Corrected entry: Right after Hannibal attacks the ambulance crew, we see a nurse drop a telephone and sprint down a hospital corridor. Who the heck is that supposed to be? If she is the triage nurse in the emergency ward preparing for the ambulance, where is her clip-board or ANY paper to make note of what the paramedic is saying? And why is she using a pay-phone so far away from everything? And WHERE is she going? If there is any problem, she has a telephone in her hand to call the police.
Corrected entry: How could Hannibal possibly overpower both Pembry and Boyle? It was two armed men against one prisoner.
Correction: One psychotic cannibal. It's not much of a stretch to imagine he'd be able to overpower them. Remember, too, that up to this point Hannibal had been polite and cooperative, so they were caught off guard by his extreme behavior.
He starts his escape by handcuffing one of the guards to the bars, which puts things in Lecter's favour.
Corrected entry: When Hannibal handcuffs a cop's hand to the bars, he only handcuffs one hand. He could've used the other hand to shoot, tase or mace Hannibal or unlock himself with his keys.
Correction: The guard didn't have them on him. Before he enters the cell we see him pass them to his colleague who remains outside of the cell.
Corrected entry: How did Lecter know about Buffalo Bill in the first place? Yes he knows Buffalo Bill's real identity, but he's been in prison all those years, so he couldn't have known that's the name Jame Gumb would have been given by the authorities. He mentioned the newspapers, but it's highly unlikely Chilton would have let Lecter have access to a newspaper.
Correction: We know he has access to news because when he asks Clarice why they call the killer Buffalo Bill he says the papers won't say. As to how he knew, he likely recognized characteristics of the murders that made him realise it was the same person.
Corrected entry: Near the end of Silence of the Lambs, Jodie Foster has trouble seeing in the dark room, and the Buffalo Bill uses night vision to see her. Yet after he is killed, she is able to see him fine, even though no light switch is flicked on. How can she see him?
Correction: I believe she fires more than once and one of her bullets breaks one of the painted basement windows letting in a little light.
Corrected entry: A SWAT officer gets the go-ahead to use his Browning HP to shoot an unconscious Lecter (actually Pembry) in the leg to immobilize him. he fires the pistol extremely close in proximity to his face, something a real officer would not do, as the motion of the slide would harm or burn his face and he could very nearly go deaf. (01:24:05)
Correction: Can't really tell by the angle how close he is to his face. Slides only blow back about an inch or so, and wouldn't burn you either way. SWAT teams and police wear deep embedded ear plugs when in a probable situation that they'll most likely have to shoot their weapon.
Corrected entry: When Buffalo Bill is using his infra-red goggles on his next victim - the Senator's daughter - she's driving, and she drives the car straight at Buffalo Bill before turning the car into her carapace. Problem is: when using infra-red, you can't have light on the glasses, as in headlights; it should have blinded him, and he would have torn them off. But he doesn't.
Correction: It would have blinded him, yes, but only temporarily and only because the display would have been washed out and blocking his view effectively turning the goggles into a blindfold for a brief moment. It's just a monitor in there and it only gets so bright. It doesn't actually enhance the light, it only shows you an image that simulates enhanced light. There was no reason for Bill to have torn his goggles off.
Corrected entry: There's no way Hannibal could've seen Miggs throw his semen at Starling from his glass cell.
Correction: He didn't need to see it. He's been next to Miggs for a while, so knows the types of things he does. He may have done this same thing to other visitors.
Corrected entry: How the heck did Hannibal get ahold of the pen during his release from the mental hospital ? It was at least 4 feet away from him; he was bound and had a face plate over his mouth. Not only did he get the pen but somehow he got the internal portion of it which would have required freedom of movement to remove. This must be a mistake because aside from telekinesis, it should have been impossible.
Correction: We see Chilton leave the pen on the bed, then head for the exit to the cell, forgetting to pick it up, which is hardly implausible, given that he's rather agitated at the time. Barney then releases Hannibal, who simply picks the pen up and conceals it once his restraints have been removed.
Corrected entry: When Hannibal chains one guard to the bars, he attacks the other one, presumably biting his tongue out. However when the guard falls to the ground it shows blood on his face, yet no bite marks, or missing skin. He also opens his mouth to scream and you can see that his tongue is completely intact and unharmed. What the heck did Hannibal bite?
Correction: Hannibal did not bite out the guard's tongue. He bit the side of the mouth, on the cheek. There is blood and also you can see the skin is missing as you can see the flesh under it.
