"Red Dragon"

I decided in order to celebrate Halloween I would undertake a personal goal of watching 31 horror movies for the 31 days of Halloween and I'm calling it "31 days of Halloween Horror Fest." This is actually a pretty easy task for me because I watch waaaaay to many horror movies ;) This just adds to my addiction.  My first movie is "Red Dragon." I have a serious love for Hannibal Lecter so why not.  Here is my review:

From IMDb the synopsis is " FBI Agent Will Graham has been called out of early retirement to catch a serial killer, known by authorities as "The Tooth Fairy". He asks for the help of his arch-nemesis, Dr. Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter, so that he can be able to catch "The Tooth Fairy" and bring him to justice. The only problem is that "The Tooth Fairy" is getting inside information about Graham and his family from none other than Dr. Lecter."The Cannibal" Lecter."  The movie is directed by Brett Ratner starring Anthony Hopkins, Edward Norton, and Ralph Fiennes.

 I watched this movie with the previous knowledge that I simply adored Hannibal Lecter and would probably end up loving this movie any way I cut it because of that character.  I had watched and rewatched "Silence of the Lambs" to catch him in his measly 24 minutes of screen time to here the hiss as he talks about eating the surveyors flesh with  "fava beans and a nice chianti"

I was very surprised to find I actually enjoyed the movie for itself.  Edward Norton seemed to play his character very well, even though sometimes he seems too young to have been the retired FBI prodigy he was supposed to play.  As for Sir Anthony, spot on as always for his performance as our favorite serial killer then Ralph Fiennes always performs beautifully in anything and everything he does.

I was also surprised at how well the music and sound of the film would draw me in, the creak of a stair and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and a cord of music my stomach twisted into knots.  It added to the feel of the film beautifully.

The final thing that drew me completely to the film was the devil himself, I have always loved William Blake's work and to see it portrayed as a huge device in the film just made me smile with simple glee. To see how a mad men's obsession drove him.

so I believe this movie did it's job, drew me in and made me believe in the humanity of the poor red dragon.  I give this movie 4 out of 5 skulls.

Please join me along this journey as I explore and review more horror and nightmare filled explorations.