The Silence of the Lambs (film)

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This article is about the film. For the novel, see The Silence of the Lambs (novel).

The Silence of the Lambs
original movie poster
Directed by	Jonathan Demme
Produced by	Kenneth Utt Edward Saxon Ron Bozman
Written by	Ted Tally
Starring	Jodie Foster Anthony Hopkins Scott Glenn Ted Levine
Music by	Howard Shore
Distributed by	Orion Pictures
Release date(s)	February 14, 1991 May 9, 1991 May 31, 1991
Running time	118 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	$19,000,000^[1]
Followed by	Hannibal (2001)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Silence of the Lambs is a 1991 Academy Award-winning film directed by Jonathan Demme and starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins. It is based on the novel by Thomas Harris, his second to feature Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer. In the film, Clarice Starling, a young FBI trainee, is sent to see the imprisoned Lecter in order to ask his expert advice on catching a serial killer given the name Buffalo Bill, who is abducting women and skinning them. The film won five Academy Awards including Best Picture.

1 Plot
2 Production
3 Response
- 3.1 Box office
- 3.2 Awards and controversy
4 Cast
5 Differences from the book
6 Influences
7 Manhunter sequel confusion
8 Trivia
9 Parodies
10 References
11 See also
12 External links

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The movie opens with the FBI in a desperate search to find a vicious serial killer dubbed Buffalo Bill, who is abducting women and skinning them. Jack Crawford, the head of the FBI's behavioral science unit, asks his brightest pupil, Clarice Starling, to present a VICAP questionnaire to a brilliant forensic psychiatrist turned cannibalistic serial murderer named Hannibal Lecter, who was serving nine consecutive life terms at a Baltimore mental facility. Lecter had solved several serial killer cases for Crawford prior to his conviction as one himself, and Crawford is convinced that Lecter's insight could help capture Buffalo Bill.

Upon meeting Lecter in his cell, Starling is astonished to find him well mannered and seductively charming. After toying with and insulting Starling's attempts to get information from him, he refuses to take the questionnaire, knowing that Crawford had tried to entice him by sending a female agent in to ask for his help on the Buffalo Bill case. As Starling turns to leave, a patient down the block from Lecter assaults Starling with semen as she passes by his cell. Lecter becomes enraged seeing this "discourtesy", and calls Starling back to his cell, where he gives her information about one of his former patients in the form of a riddle. Solving the riddle, this information leads Starling to a rent-a-storage lot where the possessions of Benjamin Raspail (a deceased former patient of Lecter's), are contained. Hidden in Raspail's car is a severed head in a jar. It is implied that the head belongs to Raspail.

Starling returns to Lecter, and confronts him about the severed head and Benjamin Raspail, whom Lecter denies involvement in murdering. Lecter then makes an offer to Starling, if she puts in a transfer for him to another facility, he will use the case file to profile Buffalo Bill. Starling agrees and the deal is made.

Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling

Buffalo Bill then abducts Catherine Martin, the daughter of United States Senator Ruth Martin (Tennessee). Bill's sixth victim is found, and her back has been skinned. Starling helps Crawford perform the autopsy, and the chrysalis of a moth is found in the throat of the victim.

With the stakes heightened, and Crawford having had Clarice propose a faux transfer to a hospital in upstate New York where he will have a cell with a window and more freedom, Clarice must play her way through Lecter's mind-games and lies. Lecter, figuring that the deal is too good to be true, demands personal information from Starling in exchange for information on Buffalo Bill (Quid Pro Quo). Crawford had told Clarice not to tell Lecter anything personal, but desperate for Lecter's help, she ignores Crawford's warning and tells him about her worst childhood memory.

Starling tells Lecter about the death of her father, a town marshal who was killed by two burglars while on night patrol. She was sent to live on a sheep and horse ranch in Montana with cousins. In exchange, Lecter tells her about the significance of the Moth found in the sixth victims throat, it symbolises change (from Caterpillar to Chrysalis and then into Butterfly) and that Buffalo Bill wants to change too. He also tells her about Buffalo Bill's lifestyle, and how he believes that he is a transexual. He then tells her to search the records at sex-reassignment hospitals for rejected patients based on failed psychological evaluations.

