It's the most wonderful month of the year again! At least for horror fans such as myself. I'd like to start off October by doing a trivia quiz on the classic "The Silence of the Lambs." Some may say that this film is a "thriller," and not horror, but I disagree. Kidnappings, cannibals, brutal violence and murders--this movie is psychological horror if ever there was one. Also, this is the rare year when the Academy got it right--"The Silence of the Lambs" was richly rewarded with a slew of Oscars. Anyway, let's get to it. The usual format, questions followed by the answers, many SPOILERS ahead.
Questions:
1) As Clarice Starling makes her way around the outdoor exercise course at the FBI, we see some signs on trees with single words on them. What do they read?
2) In Jack Crawford's office, the audience sees a written article hanging on the wall with the headline, "Bill Skins Fifth." What periodical is this article from?
3) What university did Starling graduate from?
4) Crawford notes that during a seminar with Clarice, she grilled him hard about something. What?
5) What grade did Starling receive in this seminar taught by Crawford?
6) What institution did Clarice serve a summer internship at?
7) What is the name of the facility where Dr. Hannibal Lecter is incarcerated?
8) According to Dr. Chilton, how long has it been since Dr. Lecter has even seen a woman?
9) What are the six rules that Chilton tells Clarice to remember while dealing with Dr. Lecter?
10) On what date did Dr. Lecter attack the nurse in the facility?
11) While he was eating the nurse's tongue, what number did Dr. Lecter's pulse not exceed?
12) What is the nickname for Miggs, who is incarcerated in the cell next to Dr. Lecter?
13) According to Dr. Lecter, what kind of skin cream does Starling use, and what perfume?
14) What drawing of Dr. Lecter's does Clarice mention and admire?
15) What city's homicide section gave Buffalo Bill his nickname?
16) According to a newspaper article, Dr. Lecter killed people and served them to dinner party guests, making them inadvertent cannibals. What city council member was one of these guests?
17) What is the name of the storage facility where Starling discovers the head of Benjamin Raspail?
18) What is "Miss Hester Mofet" an anagram for?
19) According to Dr. Lecter, what was Raspail's diagnosis?
20) How does Dr. Chilton punish Dr. Lecter for killing Miggs?
21) What city does Buffalo Bill kidnap Catherine Martin from?
22) What clothing size does Catherine wear? (Bill checks her clothing label.)
23) What word does Buffalo Bill have tattooed on his left hand? (Not counting a symbol.)
24) What county in West Virginia is the latest Buffalo Bill victim found in?
25) And what river was the victim found in?
26) What is the name of funeral home where Starling, Crawford, and others examine the victim?
27) What FBI agent accompanies Starling and Crawford on this trip?
28) What is the name of the funeral director at this funeral home?
29) What two features does Starling use to conclude that the latest Bill victim was not local, but from a bigger town?
30) What are the names of the two insect experts that Starling uses to identify the pupa that was found in the victim's throat?
31) What is the scientific name for the Death's Head Moth?
32) How old is Catherin Martin?
33) Catherine Martin's mother, Ruth, is an important politician. What is Ruth's political position, and what political party does she belong to?
34) Starling and Crawford offer Dr. Lecter a deal if he helps them find Buffalo Bill. (later it's proven to be fake). What are the particulars of this deal?
35) How old was Starling when her father was killed?
36) After her father's death, Starling was sent to live with a cousin of her deceased mother, who ran a sheep and horse ranch. In what state was this ranch located?
37) According to Dr. Lecter, what are the three major (American) centers for transsexual surgery?
38) For Ruth Martin's real deal, if Dr. Lecter helps them find Catherine alive, what facility will he be transferred to?
39) In talking to Ruth Martin and her people, Dr. Lecter recalls several things about Buffalo Bill, including a physical description. Name them.
40) During his dealing with Ruth Martin, where is Dr. Lecter housed?
41) According to Starling, what is the name that Dr. Lecter gave for Buffalo Bill, Louis Friend, an anagram for?
42) After her futile attempt to save a lamb at her relative's ranch, where was Clarice sent to live?
43) We see a periodical in Dr. Lecter's temporary cell in Tennessee. What is it?
44) What city and state was Frederica Bimmel (Bill's first victim) from?
45) Most of the FBI head to one of Jame Gumb's previous homes. In what city and state is this home?
46) We hear two aliases that Jame Gumb uses. Name them.
47) Whose house, in Frederica Bimmel's home town, did Buffalo Bill/Jame Gumb purchase to use as a home base?
48) We see two FBI seals, one in cake form. What three words are on it, as mottoes?
49) What classical song does Dr. Lecter listen to as he kills the guards and escapes from his temporary home in Tennessee?
50) What kind of gun does Starling carry and use?
51) What kind of gun do we see Buffalo Bill use?
