroes are for. In thrillers and horror movies, the antagonist is there to scary the crap out of me. Whether it's in an in-your-face Texas Chainsaw way or a subtle, creepier Silence way, the monster is not there for you to sympathize with.

Look at the classic thriller Jaws. It's my all-time favorite. Let me just say that I could teach a master's class on why it's the BEST MOVIE EVER. Do I need to know why the shark is attacking the residents of Amity Island? There is talk bordering on sacrilege that a direct to video Jaws 5 may be in the works. Don't get me started on this one, but if it happens, please don't make it a prequel showing evil, rogue fisherman wiping out a family of great whites leaving one to seek revenge. The shark in Jaws killed people for no good reason just like Hannibal Lecter ate people because he was a cannibal and was pure evil. The reasons why don't really matter...

By the way, I said I blame Anthony Hopkins for this mess. Here's why: as I said earlier, in 16 minutes of screen time, Sir Anthony blew the doors off of the theater with his awesome performance of Lecter. If you've seen Manhunter, you know that Brian Cox did a great, yet very different, job as Lecktor. The difference in the caliber of each performance is that gold statue sitting on the Hopkins mantle. If Hopkins hadn't been so good, perhaps Thomas Harris' follow-up would have focused more on Clarice Starling on the trail of a new serial killer or maybe even returned to Will Graham, the hero of Red Dragon. Each book and film was an engrossing thriller following an investigator on the trail of a serial killer. Hopkins changed the direction of the series forever by giving a performance that was too good and causing Harris to shift his focus to Lecter. They've made money off of Lecter since Silence, but with the exception of the Red Dragon remake, none of the new material has measured up. I don't blame Harris or De Laurentiis. They're following the money trail like everyone else in show business. I blame Hopkins. Damn you, Sir Anthony. Because of your awesome performance in Silence we are now subjected to crap like Hannibal Rising...