Meanwhile, it is revealed that Frederick Chilton, the asylum's chief of staff, has been secretly recording the consultations between Lecter and Starling in an attempt to finally profile the infamous Hannibal Lecter. Chilton also learns about Crawford's faux deal, and tells Lecter. In exchange, he purposes a personal deal to Lecter: if Lecter reveals Buffalo Bill's identity, he will indeed get a transfer to another facility, but only if Chilton is credited for persuading Lecter to reveal what he knows. Lecter insists that he will only give the information to Senator Ruth Martin personally in Tennessee. Pleased that he has finally gotten through to Lecter after eight years of being his warden, Chilton agrees and hastily leaves Lecter's cell.

In Tennessee, Lecter toys with Senator Martin briefly, enjoying the woman's anguish, but eventually gives her some information about Buffalo Bill: his real name is Louis Friend, referred to him by Raspail, as Raspail and Friend were lovers. With this new information, the FBI races off to save Catherine.

Starling confronts Lecter in his makeshift cell, suspecting that Lecter had given the senator a false name. She suspects that the name an anagram for "iron sulfide" (Fool's Gold), she requests that he tell her the real name. Lecter refuses and demands that Starling finish telling him about her worst chidhood memory. Starling knows that it is the only way to get information from him, so she tells him about how she was awoken early one morning to the sound of lambs screaming as they were being slaughtered. Witnessing the horror, she attempted to save one by carrying it away, but was soon caught and the lamb was returned to slaughter. Lecter asks Clarice if she is still haunted by the sound of screaming lambs, and he wonders whether she imagines that by saving Catherine, will she finally have peace. The anxious Starling demands that Lecter give her Buffalo Bill's true name, but before he is able to, Starling is escorted from the building by Chilton and Lecter's guards. She however slips out of the guards' grasps to retrieve the case file from Lecter, and he uses the opportunity to lightly stroke her hand.

Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter

That evening, Lecter demands a second meal. During the time when Chilton was questioning Lecter at his cell in Baltimore, he had forgotten his pen in Lecter's cell. Lecter then swallowed the pen and, after regurgitating it, used a piece of it to pick the lock on his cuffs while the two police officers brought in his second meal. Now free, Lecter fatally beats and disembowels one officer, whom he then ties to the cell bars. He then kills the second officer by biting him and skinning his face. When the police and SWAT teams arrive, they believed they had found Lecter in the elevator shaft, severely wounded. Before their arrival, though, Lecter switched clothes with the second officer and used his skinned face as a mask. But, believing the second officer to be alive, they put Lecter in an ambulance and rush him to the hospital. Meanwhile, they discover that the man in the elevator shaft is actually the dead body of the second officer; during this time, Lecter kills the ambulance crew and escapes.

Starling's shock at all these events is put on hold when she realizes that Lecter has left more clues for her inside the case file of Buffalo Bill given to Lecter when he said he would do a psychological profile. With the help of her roommate, Starling realizes that there is something significant in the way Buffalo Bill's first victim was killed. Fredrica Bimmel was killed first but found third, suggesting that Bill wanted to hide her body. Starling surmises that Frederica knew Bill in personal life. Lecter had told her that Bill covets these women and that people covet that which they see every day.

Crawford sends Starling to investigate the victim's home town, Belvedere, Ohio, where she discovers that she was a tailor. Dresses in her closet have diamond-shaped templates on them, identical to the patches of skin removed from Buffalo Bill's latest victim. Starling realizes that Buffalo Bill is a capable tailor who wants to transform into a woman by fashioning himself a "woman suit" of real skin. She telephones Crawford, who is already on the way to make an arrest. Lecter's transsexual-surgery theory has yielded a positive ID from Johns Hopkins Hospital: a Jame Gumb just outside Chicago. Crawford is leading a strike on Gumb's business address in Calumet City, Illinois, while Chicago SWAT takes a home address. Starling is to continue interviewing Bimmel's friends.

