Red Dragon

It is the third film of the Dino De Laurentiis Company production, last produced by Universal Pictures, and last starred by actor Anthony Hopkins. It follows The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and Hannibal (2001) as a prequel, being followed by Hannibal Rising (2007). The film sees FBI agent Will Graham (Edward Norton) enlisting the help of serial killer Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) to catch another killer, Francis Dolarhyde (Ralph Fiennes). Harvey Keitel, Emily Watson, Mary-Louise Parker, and Philip Seymour Hoffman also star.

It is considered the fourth of the five released films regarding Hannibal Lecter. The novel was previously adapted into the film Manhunter (1986). Both films feature the same cinematographer, Dante Spinotti. After turning down the Silence of the Lambs sequel, Hannibal (2001), The Silence of the Lambs screenwriter Ted Tally returned to write Red Dragon. It was released on October 4, 2002 to generally positive reviews from critics, who deemed it to be an improvement over Hannibal, but inferior to The Silence of the Lambs. It was a box office success, earning $209 million worldwide against a $78 million budget.

An origin story, titled Hannibal Rising was released in 2007.

Graham has been working with Lecter on a psychological profile of a serial killer; Graham is certain the killer is a cannibal. Realizing Graham is close to discovering he is the killer, Lecter stabs him, but Graham subdues him before falling unconscious. Lecter is imprisoned in an institution for the criminally insane, and Graham, traumatized, retires to Florida with his family.

Several years later, another serial killer nicknamed the Tooth Fairy has killed two families – the Jacobis and the Leeds – during full moons. With another full moon approaching, special agent Jack Crawford persuades Graham to help develop the killer’s profile. Graham concludes that he must consult Lecter.

The Tooth Fairy is Francis Dolarhyde, who kills as directed by his alternate personality, which he calls the Great Red Dragon, after the William Blake painting The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun, which he has tattooed on his back. He believes that each victim brings him closer to becoming the Dragon. His psychopathology originates from his childhood abuse by his grandmother.

A letter from the Tooth Fairy is discovered in Lecter’s cell, expressing admiration for Lecter and suggesting that Lecter reply through the personals section of the National Tattler, which he does with Graham’s home address, forcing Graham’s wife, Molly, and son, Josh, to relocate. To lure out the Tooth Fairy, Graham gives an interview to Freddy Lounds, a tabloid reporter for the National Tattler, disparaging the killer as an impotent homosexual and that Lecter was only feigning interest in him. Enraged, Dolarhyde kidnaps Lounds, glues him to a wheelchair, forces him to recant his allegations on tape, and sets him on fire, killing him.

At his job in a St. Louis photo lab, Dolarhyde begins a relationship with his blind co-worker Reba McClane. However, his alternate personality demands that he kill her. Desperate to stop the Dragon’s control over him, Dolarhyde goes to the Brooklyn Museum, tears apart the Blake painting, and eats it. Graham realizes that the Tooth Fairy knew the layout of his victims’ houses from their home videos. He deduces that he works for the company that edits home movies and transfers them to video. He visits the company and is spotted by Dolarhyde. Panicked, Dolarhyde goes to Reba’s house, where he kills her co-worker Ralph, takes her to his house, and sets it ablaze. Unable to kill her, he apparently shoots himself and Reba escapes.

After an autopsy, it is revealed that Dolarhyde used Ralph’s body to stage his death. Dolarhyde infiltrates Graham’s home in Florida and takes Josh hostage. To save Josh, Graham insults him, reminding Dolarhyde of his grandmother’s abuse and provoking him to attack him. Both are wounded in a shootout, which ends when Molly kills Dolarhyde.

Graham survives and receives a letter from Lecter praising his work and bidding him well. Lecter’s jailer, Dr. Frederick Chilton, tells him that he has a visitor, a young woman from the FBI.