Books

[Kugelfisch]

I haven't read any of those. Are the first three good?

[Cuckara]

I've never read Harris's work, but I know that Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs are considered great thrillers, Hannibal is highly divisive, and Hannibal Rising was written because Dino De Laurentiis told Harris "either write a Hannibal Lector origin story, or I'll find someone else to write it."

[Keith Chegwin]

I haven't read any of those. Are the first three good?

I'll let you know when I've actually read them.

[da PAC Nigguh]

Hannibal Rising was written because Dino De Laurentiis told Harris "either write a Hannibal Lector origin story, or I'll find someone else to write it."

Yeah, I think something similar happened with Crichton and The Lost World.

I saw Hannibal Rising once but fortunately I remember almost nothing from it.

[Kugelfisch]

The cooking scenes are the only worthwhile scenes in the movie.

[Zone]

I'm currently reading James Hadley Chase The World in My Pocket

[Guest]

Red Dragon's good, as were both movie versions, but there's been so much serial killer TV and movies since it was published that it seems cliche now. Hannibal was Gaylord faggotry.

[Keith Chegwin]

I haven't read any of those. Are the first three good?

Well, I've read Red Dragon now and I can say that I definitely recommend it. It's better than either movie (haven't seen the TV show or what they did with it). One caveat though, if you're reading it for Hannibal Lecter you'd be better served just going straight for The Silence of the Lambs. Lecter's role in Red Dragon I would describe as 'small but pivotal'. If you've seen Manhunter he appears about as often in the book, although Manhunter lacks the pay-off of the book, so Lecktor's role isn't quite as pivotal.

Tell you about The Silence of the Lambs and Black Sunday (which is not a Lecter book) when I get to them.

[Kugelfisch]

I'll consider it. I wasn't the biggest fan of the movie Red Dragon but also didn't hate it or anything. I can see it working better as a book.

[Keith Chegwin]

I'm not a big fan of the Red Dragon movie either. Manhunter was the better film. Red Dragon was just sort of...there. I mean, they only really made it so they could have all three novels adapted with Hopkins as Lecter and that's the only thing Red Dragon really has going for it over Manhunter. Apart from that, the casting choices are pretty uninspired. Ratner's direction is competent but nothing near the quality of Jonathan Demme's. They really should have gotten Demme to do it, because the way he did The Silence of the Lambs would have worked equally well for Red Dragon.