Starling learns that Bimmel once worked for a woman named Mrs. Lippman. When Starling goes to Lippman's house, however, the door is answered by a man claiming that his name is "Jack Gordon". Starling has an idea that Gordon is actually Buffalo Bill, and his real name is Jame Gumb. Starling then sees subtle clues in the house that lead her to believe that Gordon is Gumb. Starling draws her weapon and attempts to arrest Gumb, but he abruptly scrambles into the basement, and she follows. She finds an alive Catherine Martin in the dry well when the lights go out, leaving them in complete darkness. Gumb, wearing night vision goggles, creeps up behind Starling and cocks his gun. Starling hears the click and turns around, quickly firing back, killing him. Starling calls for backup, and Catherine Martin is rescued.

During a party celebrating her graduation from the FBI Academy, Starling is startled when she receives a phone call from the Lecter. He asks her if the lambs have stopped screaming, and promises her that he will not come after her, and that he expects the same courtesy. He also tells her that he is "having an old friend for dinner". Before the credits roll, Lecter is observed stalking Fredrick Chilton, who is at the same location vacationing.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Production

An alternate poster with Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter.

The Silence of the Lambs was distributed by Orion Pictures.

The majority of the film was shot in Pittsburgh because it has highly variable landscapes and architecture. This variety made it easier to display many different parts of the country.
Both the scene of Lecter in his cage at the "Memphis Court House" and the Baltimore jail scene were filmed at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
None of the action of the film is set by the storyline as being in Pennsylvania, even though the registration stickers on the windshields of all of the vehicles indicate a Pennsylvania residency.
Despite the acclaim garnered for the role, Anthony Hopkins is only in the film for a little over 16 minutes.
Gene Hackman was originally slated to play Hannibal Lecter.
John Lithgow was the producer's second choice to play Hannibal Lecter.
Michelle Pfeiffer was initially offered the role of Clarice Starling, but turned it down. She has said about her rejection of the part, "that was a difficult decision, but I got nervous about the subject matter."^[2]
The character of Jack Crawford is based on the real-life former head of the FBI's Behavior Sciences Unit, John Douglas.

[edit] Response

[edit] Box office

Domestic summary:

Opening Weekend: $13,766,814 (1,497 theaters)^[3]
% of total gross: 10.5%
Close date: Oct. 10, 1991
Total U.S. gross: $130,726,716

Worldwide gross: $272,700,000

[edit] Awards and controversy

Jonathan Demme won an Academy Award for Best Director. Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins both won Oscars for their roles as Clarice Starling and Dr. Hannibal Lecter, respectively. Hopkins' performance as Lecter remains the shortest lead acting, Oscar-winning performance ever, as Hopkins is on screen for less than 17 minutes throughout the course of the film. The film won additional Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture. The Silence of the Lambs is only the third (and most recent) film to win the five most prestigious Academy Awards (after It Happened One Night, 1934 and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, 1975).

Award	Person
Academy Award for Best Actor	Anthony Hopkins
Academy Award for Best Actress	Jodie Foster
Best Director	Jonathan Demme
Best Picture	Edward Saxon Kenneth Utt Ronald M. Bozman
Best Adapted Screenplay	Ted Tally
Nominated:
Best Film Editing	Craig McKay
Best Sound	Tom Fleischman Christopher Newman

Upon release, The Silence of the Lambs was criticised by members of the homosexual community for being what they perceived as another in a long line of negative on-screen portrayals of LGBT characters in the absence of any positive portrayals (see also Basic Instinct and JFK). Following the announcement of the film's many nominations, rumors began circulating almost immediately that gay rights groups like Queer Nation were planning to disrupt the live Oscar telecast should the film win any awards. While ultimately no such protests materialized, the rumors did lead to balanced coverage of the story, including discussion of Hollywood's attitudes toward sexual minorities and an overview linking the rumored protests to other Academy Awards controversies, in media outlets ranging from the CBS Evening News to The National Enquirer. In the years following The Silence of the Lambs there was an increase in the number of gay-themed films and gay characters, including in director Demme's next project, Philadelphia.

