The Hannibal Lecter series is one of the most popular American horror Franchises of all time.
Based on the novels of Thomas Harris, the series tells the story of the cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter. Here is the list of all Hannibal Lecter movies in order of release
The Hannibal Lector movies in order
- Manhunter (1986)
- The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
- Hannibal (2001)
- Red Dragon (2002)
- Hannibal Rising (2007)
About Hannibal Lecter Movie Series
Based on the books of Thomas Harris, Hannibal Lecter is a popular American horror series based on a cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter. Hannibal Lecter likes to kill and eat people, but he kills only those who are wrong or are coming in his way.
The first movie in this series was released in 1986, which introduced Hannibal to the Audience, The series really took off when the second movie The Silence of the Lambs (1991) become a huge hit and own Oscar award.
Filled with amazing stories and horror scenes, the series is very popular. Complete television series was made that was aired in 2013- 2015 on NBC while another television series is under development.
Hannibal Lecter Movies In Order: How to Watch Hannibal Lecter Movie Series?
The first Hannibal Lecter movies Introduce you with Hannibal followed by two sequels that tell the story of Hannibal helping an FBI Agent to solve cases. The fourth Hannibal Lecter movie is a remake of the first movie, while the fourth Hannibal Lecter movie is a prequel and tells the story of how Hannibal become a cannibalistic serial killer.
Hannibal Lecter movies are connected to each other, In terms of Characters and their relation with Hannibal, Hence Watching these movies’ order is important, to understand the story and background of the Characters.
The best order to watch the Hannibal Lecter series is to follow the release order, After knowing how Heartless Hannibal is, you get to know why he is the way he is in the last movie, Watching them in chronological order would spoil the suspense of Past of Dr. Lecter.
Here is the list of all Hannibal Lecter movies in order of release, a.k.a the best order to watch Hannibal Lecter.
Manhunter (1986)
- Director: Michael Mann
- Stars: William Petersen, Kim Greist, Joan Allen, Brian Cox
- Producer: Dino De Laurentiis
- Runtime: 1h 59m
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
- Director: Jonathan Demme
- Stars: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Lawrence A. Bonney, Kasi Lemmons
- Producer: Ronald M. Bozman, Edward Saxon, Kenneth Utt
- Runtime: 1h 59m
Hannibal (2001)
- Director: Ridley Scott
- Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Julianne Moore, Gary Oldman, Ray Liotta
- Producer: Martha De Laurentiis
- Runtime: 2h 11m
Red Dragon (2002)
- Director: Brett Ratner
- Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Edward Norton, Ralph Fiennes, Harvey Keitel
- Producer: Dino De Laurentiis, Martha De Laurentiis
- Writer: Ted Tally
- Runtime: 1h 59m
Hannibal Rising (2007)
- Director: Peter Webber
- Stars: Gaspard Ulliel, Rhys Ifans, Li Gong, Aaran Thomas
- Producer: Dino De Laurentiis, Tarak Ben Ammar, Martha De Laurentiis
- Runtime: 2h 1m
Manhunter (1986)
Jack Crawford wants Will Graham (A former FBI Criminal Profiler) back to help him on the case of a serial killer coded as “The fairy Tooth”. Will left the FBI for his family after he was attacked by a Cannibalistic serial killer, Dr. Hannibal Lecter.
Will repeats the crime scene and decides to help Dr. Lecter’s assistance to understand the criminal’s motive. Will finds a note from The fairy tooth in Lecter’s personal note explaining that they both communicate through sections of Lounds newspaper.
Things start to get worst for Will when the messages decode to “kill Graham family” Now catching the Fairy tooth is the only option left with Will and the FBI.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Clarice Starling (FBI Trainee) is ordered to take insights of Dr. Lecter on a serial killer “Buffalo Bill” Lecter asks her to find his old patient but when Clarice reaches the patient, he is found dead. Lecter tells Clarice that he will help her only when he is shifted to some other asylum.
Things starts to get worst, when another body is found and US senator’s daughter is kidnapped by Buffalo Bill. When Lecter is shifted to another asylum, He gives all the required clues to Clarice and escapes from prison after killing two guards.
Will Clarice would be able to find Buffalo Bill or Clarice is Hannibal’s next target?
Hannibal (2001)
This movie is the direct sequel to the silence of the Limbs, The movie starts with Clarice meeting Verger(the only survivor of Lecter’s Attack) and explains what Lecter did to him, and gives necessary information to find Dr. Lecter. Clarice starts her investigation to find Lecter, meanwhile, Lecter is living in a city of Italy as a librarian.
A Local Officer gives the information to Verger about Lecter in order to win the reward money but Lecter kills him. Lecter comes back after hearing the news of Clarice getting suspended and Verger Captures him. Will Verger be able to take his revenge?
Red Dragon (2002)
Released in 2002, Red Dragon is a remake of the first Hannibal Lecter movie, Manhunter. The movie tells the same story, where a retired FBI agent takes on a case of a Serial killer with the help of psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal, who is also known as the Cannibal Lecter.
Hannibal Rising (2007)
This movie is a prequel to the Hannibal Lecter series that tells the story of a young Hannibal Lecter. In a War between Nazis and Russians, Hannibal’s Parents get killed and Nazis soldiers kill her sister and eat her when they don’t anything to eat.
Disturbed by this Incident, Hannibal decides to take revenge and goes to live with his Aunt. After killing a man who was misbehaving with his Aunt. Hannibal starts his Medical Studies and starts to kill everyone, who had killed her sister one by one.
Chronological order of Hannibal Lecter Movies
There is a slight difference between, The chronological and Release order of the series. The latest film in the series is a prequel movie and tells the story of how Hannibal become a Cannibal at an early age. If you want to watch Hannibal movies in Chronological order, it’s perfectly fine. Here is the list of all Hannibal lecter movies in chronological order.
- Hannibal Rising (2007)
- Manhunter (1986)
- The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
- Hannibal (2001)
- Red Dragon (2002)
Hannibal Lecter Franchise
A television show named Hannibal is developed by Bryan Fuller for NBC, The complete show is based on two main characters, FBI Agent Will Graham and Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a forensic psychiatrist. In addition to this, a separate web series Clarice is set to set to premiere on February 11, 2021, on CBS.
Here is the list of all Hannibal Lecter movies and TV shows in release order
- Manhunter (1986)
- The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
- Hannibal (2001)
- Red Dragon (2002)
- Hannibal Rising (2007)
- Hannibal (TV series) (2013–2015)
- Clarice (TV series) (2021)
Is Red Dragon a prequel to Silence of the Lambs?
Red Dragon is a remake of the Manhunter movie and it tells the event that happened just before The Silence of the Lambs, Hence Silence of the Lambs is the sequel to the Red Dragon.
Other Popular horror movie series
- The Conjuring Universe Movies in Order To Watch
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- Evil Dead Movies In Order [Evil Dead Watch Order]
- Insidious Movies In Order [Watch Order]
- Chucky Movies In Order [Chucky Watch Order]
Conclusion
Hannibal Lecter is one of the most popular serial killers of all time, The Hannibal Lecter series has five movies that contain a remake and a prequel movie. The second movie in the series was a huge hit and made Hannibal Lecter a all-time favorite serial killer.
Here in this article, I have listed all, Hannibal Lecter movies in order of release and in chronological order, You can choose any of the orders to watch the series but the recommended one is the release order.