Story
In his Baltimore townhouse, famous local psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) hosts a dinner party. The main subject of conversation over dinner is the disappearance of a local musician, who was criticized for playing several wrong notes at a concert that Lecter attended. He then serves the guests a delicious meal. When asked what the meat was that he served he says. "If I tell you, Im afraid you wont even try it."After dinner, Lecter is visited by Will Graham (Edward Norton), a young gifted FBI agent, with whom he has been working on a psychological profile of a local serial killer. Edible body parts of the victims, such as the kidneys and liver, were removed from the bodies after being killed, and Graham is convinced that the killer is actually a cannibal.During the consultation and brainstorming session, Graham discovers evidence implicating Dr. Lecter in the murders. Shortly after that, Lecter returns and attacks Graham, wounding and nearly killing him, before Graham is able to subdue him.Lecter is subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment at an institution for the criminally insane, while Graham retires from the FBI, having been severely traumatized by the experience.Years later, another serial killer appears on the scene. Nicknamed the Tooth Fairy, he stalks and murders seemingly random families during sequential full moons.Hoping to speed things up, and capture the killer before his next attack, Special Agent Jack Crawford seeks out Graham and pleads for his assistance. Graham, believing the death of another family to be an unbearable burden on his conscience, reluctantly agrees. After checking over the crime scenes, with only minimal insight, he comes to the realization that most of his previous successes were achieved due to the insightful collaborations of Dr. Lecter, and concludes that he must once again visit Lecter and seek his help in capturing the Tooth Fairy.The Tooth Fairy is actually a disturbed man named Francis Dolarhyde (Ralph Fiennes), who suffers from schizophrenia and worshiped Lecter, after learning of his crimes. Calling himself "The Great Red Dragon" (because of his obsession with the William Blake painting, "The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun"), Dolarhyde is unable to control his violent and sexual urges, which turn him into a dangerous serial killer. These conditions were born from the systematic child abuse he suffered at the hands of his grandmother.Graham continues to run into complications, the first being Freddy Lounds (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a reporter for the tabloid, Tattler, whom Graham despises from the days following the conviction of Dr. Lecter, and who now follows Graham relentlessly for leads on the Tooth Fairy story.Further complicating the investigation is the secret correspondence between Lecter and Dolarhyde. Lecter provides Dolarhyde with Grahams home address, which endangers Grahams wife, Molly (Mary-Louise Parker), and son Josh (Tyler Patrick Jones). Molly and Josh are evacuated to a remote farm, which belongs to Crawfords brother.Graham discovers the secret communication, and tries to intercept it without Lecters knowledge, but the doctor is quick to realize that the Feds are onto him and his proteg
