>Originally posted June 02, 2007.
Of all the Hannibal Lecter movies, this is the one I like best. Sure, Silence of The Lambs is ace, but the follow-ups are just pure crap. Michael Mann’s Manhunter (1986) captures something special, though. It’s got that 80’s touch that I adore.

Lecter, or Lecktor as he’s named in this movie, doesn’t play a very big part here. He’s in there for a few minutes, looking cool and acting smart, and that’s about it. The main character in my eyes is definitely the killer, Francis Dollarhyde, played to perfection by Tom Noonan.

He’s just amazing! Look at his haircut. Look at the way he has his pants way up to his armpits. And his “mask” is pure perverted genius. And of course he’s harelipped…
Important: Make sure you get the version where his chest tattoo is left out! I think that’s crucial for the experience, since his tattoo is a bit over the top and just diminishes the character.

As for the 80’s vibes, you get some really cheesy, totally unmotivated slow motion sequences, the men are wearing ugly as fuck ties, and it all ends with a typical freeze frame as the end credits starts to roll.
The end credits have this typical modern 80’s song, you know the one where they’ve bought their first keyboard and totally overuse it. The sounds just go “KLANG!” and “BAM!” and it comes out kind of futuristic, dark and depressing. It’s like if Howard Jones tried to compose the score for Terminator or something. The same stuff goes on in Scarface and the first Rocky movie. It’s just weird.
The soundtrack is in itself truly amazing in this sense. There’s some really memorable tunes in there.

All in all, it’s a great thriller that you need to see.
When you’re done, head over to Manhunter – The complete resource site, it’s extreme in its worship of the Manhunter concept. It’s well over 200 pages of information, and the dude even made a breakdown of the soundtrack!
I love the internet.