Long before a small Welsh character actor developed a temporary lisp in Silence of the Lambs, There was another movie adaptation of a Thomas Harris novel - the book was Red Dragon - the movie...Manhunter.

Directed by Michael Mann, the original story in the Hannibal Lector collection was an 80's horror classic. Will Graham (William Petersen) is an FBI agent forced into retirement after an altercation with Lector (Brian Cox) during the cannibal's capture.

When a new psychopath starts murdering whole families every full moon, Graham is wheeled out of retirement to help catch the predator, because Graham can think like a psycho. He uses his own psychotic tendencies and Lecter's cryptic clues as he races to save the next family from a grisly demise.

For many people Manhunter remains the strongest effort after Silence of the Lambs. The tension far outweighs anything that Hannibal had to offer. And because the film doesn't hinge on the popularity of Hopkins' Lecter, it is not the Silence of the Lambs rehash, as was the recent re-make, Red Dragon.

As for the scares, there're plenty of them. Tom Noonan's performance as the psychopathic Dollarhyde must be one of the most underrated of all time. It's one of the few performances you'll see where the actor is so well cast you will always see him as the killer, and not the man playing him.

William Petersens' Graham is much darker here than the remake. Mann focuses on Graham's own psychotic problems at much greater depth, showing the effect it has on his family and his own sanity as well as the brilliance of using Graham's mind to track the killer.

Although it still remains a classic, the film has dated slightly. Most obviously with the music, though the synthesiser effect seems to help crank up the freakiness of it all.

Ultimately the film comes highly recommended. For those that are fans of horror, it's sufficiently creepy. As a detective thriller story, it's suspenseful and intelligent, as well as highly engaging.

Richard Phippen