Corrected entry: When Clarice is in Buffalo Bill's house, Bill moves his fingers twice before cocking the gun and attempting to shoot her. (01:49:00)
Correction: I believe he was lining up the gun to shoot her. Then, he cocked the gun and attempted to fire. However, Clarice heard him cock the gun behind her, and she fired in the direction of the sound and shot him several times.
Corrected entry: Clarice is told that Miggs is dead; he swallowed his tongue. That is impossible; the worst that can happen is a person can bite their tongue.
Corrected entry: Buffalo Bill covets the skin on the back of Catherine Martin (as revealed when he first knocked her out, he caresses/inspects her back with satisfaction), but he wants her to put lotion on it when she's down in the well. It's a physical impossibility, especially for a larger woman.
Correction: I'm significantly heavier than she is, and I can touch almost my entire back with my hands... there's only a couple of inches I can't reach. I seriously doubt it's "physically impossible" for her not to be able to get lotion over most of her back.
Corrected entry: When Clarice leaves the asylum after first talking to Dr. Lecter, her hair is a different color than when she went in; it is much darker and looks freshly dyed. (00:19:40)
Correction: And her nails too look different, pinker, while they were darker in the corridor. Honestly, I think it's just a matter of photography, the light of the scenes indoors and the one outside are different. Easier to imagine than Jodie Foster going to the hairdresser in the middle of the shoot or the makeup department flubbing the cosmetics used.
Corrected entry: When Lector attacks the officers in the cage, and he bends over to pick up the knife to finish the second officer off, look closely at the one lying supposedly dead on the ground. If you watch his jacket buttons, you can see them go from light to dark; meaning that he's dead but still breathing, as his jacket is still moving from the reflection of the overhead lights.
Correction: We don't know for certain that Lector beat him to death right then. He may well have beaten him nearly to death and will finish him off after arranging the other guard's body.
Corrected entry: During the scene in the cage after Hannibal has handcuffed Sgt. Boyle, Hannibal kicks the cage door in the oncoming direction of Sgt. Petrie from a seated position. Exactly one second later, he is on his feet and attacking Sgt. Petrie from the same angle from which he kicked the door closed. It would then make sense that the door would still be closed since Petrie made no attempt to enter the cage. However, the cage door is now open to its original position when Hannibal starts attacking Sgt. Petrie. (01:16:44)
Correction: Watch it again: moments after the door hits Sgt. Pembry [not Petrie], he pushes it back. This explains why the door is open.
Corrected entry: In the scene where Jodie Foster leaves the mental hospital for the first time, you see two men wearing white clothes holding a man between themselves. In the next shot, the man is gone and the two men with white clothes are walking casually. What happened to the man that was evidently a mental-patient?
Corrected entry: Hannibal says "I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti." He could get treatment with drugs called monoamine oxidase inhibitors - MAOIs, which he'd know, being a psychiatrist. However there are things you can't eat when taking MAOIs (potentially fatal), including liver, beans, and wine (also aged cheeses, if you're interested). So he's subtly letting on that he's not taking his medication, through the medium of a joke for his own amusement.
Correction: Psychopaths cannot be treated with medication and MAOIs are used for depression. Hannibal couldn't be treated even with antipsychotics or a mood stabiliser because antisocial personality disorder can't be medicated, and he would not be taking medications for his psychopathy regardless, because psychopaths have no remorse for their actions, so he wouldn't treat something he does not believe to be a problem.
Corrected entry: When Jodie Foster's character is being stalked in a supposedly unlit basement by a man wearing night vision goggles, why is there such a bright shadow behind her?
Correction: Some types of goggle use infra red light, so will have a source of infra red that lights up the surroundings like a normal torch when viewed by the right equipment, but is invisible to the naked eye, hence the shadow.
Correction: You may also be interested to know that the scene was actually shot fully lit. Jodi Foster did a great job with all the feeling around and the fear in her wide unblinking eyes eyes, reacting to the slightest sound every time she turned around. The effect of the green goggles view was added later in post processing. This may well explain the shadow. However, the explanation above provides a plausible reason it would be seen in real life.
Correction: A nurse? Total rubbish - that's clearly Ardelia, Clarice's fellow trainee agent - you can even make out the "FBI" on her shirt. Obviously somebody, probably Jack Crawford, has called to inform Clarice of Lecter's escape - Ardelia came to the phone, and is now running like hell to warn Clarice that a mass murderer with an interest in her is on the loose. She can be seen wearing the same distinctive cardigan in the next scene with Clarice.
Tailkinker ★