Other awards include “best picture” from CHI Awards, the “best film” from PEO Awards, and won Best Film from National Board of Review, all in 1991. In 1991, Jonathan Demme was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for best director. In 1992, Ted Tally received an Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay. In 1991, was nominated for “best film” from British Academy Awards. In 1997, won the 100 Greatest American Movies award from the American Film Institute Awards.^[4]

[edit] Cast

Clarice Starling - Jodie Foster
Hannibal Lecter - Anthony Hopkins
Jack Crawford - Scott Glenn
Dr. Frederick Chilton - Anthony Heald
Barney Matthews - Frankie Faison
Buffalo Bill/Jame Gumb - Ted Levine
Catherine Martin - Brooke Smith
Ardelia Mapp - Kasi Lemmons
Lieutenant Boyle - Charles Napier
Sergeant Tate - Danny Darst
Sergeant Jim Pembry - Alex Coleman
Roden - Dan Butler
Sen. Ruth Martin - Diane Baker
FBI Director Hayden Burke - Roger Corman
SWAT Commander - Chris Isaak

[edit] Differences from the book

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Starling's struggles as an FBI trainee are downplayed, with only occasional hints at difficulties, often based on sexism. It is not directly suggested that she was in danger of flunking out.
Crawford's subplot, regarding the death of his wife, is eliminated for simplicity (neither Crawford nor his wife were in Hannibal either, and no mention of Crawford's wife is made in Manhunter). Likewise, Klaus is removed, with Raspail's head in the jar instead. Lecter's relation to Gumb is as his former therapist.
Lecter's red herrings are altered to include anagrams: Clarice is told to investigate "Miss Hester Mofet" (AKA "miss the rest of me") and his false Buffalo Bill name becomes "Louis Friend" (iron sulfide, i.e. fool's gold); however, the novel has the false name Billy Rubin, which is a play on bilirubin, the pigment found in feces. This turns out to be a multiple pun, as Lecter later leaves the formula for bilirubin in his cell, annotating it to spell CHILTON, and the FBI agents who discovered the anagram also compared the color of bilirubin to Dr. Chilton's hair.
Bimmel's hometown is depicted as Belvedere, Ohio, the same as Gumb's. On Starling's first visit to Lecter, she comments on one of his sketches, which the doctor informs her is "The Duomo seen from the Belvedere." Some interpret this as Lecter having given Buffalo Bill's whereabouts to Starling from the very beginning.
Lecter never tells Starling that Buffalo Bill wants "a vest with tits on it." Starling deduces this specific motive of Buffalo Bill on her own after seeing a dress in Bimmel's closet. He also never says "He has a two-story house."
After escaping from his cell in Memphis, Lecter is next shown at the end of the movie contacting Starling by telephone immediately following her graduation ceremony from the FBI Academy. Lecter, who informs Starling he is "having an old friend for dinner" is shown ostensibly on a Caribbean island while his nemesis Chilton nervously disembarks nearby.
Lecter neither has maroon eyes nor six fingers on his left hand as described in the books, instead both hands are normal and his eyes are blue as portrayed by Hopkins.
In the film, Lecter states that he ate the census taker's liver and fava beans with a "nice Chianti," while in the novel he eats them with a "big Amarone".

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Influences

Jame Gumb was based on three real-life serial killers:

Ed Gein, a Wisconsin man who robbed graves and murdered women in order to flay their bodies and make clothing out of them. Gein was also the inspiration for Norman Bates in the Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece Psycho as well as Leatherface in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Ted Bundy, who killed dozens of women in the 1970s, often luring victims by pretending he was injured with a cast on his arm, a technique Gumb used to lure Catherine Martin into his van. Similar to Lecter, Bundy also offered to help investigators find other serial murderers by "giving insights" into their psychology while he was in death row, specifically about the Green River Killer.
Gary M. Heidnik, who held women captive in a deep hole in his basement.

