Red Dragon

So I saw Red Dragon over the weekend. For those who live in a lage pickle jar and have no pop culture education, Red Dragon is based on the first of the three books Thomas Harris wrote about the delightful Dr. Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter. Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal are the titles of the second and third (and those links will take you to IMDb entries on both films).
You can read the review of Red Dragon I wrote for the Milpitas Post here.
“Red Dragon” is a great thriller. I enjoyed it. Probably more than is healthy, really, but that’s another story (darn that magnificent Dr. Lecter! I’m a sucker for an educated psycho). Part of the reason I liked it so much is that it didn’t rely (like “Hannibal” did) on being gross to be scary (which only works if you think gross stuff is frightening, which I don’t). Yes, there are some really gross things that happen – but they are briefly seen and only clinically discussed.
It was so nice to see a film that relied on the audience paying attention and having imaginations of their own to be scary. We see the aftermath of violence, we see people’s reactions to things. We don’t see the horrific torments that the villain of “Red Dragon” inflicted on his victems, although we are given enough to go on to really scare the crap out of ourselves.
In fact, what’s almost freakiest about the film is how sweet and almost normal the baddie seems. To look at him and know what he did to all those people is quite possibly the scariest part of the film.
I hope “Red Dragon” makes a bajillion dollars and that Hollywood sits up and listens. We need more scary films made by people with restraint, dammit.