The film "is by common consensus one of the best films of the past quarter century, and it won five Oscars, including best picture and best director. Was it a Jonathan Demme movie? You could argue that, Anthony Hopkins's contributions aside, no other filmmaker could have created in Hannibal Lecter such a frighteningly recognizable monster. If Demme's skill with the conventions of thrillers seemed a surprise, it shouldn't have: Those who saw his apprentice work for Roger Corman in the early '70s - including 'Caged Heat' (1974), both a great women's prison film and a subversive commentary on same - know how good this director is with genre." — Ty Burr