Hannibal Lecter bears some similarities with Andrei Chikatilo (a Russian serial killer), in that during their childhoods both experienced a sibling being cannibalised during a famine. (It is not known however how true the story of Chikatilo's experience is). He has also been compared to the infamous cannibal and child murderer Albert Fish, as well as Robert Maudsley, who ate the brain of a fellow inmate while he was incarcerated. Some critcs veiw Lecter from a more mythological origin: Dracula. The reason being that Lecter has physical and behavioral traits in the novel series that are strikingly similar to those of Dracula and traditional vampires. Lecter is also, like Dracula, an Eastern European Count.

The moth covering Jodie Foster's mouth in the advertising poster is not the natural pattern of the Death's-head Hawkmoth, but a miniature image of Salvador Dalí's In Voluptas Mors. This is in homage to Luis Buñuel's and Salvador Dalí's surrealist film Un Chien Andalou, which contains a Death's-head Hawkmoth.

In Voluptas Mors, 1951, photo by Philippe Halsman. Used in miniature in The Silence of the Lambs advertising poster.

[edit] Manhunter sequel confusion

Three of the characters from this film (Hannibal Lecter, Jack Crawford, and Frederick Chilton) also appeared in an earlier film, Manhunter, though portrayed by different actors. Though there is no evidence to suggest that any of the three actors were asked to reprise their role in The Silence of the Lambs, some argue that The Silence of the Lambs is a sequel to Manhunter, but the fact that Orion was willing to produce the film without the rights to the three characters that previously appeared in Manhunter suggests that it was never intended to be a cinematic follow up to Manhunter. In Ted Tally's second-draft script, he notes: "For legal reasons, the names of three of Tom Harris's characters have had to be changed. It is my hope, and certainly Tom's, that the original names can be restored in time for the making of this movie. For the purposes of this draft, however, Jack Crawford has become 'Ray Campbell,' Frederick Chilton has become 'Herbert Prentiss,' and Dr. Hannibal Lecter is called 'Dr. Gideon Quinn.'" Manhunter producer Dino De Laurentiis saw little future potential for the characters and allowed Orion to use the characters of Lecter, Crawford and Chilton for free. Further distancing The Silence of the Lambs from Manhunter is the fact that Frankie Faison and Dan Butler appear in both films, but as completely different characters. This matter was settled in 2002 when Manhunter was remade as Red Dragon, in which Hopkins, Faison and Heald reprised their roles from The Silence of the Lambs, establishing itself as the official prequel as it relates to the other two Hopkins films. It should also be noted that, in Manhunter, Lecter's last name is officially spelled "Lecktor", and no mention is ever made of cannibalism. He is stated to have killed young women, in effect condensing Lecter and another character mentioned in Red Dragon for time's sake. In addition, the events of Red Dragon are mentioned several times in the novel The Silence of the Lambs, but were all omitted in the screenplay.

[edit] Trivia

When Clarice Starling in speaking with her fellow female FBI recruit, they are trying to decipher what Hannibal's handwriting meant. During the discussion, Clarice says "What did Lecter say about..."First principles"?" and her partner says "Simplicity". Simplicity is the name of a company that makes patterns for clothes. Clarice realizes that Buffalo Bill is making women's clothes out of the skins of his victims when she opens up one of his victims closets
This film was #7 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments.
Hannibal Lecter's line "A census taker once tried to test me, I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti" was voted number 21 on the top 100 movie quotes of all time.
The widely parodied hissing noise that Lecter does at the end of the line about him eating the census taker's liver was not in the original script. Hopkins did it at that moment as a joke, he did not expect Demme to keep it in the final cut.
Hannibal Lecter as portrayed by Hopkins is said to be (By the American Film Institute) the #1 film villain of all time.^[5]
Clarice Starling as portrayed by Foster is said to be (By the American Film Institute) #6 on the list of greatest film heroes of all time.^[6]
FBI Agent Dana Scully from the X files television series was inspired by Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs.
Robert DeNiro was originally slated to direct Silence of the Lambs, but turned it down soon afterward because he could not find an actor that was willing to portray Hannibal Lecter, all the actors that he'd wanted to cast found the character too disturbing. The project then was taken over by Jonathan Demme, who instantly thought of the then mostly unknown British stage actor Anthony Hopkins for the role of Hannibal Lecter.
To many people's surprise, Hopkins was more then eager to portray Hannibal Lecter. He found the character fascinating rather then disturbing, and did not take Hannibal Lecter seriously.
Demme had seen Hopkins portray the role of Dr. Treves in the 1981 film, The Elephant Man and said that the "intense humanity and intellegence" that Hopkins brought to Treves would be perfect for Lecter. Hopkins still to this day fails to see the relationship that Demme saw between the two characters.