52) Was first victim Frederica Bimmel in a romantic relationship with Jame Gumb/Buffalo Bill? (Conjectural)
53) Famous horror director George Romero has a small cameo in this movie. What role does he play?
Answers:
1) Hurt, Agony, Pain, Love - it.
2) The National Inquisitor. Which is fictitious, and seems to be heavily modeled after the real National Inquirer tabloid.
3) The University of Virginia.
4) The FBI's civil rights record during the Hoover years.
5) Crawford says he gave her an "A," but Clarice corrects him by saying it was an "A-".
6) The Reitzinger Clinic, which is a fictional psychiatric facility.
7) The Baltimore State Forensic Hospital.
8) 8 years.
9) 1) Do not touch the glass. 2) Do not approach the glass. 3) You pass him nothing but soft paper. 4) No pencils or pens. 5) No staples or paper clips on his paper. 6) Use the sliding food carrier. With no exceptions.
10) July 8th, 1981.
11) 85.
12) Multiple Miggs. Maybe this is a reference to how many people he killed?
13) She uses Evyan skin cream, and sometimes wears L' Air du Temps perfume. But not today, for the latter.
14) It's of the Duomo as seen from the Belvedere, in Florence, Italy.
15) Kansas City. They don't clarify if it was the one in Missouri, or the one across the border in Kansas.
16) Michael Ronboz.
17) Your Self Storage.
18) "Miss the rest of me."
19) He was a garden variety manic-depressive. Reportedly a tedious one.
20) They took away his drawings, and force him to listen to/view a television showing religious gospel programs.
21) Memphis, Tennessee.
22) 14.
23) Ironically, it's "love."
24) Clay County.
25) The Elk River. Which may also be the name of the town they visit--it's unclear.
'26) Grieg.
27) Special Agent Ray Terry.
28) Lamar.
29) Her ears are pierced three times, and she's wearing glitter nail polish.
30) Roden and Pilcher.
31) Acherontia styx.
32) 25.
33) She's a U.S. Senator for Tennessee, the junior one, and she's a Republican.
34) He'll be transferred to the VA hospital in Oneida Park, NY, and his cell will have a view of the woods. One week every year he'll be taken to the beach at Plum Island, on Long Island, NY, and be allowed to walk on the beach, or even swim in the ocean, under supervision, obviously.
35) 10 years old.
36) Montana.
37) Johns Hopkins, the University of Minnesota, and Columbia Medical Center.
38) Brushy Mountain State Prison in Tennessee.
39) His name was Louis Friend, and he was referred to Dr. Lector in April or May of 1980 by Raspail, his lover. Louis murdered a transient, and....did things with the skin. He was about 5 foot 10 inches tall, strongly built, about 180 pounds, with blonde hair and pale blue eyes. He'd be about 35 now, and said he lived in Philadelphia, although that might have been a lie.
40) Shelby County Courthouse.
41) Iron sulfide, or fool's gold.
42) The Lutheran orphanage in Bozeman, Montana.
43) Bon Appetit, which is a real magazine, and still published currently.
44) Belvedere, Ohio.
45) Calumet City, Illinois, on the edge of Chicago.
46) John Grant, and then he tells Starling his name is Jack Gordon, so he evidently likes to keep his initials consistent with his real name.
47) Mrs. Lippman.
48) Fidelity, bravery, and integrity.
49) Johann Sebastian Bach's "Goldberg Variations," first published in 1741.
50) A Smith & Wesson Model 13, which is a .357 Magnum, although it can fire heavier loads like a .38 special.
51) A Colt Python. Like Starling's weapon, this is a .357 Magnum that can also fire .38 special rounds, among other loads.
52) Possibly. The movie makes a point to show us photos of Frederica posing for someone in her underwear hidden in her jewelry box. Also, we learn from her dad that the last day he saw her she was going to Chicago for a job interview, which she attended, but she never made it home again. Maybe when she got back to Belvedere from the interview she visited Jame Gumb first, and he then threw her down the well and imprisoned her. It would appear that he also did sewing work for Mrs. Lippman, as did Frederica, and he may have met her there. He then tricked her into thinking that they were in a romantic relationship so he could gain her trust and eventually kill her. Since he was apparently into men sexually this would require some more faking on his part. But maybe he strung her along, and didn't actually have sex with her. Poor Frederica, with her complete lack of experience with dating and sex, would probably be easy to manipulate. True, Frederica's friend Stacy said if Frederica had a boyfriend Stacy would have known it, but maybe Frederica successfully hid it from her. Maybe because Jame Gumb was so much older, etc. All of this, if true, makes Frederica's murder even more tragic and sad.
53) Romero plays a character that's part of the group with Dr. Chilton that interrupt and remove Starling from her final conversation with Dr. Lecter. I believe he even has a line--someone says "We found her," and it seems to be said by his character.
