DVD review
Directed by Peter Webber
Starring Gaspard Ulliel, Li Gong, Rhys Ifans, Kevin McKidd
Release date 25 June 2007

Lithuania, 1944. Following the death of his parents, eight-year-old Hannibal Lecter and his younger sister hide out in an old house. But the arrival of a band of rapacious soldiers has devastating consequences for the children, and years later a 20-something Hannibal wants his revenge…

Hannibal Rising takes itself more seriously than the last couple of Lecter entries, with Peter Webber (Girl with the Pearl Earring) obviously hoping to construct a classic piece of gothic horror. Unfortunately, the results are so plodding and downright depressing that you almost long for a return to the preposterous black comedy of Ridley Scott’s Hannibal.

Webber actually does a decent job at creating an atmosphere of impending dread in the film’s early stages, aided by an appropriately doom-laden score from Ilan Eshkeri and Shigeru Umebayashi. But events develop in surprise-free stalk ’n’ slash fashion, as the young Hannibal exacts his increasingly bloody revenge on the one-dimensional cannibal fodder. As with other horror prequels, such as Psycho IV or Texas Chain Saw Massacre: The Beginning, much of the tension of the previous movies is lost in explaining away the events that made a monster. Far creepier is a killer who has little discernible motive and an ambiguous background.

And what of newcomer Ulliel as the young cannibal? Well, he certainly looks the part, cutting an uneasy presence whenever he twists his creepy lips into leering Anthony Hopkins-style expressions. But the French actor is less magnetic when it comes to wrapping his tongue around Harris’s rather pompous dialogue, and it’s difficult to match this low-key figure with the witty, urbane killer of the Hopkins movies. Manhunter and The Silence of the Lambs remain the only great Hannibal Lecter movies.

The DVD comes with a standard set of extras – a by-the-numbers promo featurette, commentary from Weber and co-producer Martha De Laurentiis, deleted scenes and a piece on Allan Starski’s excellent production design. Matt McAllister

VERDICT: 5/10
Not quite as bad as you might expect, but far from essential viewing.