There are a lot of people out there who love horror, but gratuitous, in-your-face blood and guts courtesy of a deranged ax-murderer isn’t quite their cup of tea. Rather than slasher films, they’re going to go with something with a bit more plot and sophistication, something more along the lines of a psychological thriller.
I’m firmly in the second camp; I like my plots to have some twists and turns, characters to be fleshed-out and complex and crimes to have some refinement. The big screen usually has a smattering of psychological thrillers released each year, and not all of them are necessarily that great, but the small screen is pretty limited when it comes to sophisticated crime.
Sure, you have shows like “Criminal Minds” and the numerous versions of “CSI”s, but they all follow the typical crime-procedural format, so it gets pretty monotonous and predictable once shows like that hit their third, fifth or sixth season. If you want something a little more innovative, you’re probably going to have to shell out some cash and get hooked-up with Showtime, HBO or even BBC America to experience shows like “Dexter,” “Luther” or “Ripper Street.”
But good news for those of us with basic television! NBC is offering a new perspective on everyone’s favoritecharmingcannibal,HannibalLecter. Originally created by author Thomas Harris, the character of Hannibal Lecter received widespread fame after being portrayed by Anthony Hopkins in the 1991 film “The Silence of the Lambs”—a role for which Hopkins won the Oscar for Best Actor.
The thing about “Hannibal” is that it takes little snippets of backstory presented throughout Harris’ books and weaves them into their own unique story. The show looks at Lecter (played by Mads Mikkelsen) during his peak as a renowned psychiatrist, before he was ever caught and arrested for his cannibalistic crimes, and follows his relationship with struggling FBI Special Agent Will Graham (Hugh Dancy).
The show’s first episode, entitled “Apéritif,”
premiered last Thursday. The first episode drops you straight into the action, and you can either struggle to piece together what’s happening or sit back, enjoy the ride and trust that things will become a little bit clearer over the course of the season. This first episode had little in the way of dialogue or any significant character development other than Will Graham, but it did do a good job of setting the visual tone of the show.
Ifanything,“Hannibal”couldprobablybe classified as “art house” horror; it’s all about presenting the audience with shocking, disturbing and evocative images. Each crime is executed with disturbing and artistic creativity, and Will Graham’s unique ability to get inside the mind of a serial killer, and even envision himself in place of the killer, opens the door for someone very surreal scenes.
From the start, this show gets across that it's set apart from other crime shows becasue of its pushing-the-line imagery and the fact that not only
can its protagonist get inside the minds of killers, he sometimes gets stuck there.
Mikkelsen and the show have their work cut out for them in trying to make their own Hannibal Lecter that stands on its own apart from the legacy of Hopkins’. Viewers shouldn’t come to the show expecting to see the slick, in-your-face personality of Lecter, who has already been caught and doesn’t havetohidehisdirtylittlesecret.Mikkelson’s Lecter is in a completely different point in his life; he’s just as charming and sophisticated, but he’s got something to hide. He’s very restrained, but he still has this intimidating aura stewing under the surface.
On the whole, “Hannibal” is a welcome break from overdone crime procedurals and will put viewers on edge with its morbid, yet beautiful, depictions of the crimes. Hopefully, now that the show has set itself up in the first episode, the rest of the season can work on better developing the characters and dialogue.