"I said 'Well how'd you link the two?' He said 'Well because he's a humanitarian'. I said 'well...' but I didn't know what Jonathan's reason was, but I'm glad he did"

-Anthony Hopkins, Lecter and Me [1]

[edit] Parodies

Like other popular films, The Silence of the Lambs has been parodied:

Promotional poster of Starling, Lecter, and her lamb from "Silence! The Musical"

Two composers, Jon and Al Kaplan, produced a comedic parody musical of The Silence of the Lambs called "Silence! The Musical". [2]
The Chicago electronic musical group The Greenskeepers released a song, "Lotion," which specifically parodied "Buffalo Bill", the serial killer at large in Silence of the Lambs.
At the 1992 Academy Awards, Billy Crystal made his initial appearance on stage wearing the same straight jacket and mask that Hannibal Lecter wore in the movie.
The rap artist Eminem has made several references to Silence of the Lambs in his videos and his songs. In his music video for the song "You Don't Know", he personifies Lecter in his parody of the first meeting between Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling. In the same video, he is also wheeled off by guards while wearing a straight-jacket and the mask that Lecter wears in the movie. Another parody he has done is in the lyrics of his song American Psycho, he says "F*** lambs I'm silencing them all".
South Park has referenced the movie in at least three episodes. In Cherokee Hair Tampons, Cartman demands ten million dollars for his kidney. He then says "I suggest you start looking for that money quickly. Kyle doesn't seem to have much time. Tick-tock, tick-tock." In Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society we see Eric Cartman playing a game he calls "Lambs," in which, as Buffalo Bill, he plays out the scene at the pit where he makes the unfortunate Catherine Ruth Martin (played by one of his dolls) "rub the lotion on its back". In Toilet Paper, Officer Barbrady goes to see 'Josh', a sociopathic toilet-paperer of 600 houses interned at Park County Juvenile Hall (in a cell not dissimilar to Lecter's) to help him in his struggle to solve an ongoing toilet-papering case.
A humorous sketch in Celebrity Deathmatch pitted Hannibal vs. Clarice (who was angry with Lecter for "making a sequel without her"). It actually turned out that Julianne Moore was disguised as Lecter before the real Hannibal emerged and finished Clarice off.
Austin Powers in Goldmember features Dr. Evil in a cell made of glass which is located in the center of a large room. This is reminiscent of both of Lecter's cells. The dialogue from that scene also borrows from Lecter and Starling's dialogue.
In Clerks II, Jay performs Buffalo Bill's nude dance number, Goodbye Horses, on several occasions, although actually nude only one of those times.
In The Simpsons, the character of Hannibal Lecter auditions for the role of Mr. Burns for a movie that Mr. Burns is making about himself, in order to win at the town film festival. In his dangerous prisoner restraints & mask, Lecter recites Mr. Burns's famous quote "Excellent", followed by his infamous hiss (from his own famous quote, "I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti"). In another episode, recurring villain Sideshow Bob is held by restraints similar to Lecter's - but including restraints on Bob's individual locks of hair.
Harry Hill performed a parody musical number based on Silence of the Lambs, in his show The Harry Hill Show.
In the final episode of The X-Files, Agent Mulder, who is on trial for murder, repeats the line "I smelled you coming, Clarice" to Agent Scully when she first comes to see him in prison. (The character of Agent Scully is said to have been inspired by Clarice Starling.)
In The Drew Carey Show episode "Bananas" Drew hears some parrots taunting him from the trees outside his house. Mimi later reveals she was behind it and says "Are the birds still speaking Clarice?"
In an episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy Billy quotes "It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again" when confronting Grim while he's hanging from a beam in a fictional tale told by Grim.
In one Family Guy episode, when a young girl is trapped in a well, Stewie makes the remark, "It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again."
In the American Dad episode "Tears of a Clooney", Francine Smith stalks Stan in the dark with a pair of infrared goggles, just as Jame Gumb stalks Clarice Starling near the end of the film.
In Joe Dirt, its main character becomes temporarily trapped in Buffalo Bob's (rather than Bill's) dungeon hole. He put lotion on his skin in exchange for auto trade magazines. Later, when the police are describing what 'Bob' would have done to him, he responds very indifferently.
A French parody of American thrillers, "Mais qui a tué Pamela Rose" ("But who killed Pamela Rose") had a plot similar to The Silence of the Lambs, with FBI special agents investigating a murder case. An overweight "Agent Starling" is seen from behind in one scene.
An episode in the TV series The Fairly Oddparents has Timmy, Cosmo and Wanda visiting a jail where Anti-Cosmo, who, in a glass cell, appears from the darkness and says "Hello, Clarice," like Lecter but with a very posh English accent. Wanda asks who Clarice is, and then Anti-Cosmo, surprised that she is not Clarice, says "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't have my monocle in." Later in the episode, Anti-Cosmo says he sees no more reason for animosity between him and Timmy and his godparents, but warns them not to look for him, at which point they find him right there.
In 1993 popular British comediennes French and Saunders parodied the prison/asylum scenes in their version of the Silence of the Lambs sketch with Dawn French as Lecter and Jennifer Saunders as Starling.
In Dumb & Dumber (1994), Jim Carrey, while watching a beautiful woman, says "I'd like to eat her liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti." Carrey would also go on to parody Hannibal Lecter in the movie The Cable Guy.
In the MMORPG World of Warcraft, when a player picks up "ogre tannin" in the instance Dire Maul, an ogre comes yelling "It puts the tannin in the basket or it gets the mallet again!".
In an episode of Grey's Anatomy ("Make Me Lose Control"), when Meredith, George, and Cristina remark at Izzie's flirting and laughing with Alex in the resident lockers, George says, "Make the lambs stop screaming," imitating Foster's line in the movie. In a later episode ("Much Too Much"), George tells Meredith that if she doesn't stop her recent promiscuity, she will end up in a hole in someone's basement, being told to put the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again.
In an episode of Scrubs, Dr. Cox tells J.D., "It puts the lotion on its skin" referring to a patient, to which J.D. responds, "Oh, so you can quote movies and I can't?"
Dr. Dolittle 2 has Eddie Murphy walking into a pound and getting the "hello, Clarice" quote from an imprisoned boar (the boar being a reference to Hannibal as well).
In an episode of Will and Grace, they are at a prison. Will remarks to Grace after she has gone inside "Dont stand so close to the bars, Clarice." Grace says to Will he promised not to do that. He replies in a very Hannibal Lecter voice, "I lied." In another episode, Jack is facing withdrawal symptoms as a result of giving up his addiction to coffee. As Karen is petting his head, he asks her "when will the lambs stop screaming?".
In the Bloodhound Gang song "I Hope You Die": "...While he masturbates to photos of livestock, he does the Silence of the Lambs dance to Christian Rock..."
In the MMORPG Final Fantasy XI, players can earn the title, "Silencer of the Rams," a play on the film's title, for completing a quest.
In the episode Son of a Coma Guy of House, the coma guy says if he answers one question, he should be allowed to ask one question. House retorts "quid pro quo, Clarice" in an obvious reference to the "game" Hannibal and Clarice played in the movie.
The Seinfeld episode entitled "The Bottle Deposit Part 2" contains a scene that takes place in a garage where Jerry and Elaine meet an investigator to see if his stolen car is there. The scence is a parody of the movie, where Jerry and Elaine get disgusted by the looks of the engine and parts of the car.